Syllabus academic year 2010/2011
(Created 2010-07-25.)
COGNITIVE AND PHYSICAL ERGONOMICS | MAMA10 |
Credits: 5.
Grading scale: UG.
Cycle: G1
(First Cycle).
Main field: Technology.
Language of instruction: The course will be given in Swedish.
MAMA10 overlaps following cours/es: MAMA05.
Compulsory for: MD3.
Course coordinator: Arne Svensk, university instructor;, arne.svensk@certec.lth.se and Per Odenrick, professor, per.odenrick@design.lth.se.
Assessment: A passing grade will be given to students who pass individual and group assignments, and written and oral presentations of group assignments/project.
Home page: http://www.eat.lth.se.
Aim
The aim of the course is for the students to learn, early in their education, how to develop products, phenomena and environments adapted to the human physical and cognitive conditions.
Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must
- be able to define basic concepts of ergonomics.
- be able to describe how the physical and cognitive capacity can vary among different individuals.
- be able to problemize the interaction between humans, technology, situation and activity.
- be able to describe the structure, function and capacity of the human body according to ergonomic aspects.
Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must
- be able to analyse a product or phenomenon from an ergonomic perspective.
- be able to detect and identify possibilities and shortcomings in the interaction between the user and a product or phenomenon at an early stage by using methods in ergonomics, and carry out measurements and analyze results to evaluate differences between products.
- be able to find, select and prioritise relevant information from a written report with help of group members.
- be able to communicate the result from a study using text/images/sound.
Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must
- be able to take into account that people are different with a great variety of conditions.
- be able to express the attitude that humans are primary not to blame when a product or phenomenon gives high load or is hard to use, and instead see the positive challenge in trying to make products and phenomena adapted to the user.
- advocate a user-centred and participatory design process.
Contents
The course contains individual and group assignments/project and lectures/seminars that cover the following areas:
- Cognition, human abilities
- Attention. Visual and auditory perception.
- Analyses of user interfaces
- Concepts in cognitive ergonomics
- Usability
- Cognitive design
- Antropometrics and body angles
- Biomechanical calculations
- Measurement of physiological signals in the human body, for example muscle activity
- Measurement and observation of body postures, body motions and behaviour
- Analysis of measurement data in terms of for example amplitude, duration and frequency
Literature
Norman, D. A. 2002. The Design of Everyday Things. MIT Press 2002. ISBN:978-0-465-06710-7.
Mathiassen, S-E.,Munch-Ulfsfält, U., Nilsson, B. och Thornblad, H. . Ergonomi - för ett gott arbete, Prevent 2007
Material that is handed out at the beginning of the course and at the lectures and seminars.