MILESTONES: The Design and Field Evaluation of a Semi-Automated Tool for Promoting Self-Directed Learning Among Online LearnersSelf-directed learning of computational skills online poses significant challenges, particularly the lack of effective tools for tracking progress and fostering reflection. To address this, we designed and implemented MILESTONES, a semi-automated self-monitoring tool that tracks online learning sessions and organizes web resources through three visual overviews: Time Pulse, Cue-Connect, and Sortify. In a week-long field deployment study (N=17), learners found MILESTONES intuitive and effective, even without prior experience with self-monitoring. The on-demand visual overviews encouraged learners to pause, reflect, and adjust their learning habits to better align with their goals. These overviews further fostered micro-reflections - brief, spontaneous reflections during learning. We also explored the role of a companion journal, which, although used inconsistently, helped learners form and reflect on their goals after learning sessions. Our findings contribute insights for designing learner-centered semi-automatic self-monitoring tools that can cater to diverse learning needs.2025RCRimika Chaudhury et al.Simon Fraser University, Computing ScienceProgramming Education & Computational ThinkingOnline Learning & MOOC PlatformsIntelligent Tutoring Systems & Learning AnalyticsCHI
Do I Just Tap My Headset?: How Novice Users Discover Gestural Interactions with Consumer Augmented Reality ApplicationsKhurana 等人研究新手用户如何发现消费级 AR 应用中的手势交互方式，发现用户倾向于通过尝试敲击头显来触发交互。2024AKAnjali Khurana et al.Hand Gesture RecognitionAR Navigation & Context AwarenessUbiComp
“It’s Not an Issue of Malice, but of Ignorance”: Towards Inclusive Video Conferencing for Presenters Who are d/Deaf or Hard of Hearing"As video conferencing (VC) has become necessary for many professional, educational, and social tasks, people who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) face distinct accessibility barriers. We conducted studies to understand the challenges faced by DHH people during VCs and found that they struggled to easily present or communicate effectively due to accessibility limitations of VC platforms. These limitations include the lack of tools for DHH speakers to discreetly communicate their accommodation needs to the group. Based on these findings, we prototyped a suite of tools, called Erato that enables DHH speakers to be aware of their performance while speaking and remind participants of proper etiquette. We evaluated Erato by running a mock classroom case study over VC for three sessions. All participants felt more confident in their speaking ability and paid closer attention to making the classroom more inclusive while using our tool. We share implications of these results for the design of VC interfaces and human-the-the-loop assistive systems that can support users who are DHH to communicate effectively and advocate for their accessibility needs." https://doi.org/10.1145/36109012023JDJosh Urban Davis et al.Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Support (Captions, Sign Language, Vibration)Universal & Inclusive DesignUbiComp
Katika: An End-to-End System for Authoring Amateur Explainer Motion Graphics VideosExplainer motion graphics videos that use a combination of graphical elements and movement to convey a visual message are becoming increasingly popular among amateur creators in different domains. But, to author motion graphics videos, amateurs either have to face a steep learning curve with professional design tools or struggle with re-purposing slide-sharing tools that are easier to access but have limited animation capabilities. To simplify the process of motion graphics authoring, we present the design and implementation of Katika, an end-to-end system for creating shots based on a script, adding artworks and animation from a crowdsourced library, and editing the video using semi-automated transitions. Our observational study illustrates that participants (N=11) enjoyed using Katika and, within a one-hour session, managed to create an explainer motion graphics video. We identify opportunities for future HCI research to lower the barriers to entry and democratize the authoring of motion graphics videos.2022AJAmir Jahanlou et al.Simon Fraser UniversityVideo Production & EditingInteractive Narrative & Immersive StorytellingCHI
Uncovering Instructors' Diverse Practices and Perceptions: A Field Deployment of a Customization-Sharing Platform that Supports Course ManagementInstructors regularly learn and customize various feature-rich software applications to meet their unique classroom needs. Although instructors often prefer social help from colleagues to navigate this complex and time-consuming learning process, it can be difficult for them to locate relevant task-specific customizations, a challenge only exacerbated by the transition to online teaching due to COVID-19. To mitigate this, we explored how instructors could use an example-based customization sharing platform to discover, try, and appropriate their colleagues' customizations within a learning management system (LMS). Our field deployment study revealed diverse ways that ten instructors from different backgrounds used customization sharing features to streamline their workflows, improve their LMS feature awareness, and explore new possibilities for designing their courses to match student expectations. Our findings provide new knowledge about customization sharing practices, highlighting the complex interplay of expertise, software learnability, domain-specific workflows, and social perceptions.2022LVLaton Vermette et al.Simon Fraser UniversityKnowledge Management & Team AwarenessPrototyping & User TestingCHI
