Print Print

CMIT VHIP - Human Information Processing* "NOT ESTABLISHED"

Faculty
Ravi Vatrapu
Course Coordinator
Ravi Vatrapu
Prerequisite
Familiarity with information systems in general and human-computer interaction in specific are desired but not required.
Course content, structure and teaching
Students of management information systems (MIS) learn about the design, development, deployment, use, and impact of various business information systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relations management (CRM), etc. Specifically, MIS students learn about the ways in which information systems and human actors intertwine and entangle in business settings. However, often if not always, despite the thorough knowledge about how computers and organizations process information, the human mind remains a black-box. As a result, a critical concern is that present students and future managers of information systems might lack crucial understanding of how humans process information. This course addresses the above concern by empowering the students with knowledge, skills and abilities with regard to human information processing. A deep understanding of human perception, attention, memory, categorization, decision-making, problem-solving etc. and their relation to human performance is the primary focus of this course.
This course is primarily designed to meet the requirements of graduate students interested in information systems. At the same time, the course is highly relevant to students of human-computer interaction, human factors, engineering psychology, and/or philosophy of the mind. This course might be also of interest to business professionals and students who desire to know about work place applications of human information processing.
The course reading list consists of three textbooks and selected research papers. Together, we will explore and discuss various issues in and aspects of human information processing ranging from the predominant computational/informatic theories of mind, the ecological/evolutionary approach to perception and action, and the emerging challenges to universal cognitive architectures from cultural cognition research.
The course is structured into three major parts. The first part offers a traditional lecture-based instruction on the topic of human information processing and an advanced graduate seminar of the main topics of inquiry in human information processing. The second part of the course surveys the workplace applications of basic research findings discussed. The third and final part of the course covers three specific lines of empirical research that challenge the computational approaches human information processing.
This course will be conducted in the blended learning format which is a mixture of lecture, in-class small group participation, and online discussion. Each lecture will begin with a brief discussion of the material covered so far in class from the course textbooks and readings for this class (see below). Each lecture will include engaged discussion points at which we will reflect on how to best apply the lecture materials and research findings in our diverse professional workplaces and organizational settings. The second and major part of the course will be conducted in the subsequent weeks in an advanced graduate seminar format, where the assigned course readings are to be critically read, assessed, and discussed. Typically, we will read 4-6 research papers per week. Please be prepared to critically read the assigned materials; assess their relative strengths and weaknesses in terms of theories, methodologies, analysis, and conclusions; and discuss them with your classmates in-class and/or in the online discussion forum.
Time
Content
Scope
Literature
Teacher
1
Lecture 1:
A brief history of the Cognitive Revolution
Understand a history of the origins and developmental trajectory of the cognitive sciences in general.
(Gardner, 1987, pp. 3-48)
RV
Lecture 2:
Introduction to Cognitive Sciences
Acquire a familiarity with the fields of cognitive sciences and cognitive psychology and their respective central intellectual traditions and core concerns.
(Thagard, 2008)
Lecture 3:
Introduction to Human Information Processing
An initial overview of the topic of the course.
(Sternberg, 2008, pp. 1-32)
(Wickens, Lee, Liu, & Gordon-Becker, 2003, pp. 1-9)
2
Seminar 1:
Sensory Systems
Understanding human sensory systems with particular focus on the visual system.
(Wickens, et al., 2003, pp. 61-119)
(Palmer, 1999, pp. 1-93)
RV
3
Seminar 2:
Perception & Attention
Understanding human perception and attention
(Sternberg, 2008, pp. 74-175)
RV
4
Seminar 3:
Memory & Knowledge
Group Mini-Project:
Phase 1: Topic Selection
Understanding human memory
Self-selected groups of 3-4 students will select and describe their topic for the mini-project.
(Sternberg, 2008, pp. 176-340)
RV
5
Seminar 4:
Language
Understanding human natural language
(Sternberg, 2008, pp. 341-427)
RV
6
Seminar 5:
Higher-order cognition
Understanding human decision-making, reasoning, problem-solving & creativity
(Sternberg, 2008, pp. 428-527)
(Wickens, et al., 2003, pp. 156-183)
RV
7
Seminar 6:
Workplace applications-1
Group Mini-Project:
Phase 2: Progress Report #1
Survey of workplace applications of basic research findings in human information processing (engineering anthropometry, workspace design, biomechanics of work, and work physiology).
