Stimulating Entrepreneurship in Teaching Human Computer Interaction

TL;DR

This paper proposes integrating entrepreneurial tools like the Product Market Fit canvas into Human Computer Interaction courses to make understanding user-centered design more engaging and practical for students.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach of using entrepreneurial frameworks to enhance HCI education, bridging theory and practice for better student engagement.

Findings

Students found the entrepreneurial approach more engaging.

The course saw increased interest in user-centered design topics.

Students gained practical skills in applying entrepreneurial tools.

Abstract

Software development requires understanding of users, user needs, user tasks and context in which they are operating. These skills are familiar to entrepreneurs, product managers, and marketing experts. However, our teaching experience suggests that students generally find these topics less attractive as they perceive them to be far too theoretical and thus, not as useful. During the years of teaching the Human Computer Interaction course we have noticed students' preferences for learning technology oriented methods, or what we refer to topics belonging to solution domain. The changes in the modernized HCI course introduced Product Market Fit canvas in order to bridge the gap between 'theoretical' and 'practical' part of the course.