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Design of User Experience Minor

College of Liberal Arts / Technical Communication and Interaction Design
Undergraduate minor

About The Program

The Design of User Experience minor is a 20-credit program that provides students with knowledge and skills in designing and improving user experience of information products. Through this minor, students acquire analytical thinking and hands-on skills to work in a wide range of industries, particularly in information technology services and digital innovation.

This minor can be an excellent complement to a degree in communication, business, computer science and psychology.

Learn more at our upcoming information session on February 19 at 11 a.m.

Student outcomes

Students completing the minor in Design of User Experience will:

  • understand fundamental concepts in design of user experience
  • differentiate usability and user experience, testing and design
  • utilize design thinking in the discovery of design solutions
  • gather, organize, and distill user requirements
  • adopt effective methods in exploring, analyzing, and evaluating design solutions
  • apply user experience knowledge and skills in major area of study

How to enroll

Current students: Declare this program

Once you’re admitted as an undergraduate student and have met any further admission requirements your chosen program may have, you may declare a major or declare an optional minor.

Future students: Apply now

Apply to Metropolitan State: Start the journey toward your Design of User Experience Minor now. Learn about the steps to enroll or, if you have questions about what Metropolitan State can offer you, request information, visit campus or chat with an admissions counselor.

Get started on your Design of User Experience Minor

Program eligibility requirements

In order to be eligible for declaring this minor, you must be admitted to the university as an undergraduate student and be accepted to a specific major or degree program.

Courses and Requirements

SKIP TO COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Up to eight (8) credits may be transferred.

Transfer courses may be applicable to minor requirements. The university's degree audit system (DARS) will specify transfer courses that are directly equivalent to minor requirements; other transfer courses must be approved by the coordinator of the Design of User Experience minor.

Requirements (16 credits)

+ Required (12 credits)

This course is designed to provide an introduction to Learner Experience Design, which brings together principles of design and learning to create effective interactive training and learning experiences. The course draws on fields such as instructional design, user experience design (UXD), and learning and development. Students learn concepts and techniques to prepare them to analyze learners and learning situations and to choose appropriate strategies in order to create interactive, engaging, and effective learning experiences

Full course description for Foundations of Learner Experience Design

This course focuses on usability and user experience for technical and information products. Students learn concepts, principles, processes, and methods of usability and user experience. Students work in teams and conduct a usability study systematically to improve an information product. Topics also include usability in business and organizational settings, usability workflow and governance. Students will also interact with user experience professionals.

Full course description for Usability and User Experience

Interaction design is an interdisciplinary field integrating theories and methodologies across several disciplines such as computer science, cognitive psychology, technical communication, user experience, human factors, information technology and engineering design. In this course, students are introduced to the theoretical knowledge of and practical experience with concepts of interaction design, design theory and techniques, and implementation and evaluation of interfaces. Topics covered include: interaction design, human-computer interaction, prototyping, usability evaluation, universal design, multimodal interfaces, and virtual reality. In addition to lectures, students will work on individual assignments and team projects to design, implement, and evaluate various interactive systems and user interfaces.

Full course description for Interaction Design for User Experience

+ Electives (4 credits)

This course introduces students to the principles, processes, and techniques of front-end Web development. Students gain solid knowledge and practical skills in HTML, CSS, website genres, design patterns, Web writing, and usability. Students will analyze and build websites. Students must already possess basic satisfactory digital literacy, such as managing files and folders, and adding and removing programs.

Full course description for Writing and Designing for the Web I

This course builds on knowledge and skills learned in WRIT 373 (e.g., HTML, CSS, web writing) and expands training of technical skills and Web development strategy. Advanced topics include content strategy, responsive design for mobile interfaces, information architecture, user experience, and extensive training of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery. Elements of Web strategy and collaborative work are also covered. Students use professional software tools. Students must possess intermediate or advanced digital skills.

Full course description for Writing and Designing for the Web II

This course focuses on how to design and implement information services over the Internet from the client side. The course focuses on both usability and client-side scripting. Topics include the principles, strategies and policies of web page design, including the rules of good interface design, human factors, ethical concerns and information security. Through labs and programming projects, students also learn how to use current scripting and markup languages and how to employ state-of-the-art tools to embed interactive pages into Web-based applications.

Full course description for Web Design and Implementation

This course studies the principles and practices of multimedia design and production. Students learn about planning, organizing and managing a multimedia production. The class works through various stages of production using several multimedia authoring tools including: screen layout and interface design; creation and modification of graphic elements; project layout, design and navigation; scripting (programming).

Full course description for Multimedia Design and Programming

This course is concerned with the impact communication technologies have had and continue to have on human societies. The course begins with a brief examination of two technologies that have had a profound impact on how people think about communication. It looks at the background and impact of current technologies. And it also looks at new and emerging technologies - such as hypermedia, neural nets, virtual reality - speculating about how these technologies will change people in the near future and later in the twenty-first century.

Full course description for Impacts of Mediated Communication

This course covers topics that span the full range of specializations within the field of cognitive psychology; such as attention, learning, memory, thinking and problem solving, decision making, language, intelligence and creativity. Applications of this information to education, business and mental health are provided. This course is well-suited to students interested in education, as well as psychology, and is often preparation for graduate study in psychology or education.

Full course description for Cognitive Psychology