Student groups will share and discuss current state of the mini-projects.
(Wickens, et al., 2003, pp. 243-323)
RV
8
Seminar 7:
Workplace applications-2
Survey of workplace applications of basic research findings in human information processing (stress, workload, safety, accidents & human error, and human-computer interaction).
(Wickens, et al., 2003, pp. 324-417)
RV
9
Seminar 8:
Workplace applications-3
Survey of workplace applications of basic research findings in human information processing (automation, transportation, selection and training, social factors)
(Wickens, et al., 2003, pp. 418-506)
RV
10
Seminar 9:
Emerging Challenges
Group Mini- Project:
Phase 3: Progress Report #2
Critically read, assess, and discuss three emerging challenges to the computational/informatics approach to human information processing
Student groups will share and discuss current state of the mini-project.
(Dourish, 1998)
(Greeno, 1994)
(Nisbett & Norenzayan, 2002)
(Dimaggio, 1997)
(Vatrapu & Suthers, 2007)
RV
The course's development of personal competences
An understanding of human information processing in general.
Learning Objectives
The objective of this course is to enable students to critically engage with the field of human information processing. As mentioned before, the course is organized into three major parts. The objective of part one is to enable the students to develop an understanding of the conceptual, methodological, analytical and ultimately philosophical issues and aspects of human information processing. The objective of the second part of the course is to demonstrate the various work place applications of the basic research findings in human factors surveyed under part one. The objective for the third and last part of the course is to expose the students to three emerging challenges to the computational/informatics theories of human information processing.
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
1. Understand the intellectual history, issues, topics, and aspects of the cognitive sciences in general and human information processing in particular.
2. Identify and discuss the basic research findings in human information processing with respect to human sensation, perception, attention, memory, knowledge representation & organization, decision-making, problem-solving, reasoning, and creativity.
3. Analyze the work place applications of basic research findings in human information processing.
4. Critically reflect and engage with the emerging challenges informatics/computational approach to human information processing.
Type of examination, exam aids and assessment
Type of exam
Duration
Numbers of pages
Examination/marking
Assessment
Focus/topic of examination
Oral exam on the basis of a mini project (individual or group).
The student is not entitled to supervision.
20 minutes per student incl. performance discussion.
The mini project is written in parallel with the course
Max. 10 A4-pages per student
Max. 15 A4-pages per 2-5 students
The date for handing in the project will be decided by the secretary
The teacher will act as examiner at the oral exam.
2nd examiner is internal (CBS).
Even if it is a group exam, each student must be assessed individually.
The students do not need to give an account of which parts of the project they are responsible for.
The mini project and the oral exam are both included in the overall assessment.the overall assessment.
The title question(s) and content of the project must be prepared by the student(s) within the framework of the syllabus, possibly together with the teacher.
The oral examination will be based on a discussion and a perspective of the mini project.
The examiner may ask questions that go beyond the project, but within the framework of the syllabus.
Recommended literature
  • Dimaggio, P. (1997). Culture and Cognition. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 263-287.
  • Dourish, P. (1998). On" Technomethodology": Foundational Relationships Between Ethnomethodology and System Design. Human-Computer Interaction, 13(4), 395-432.
  • Gardner, H. (1987). The mind's new science: A history of the cognitive revolution: Basic Books.
  • Greeno, J. G. (1994). Gibson’s affordances. Psychological Review, 101(2), 336-342.
  • Nisbett, R., & Norenzayan, A. (2002). Culture and Cognition. In D. L. Medin (Ed.), Stevens’ Handbook of Experimental Psychology (3rd ed., pp. 561–597).
  • Palmer, S. (1999). Vision science: Photons to phenomenology: MIT press Cambridge, MA.
  • Sternberg, R. J. (2008). Cognitive Psychology (International ed.): Wadsworth.
  • Thagard, P. (2008). Cognitive Science. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 ed., pp. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/cognitive-science/) .
  • Vatrapu, R., & Suthers, D. (2007). Culture and Computers: A Review of the Concept of Culture and Implications for Intercultural Collaborative Online Learning. In T. Ishida, S. R. Fussell & P. T. J. M. Vossen (Eds.), Intercultural Collaboration I : Lecture Notes in Computer Science (pp. 260-275): Springer-Verlag
  • Wickens, C., Lee, J., Liu, Y., & Gordon-Becker, S. (2003). Introduction to Human Factors Engineering: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA.

Last updated by Electives Secretariat 07/07/2010