Using Citizen Science as a Theme for a User-Centered Design Course

Teaching students how to design and evaluate technology user experiences should be centered around understanding real-world user needs. In this project, students focus on a particular domain, Citizen Science, to motivate their learning of user research, prototyping, and usability testing. Citizen Science projects study phenomena in nature and the environment, such as monitoring the spread of invasive plant species or water quality. Citizen Science projects depend on volunteers to collect and submit data from local environments. Citizen Science is a compelling context for user-centered design because it involves multiple stakeholder groups, various front-end technologies (e.g., web and mobile), and information architecture. This project is scoped for a user-centered design and usability testing course for undergraduate computer science students. The course learning objectives are to (1) use research and design methods to develop an understanding of technology stakeholders and (2) apply that knowledge to create and refine design artifacts. This project takes the students through the design process of understanding users in real-world scenarios, building personas, then conducting two user research studies to inform and evaluate technology prototypes. This paper will familiarize readers with the structure of theme-based user-centered design instruction, the nature of Citizen Science projects, popular front-end Citizen Science technologies, and public Citizen Science resources.