Active learning ideas
Developing user interfaces (UI) is where students consider the human element of digital solutions. This topic covers the design cycle from low-fidelity sketches to high-fidelity interactive prototypes. Students explore principles of usability, such as consistency and feedback, and accessibility, ensuring that solutions are inclusive of people with disabilities. In the Australian context, this also means considering the diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds of users, including First Nations people.
Activity 01
One student acts as the 'user' and is blindfolded or wears blurred glasses, while another acts as the 'screen reader' for a paper prototype. This helps students experience the importance of high-contrast design and clear labelling for accessibility.
What constitutes an intuitive user interface?
Activity 02
Students pin their hand-drawn wireframes to the wall. Peers move around with sticky notes to provide feedback based on 'Nielsen's Heuristics', such as 'Visibility of system status' or 'User control and freedom'.
How do we design for accessibility?
Activity 03
Students find a popular Australian website (e.g., a bank or government site) and identify three features that support accessibility and one that might hinder it. They share their findings with a partner to discuss how they would improve the design.
Why is prototyping a critical step in development?
A few notes on teaching this unit
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
UI design is just about making the app look 'pretty'.
Students often focus on colours and fonts over functionality. Using 'user testing' sessions where peers try to complete a specific task on a prototype helps students see that usability and layout are more important than aesthetics.
Accessibility is only for people who are completely blind.
Many students forget about colour blindness, low literacy, or situational disabilities (like using a phone in bright sunlight). Active investigations into diverse user personas help broaden their understanding of inclusive design.
Methods used in this brief
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