Gender Differences in Graphic Design Q&As: How Community and Site Characteristics Contribute to Gender Gaps in Answering QuestionsQuestion and answer (Q&A) sites can capture a range of user perspectives on using complex, feature-rich software. Little is known, however, on who is contributing to the sites. We look at contribution diversity from the perspective of gender in a domain with near gender parity: graphic design. Through content analysis of 330 answers from two popular Q&A sites and semi-structured interviews with 24 graphic designers, we examine who is contributing, what content, how the community shows appreciation towards their answers, and perceived motivations and barriers to participation. We find that despite gender balance in the field, women contribute far less frequently than men. We also see gender differences in contribution styles and user appreciation. Our interviews shed further light on how Q&A community cultures might be impacting men and women differently and how design choices made by the sites’ developers might be exacerbating these differences. We suggest implications for design for improving gender inclusivity.2020PDPatrick Marcel Joseph Dubois et al.Gender, Sexuality, and RaceCSCW
Peek-through Customization: Example-Based In-Context Sharing for Learning Management SystemsLearning to use a learning management system (LMS) can often be complex and challenging for instructors who have little time to explore the application interface. We ran formative interviews (N=10) suggesting that instructors often prefer to consult colleagues to seek examples of customizations and their explanations. Based on our findings, we designed and developed Customizer, an in-context example-based customization sharing platform that runs atop a widely-used LMS and facilitates discovery of relevant customizations shared by peers. Customizer allows instructors to experiment with shared customizations in familiar contexts by copying their course content into on-the-fly testing environments, minimizing any risk of breaking their live course setups. Our usability evaluation (N=10) showed that most users found Customizer intuitive and useful, and that its exploratory interface was helpful in a variety of use cases. Furthermore, many participants saw potential for Customizer to improve their workflows in other applications beyond educational contexts.2020LVLaton Vermette et al.K-12 Digital Education ToolsCollaborative Learning & Peer TeachingPrototyping & User TestingDIS
Where is that Feature? Designing for Cross-Device Software LearnabilityPeople increasingly access cross-device applications from their smartphones while on the go. Yet, they do not fully use the mobile versions for complex tasks, preferring the desktop version of the same application. We conducted a survey (N=77) to identify challenges when switching back and forth between devices. We discovered significant cross-device learnability issues, including that users often find exploring the mobile version frustrating, which leads to prematurely giving up on using the mobile version. Based on the findings, we created four design concepts as video prototypes to explore how to support cross-device learnability. The concepts vary in four key dimensions: the device involved, automation, temporality, and learning approach. Interviews (N=20) probing the design concepts identified individual differences affecting cross-device learning preferences, and that users are more motivated to use cross-device applications when offered the right cross-device learnability support. We conclude with future design directions for supporting seamless cross-device learnability.2020JAJessalyn Alvina et al.Knowledge Worker Tools & WorkflowsPrototyping & User TestingDIS
Creating Augmented and Virtual Reality Applications: Current Practices, Challenges, and OpportunitiesAugmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) devices are becoming easier to access and use, but the barrier to entry for creating AR/VR applications remains high. Although the recent spike in HCI research on novel AR/VR tools is promising, we lack insights into how AR/VR creators use today's state-of-the-art authoring tools as well as the types of challenges that they face. We interviewed 21 AR/VR creators, which we grouped into hobbyists, domain experts, and professional designers. Despite having a variety of motivations and skillsets, they described similar challenges in designing and building AR/VR applications. We synthesize 8 key barriers that AR/VR creators face nowadays, starting from prototyping the initial experiences to dealing with "the many unknowns" during implementation, to facing difficulties in testing applications. Based on our analysis, we discuss the importance of considering end-user developers as a growing population of AR/VR creators, how we can build learning opportunities into AR/VR tools, and the need for building AR/VR toolchains that integrate debugging and testing.2020NANarges Ashtari et al.Simon Fraser UniversityMixed Reality WorkspacesPrototyping & User TestingCHI
Learning Through Exploration: How Children, Adults, and Older Adults Interact with a New Feature-Rich ApplicationFeature-rich applications such as word processors and spreadsheets are not only being used by adults but increasingly by children and older adults as well. Learning these applications is challenging as they offer hundreds of commands throughout the interface. We investigate how newcomers from different age groups explore the user interface of a feature-rich application to determine, locate, and use relevant features. We conducted an in-lab observational study with 10 children (10-12), 10 adults (20-35) and 10 older adults (60-75) who were first-time users of Microsoft OneNote. Our results illustrate key exploration differences across age groups, including that children were careful and performed as efficiently as the adults, whereas older adults spent a longer time and repeated sequences of failed selections. Further, their exploration style was negatively influenced by their past knowledge of similar applications. We discuss design interventions to accommodate these exploration differences and to improve software onboarding for newcomers.2020SMShareen Mahmud et al.University of British ColumbiaAging-Friendly Technology DesignUniversal & Inclusive DesignUser Research Methods (Interviews, Surveys, Observation)CHI
