Course Level: Beginner
Format Requirements: The course will consist of alternating bursts of didactic learning (lectures), group discussion, and brief, hands-on exercises. The course documents will include recommended resources for all presented topics. This is not a programming course. Basic markup will be introduced and discussed, along with some pros and cons of different applications and languages, but participants do not need any background in computer programming. Participants are strongly encouraged to bring a wireless-enabled laptop or tablet.
Background: Designing and evaluating health information technology applications such as electronic health records, patient portals, online decision support tools, health education websites and mobile apps requires not only grounding in traditional health fields and behavioral and decision sciences, but also awareness of theory and methods from fields such as human factors, industrial engineering and design. Online health applications have particular possibilities and constraints for their visual design, technical features and usability. Making use of these possibilities and designing for these constraints increases the likelihood that an approach will succeed. This course is designed as a practical, broad overview for researchers and practitioners who may wish to be involved in projects involving health information technology applications.
Description and Objectives: This course is designed to provide a broad overview of skills relevant to leading or participating in projects to design or evaluate health information technology applications.
After the course, participants will:
- Understand how to incorporate technical requirements in user needs assessments.
- Be able to identify differences between novice and expert users and think about different design strategies for different types of users.
- Know more about designing for usability, accessibility and security, including how to incorporate attention to these issues in project timelines.
- Be familiar with Web 2.0 and social media features and how they are currently used in health applications.
- Understand the basics of evaluation techniques relevant to online health applications, including usability testing and methods such as eye-tracking and physiological measurement of emotion.
- Be familiar with evaluation techniques for both lab and field testing, including different methods and approaches for online surveys.
- Be familiar with design and evaluation issues to do with mobile apps.
- Be able to communicate effectively with designers, developers and programmers.