UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2016/2017
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT2308 BBIT205 BAC1303 HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION
FULL TIME/PART TIME/DISTANCE LEARNING
SUPPLEMENTARY/ SPECIAL EXAMINATIONS
DATE: JULY, 2017 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question One & ANY OTHER TWO questions.
QUESTION ONE – Compulsory (Total Marks: 30)
a) Discuss meaning of the term Usability as used in HCI definition. (2 Marks)
b) Explain any three factors that affect usability in HCI. (6 Marks)
c) Compare the constructivist and ecological theories of perception and give examples of how
each has influenced interface design. (4 Marks)
d) Describe, with the aid of a diagram, the Extended Human Information Processing model.
(6 Marks)
e) Explain between knowledge in the world and knowledge in the head. (2 Marks)
f) (i) Differentiate “recognition rather than recall” as used in HCI. (2 marks)
(ii) Discuss areas in system design where ‘recognition’ is encouraged. (2 Marks)
(iii) Discuss areas in system design where ‘recall’ is encouraged. (2 Marks)
g) Discuss any two metaphors used in the study of HCI and clearly show their importance in
system design. (4 Marks)
QUESTION TWO – (Total Marks: 20)
a) (i)What is the aim of evaluation? (2 Marks)
(ii) Who should use evaluation? (2 Marks)
b) What is the meaning of User-centered design? (2 Marks)
c) Discuss audio and visual devices that are used in input and output devices. (2 Marks)
d) Describe two techniques for evaluation, highlighting their key points and the differences
between them. (12 Marks)
QUESTION THREE – (Total Marks: 20)
a) Discuss any four interaction styles that are applicable in computing giving its advantages and
disadvantages. (8 Marks)
b) Discuss KCA University website using Cognitive Task Analysis, GOMS.
(6 Marks)
c) Visibility and Affordance are two main HCI principles. Discuss these principles and show
their application in interface design of usable systems. (6 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR – (Total Marks: 20)
a) Why is web page design different to designing for printed media? (6 Marks)
b) What are design guidelines? Give an example of design guideline. (2 Marks)
c) Nielsen produced some design guidelines for web sites. What were three issues he covered?
(4 Marks)
d) What is meant by accessibility? (2 Marks)
e) Give three examples of how web sites can aid accessibility. (6 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE – (Total Marks: 20)
a)
(i) What is distributed cognition? (2 Marks)
(ii) An electricity power plant was redesigned so that the old system consisting of a single large
display screen which could be seen by all of a team of three operators was replaced by individual
workstation screens for operators. This worked well until there was a problem which resulted in
dangerous gases being released. The team of operators had great difficulty in finding the source
of the problem and deciding what to do.
Because they no longer have access to all the information, they have to spend time explicitly
coordinating their understanding of the situation by talking to each other. Under the old system,
the knowledge would be shared – one operator would know what was happening with another’s
area of the plant without explicit communication. Although the team’s individual responsibilities
would still have been clearly divided, the knowledge of the system would be shared.
How could the new system of individual workstations be modified to make better use of
distributed cognition? (10 Marks)
b) Explain any four facilities included in an interactive system that allows users to recover from
their mistakes. (4 Marks)
c) Discuss cognitive process that you know. (4 Marks)