Freedom to Personalize My Digital Classroom: Understanding Teachers' Practices and MotivationsAlthough modern classrooms are increasingly moving towards digital immersion and personalized learning, we have few insights into K-12 teachers' current practices, motivations, and barriers in setting up their digital classroom ecosystems. We interviewed 20 teachers on their process of discovering and integrating a vast range of productivity software and educational platforms in their classrooms, with a particular focus on how they personalize the UI and content of these tools (e.g., with plugins, templates, or option menus). We found that teachers largely depended on their own experimentation and professional circles to find, personalize, and troubleshoot software tools to support student needs or their own preferences. Teachers were often hesitant to attempt more advanced personalizations due to concerns over student confusion and increased troubleshooting load. We derive several design implications for HCI to better support teachers in sharing their personalized setups and helping their students benefit from digital immersion.2019LVLaton Vermette et al.Simon Fraser UniversityK-12 Digital Education ToolsPrototyping & User TestingCHI
Mismatch of Expectations: How Modern Learning Resources Fail Conversational ProgrammersConversational programmers represent a class of learners who are not required to write any code, yet try to learn programming to improve their participation in technical conversations. We carried out interviews with 23 conversational programmers to better understand the challenges they face in technical conversations, what resources they choose to learn programming, how they perceive the learning process, and to what extent learning programming actually helps them. Among our key findings, we found that conversational programmers often did not know where to even begin the learning process and ended up using formal and informal learning resources that focus largely on programming syntax and logic. However, since the end goal of conversational programmers was not to build artifacts, modern learning resources usually failed these learners in their pursuits of improving their technical conversations. Our findings point to design opportunities in HCI to invent learner-centered approaches that address the needs of conversational programmers and help them establish common ground in technical conversations.2018AWApril Y. Wang et al.Simon Fraser UniversityOnline Learning & MOOC PlatformsUser Research Methods (Interviews, Surveys, Observation)Prototyping & User TestingCHI
Investigating How Online Help and Learning Resources Support Children's Use of 3D Design Software3D design software is increasingly available to children through libraries, maker spaces, and for free on the web. This unprecedented availability has the potential to unleash children’s creativity in cutting edge domains, but is limited by the steep learning curve of the software. Unfortunately, there is little past work studying the breakdowns faced by children in this domain—most past work has focused on adults in professional settings. In this paper, we present a study of online learning resources and help-seeking strategies available to children starting out with 3D design software. We find that children face a range of challenges when trying to learn 3D design independently—tutorials present instructions at a granularity that leads to overlooked and incorrectly-performed actions, and online help-seeking is largely ineffective due to challenges with query formulation and evaluating found information. Based on our findings, we recommend design directions for next-generation help and learning systems tailored to children.2018NHNathaniel Hudson et al.Autodesk Research, Ross VideoDesktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationMakerspace CultureCHI
Social CheatSheet: An Interactive Community-Curated Information Overlay for Web ApplicationsUsers can often find it difficult to sift through dense help pages, tutorials, Q&A sites, blogs, and wikis to locate useful task-specific instructions for feature-rich applications. We present Social CheatSheet, an interactive information overlay that can appear atop any existing web application and retrieve relevant step-by-step instructions and tutorials curated by other users. Based on results of our formative study, the system offers several features for users to search, browse, filter, and bookmark community-generated help content and to ask questions and clarifications. Furthermore, Social CheatSheet includes embedded curation features for users to generate their own annotated notes and tutorials that can be kept private or shared with the user community. A weeklong deployment study with 15 users showed that users found Social CheatSheet to be useful and they were able to easily both add their own curated content and locate content generated by other users. The majority of users wanted to keep using the system beyond the deployment. We discuss the potential of Social CheatSheet as an application-independent platform driven by community curation efforts to lower the barriers in finding relevant help and instructions.2018LVLaton Vermette et al.Overcoming BarriersCSCW