PSYC 579 – Class Format
There
will be two classes per week, covering a related set of topics. The first class (Tuesdays) will focus
perceptual mechanisms, with their connection to applications. The second class (Thursdays) will focus
on an application area, with connections to perceptual mechanisms.
For each class:
1. A presentation will be given
by one of the students. Presentations
will be 25-30 minutes long, and be based on the assigned readings for that
class. They should highlight the
more important and/or interesting issues in the material for that day, and
ideally will provide some added perspectives. They must touch on both the
psychological research, and possible applications to visual display design.
2. Each group of 4-5 students will then
analyze an essay about the material covered in
that presentation. Each day, 3-4
students (assigned beforehand) will submit an essay to be analyzed that day.
This will cover the same material as
the presentation, but from the "opposite" side: when the presentation emphasizes perceptual mechanisms
(Tuesdays), the essay will propose 3 potential concrete design applications
(in HCI, visualization, etc.); when the presentation
emphasizes applications (Thursdays), the essay will propose 3 perceptual
mechanisms that are potentially relevant (e.g., attention, grouping).
3. Following the analysis of essays,
there will be a class-wide
discussion of the topic.
This will be in seminar format, intended to provide further discussion
of issues raised by the readings, presentation, and essays.
NOTES TO PRESENTERS:
Please send me a pdf file of
your presentation 12 hours before class
so that I can make
copies available. These will be posted on the webpage.
If you want to use my laptop for your presentation,
please bring a Powerpoint file on a
memory stick / flash drive.
NOTE TO ESSAY WRITERS:
Please bring send me a pdf
file of your essay by 12 hours before
before class so that I can post these by that
morning. These will then be available on the
webpage for that class.