The Challenges of Teaching HCI Online: It’s Mostly About Creating Community

Several studies have attempted to compare students’ performance in online classes with face-toface classes. Less attention has focused on professors’ experiences of and attitudes towards teaching online. While many professors, including human-computer interaction (HCI) educators typically supplement their face-to-face classes with an online component, few HCI classes are taught totally via the Internet. In this paper we identify challenges for teaching HCI online; these include: (i) developing relationships; (ii) showing enthusiasm; (iii) balancing time versus activities; (iv) and creating and managing meaningful design projects. We suggest some possible solutions based on our experience of online teaching and our research on online communities.