Additional resources
Additional resources
MOOC helps participants understand how to design and evaluate interactive systems, combining HCI fundamentals with emerging AI-driven interactions.
Course description
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is the academic field that studies how people design, use, and experience interactive technologies. Since its emergence in the early 1980s as a scholarly discipline at the intersection of cognitive psychology, computer science, and design, HCI has become one of the most influential research areas in computing. Every interactive system a student will encounter (ex. a smartphone, a search engine, a voice assistant, a car dashboard, a conversational AI) is the product of choices informed, directly or indirectly, by decades of HCI research.
The opening module of the course builds the intellectual foundations of the field. It starts with the historical emergence of HCI and the reasons it exists as a discipline, then moves through the cognitive and perceptual characteristics of the human user, the main interaction paradigms that have defined the field, the classical usability principles that organize design practice, the user-centered design process, and the empirical methods used to evaluate interactive systems.
The second module brings students to the current research frontier, where the classical foundations are being tested and extended by generative AI, conversational agents, immersive media, and ubiquitous computing. The module opens with the general problem of human-AI interaction and the recently codified design guidelines for it, then examines the specific challenges of explainability and trust, conversational and voice interfaces, immersive and mixed reality, ubiquitous and wearable computing, and closes with a dedicated treatment of ethics, fairness, and accessibility in interactive AI.
The closing module takes foundations and frontier topics into real organizational and social settings. It treats UX as an organizational capability, service design as the orchestration of end-to-end customer journeys, accessibility and inclusive design as both ethical and legal commitments and then zooms in on three high-impact applied domains (i.e., healthcare, education, and the future of human-computer collaboration) where HCI has become even more important.
The course is divided into three modules, guiding participants through a structured learning path.
MODULE 1 - Foundations of HCI
- Introduction to HCI: History, Definitions, and Why It Matters
- The Human Side: Perception, Cognition, and Memory in Interaction
- Interaction Paradigms: From Command Line to Natural User Interfaces
- Usability Principles and Heuristics for Design
- User-Centered Design and the Design Thinking Process
- Evaluating Interactive Systems: Methods and Metrics
Module 2 - Frontier Topics in HCI
- Human-AI Interaction: Principles and Guidelines
- Explainability, Trust, and Transparency in AI Systems
- Conversational Interfaces, Chatbots, and Large Language Models
- Voice User Interfaces and Multimodal Interaction
- Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality Interfaces
- Ubiquitous Computing, Wearables, and the Internet of Things
- Ethics, Fairness, and Accessibility in Interactive AI Systems
Module 3 - Applied HCI
- UX Strategy and the Design-Led Organization
- Service Design and the End-to-End Customer Journey
- Accessibility and Inclusive Design in Practice
- HCI in Healthcare: From Electronic Records to Patient-Facing AI
- HCI in Education: Learning Technologies and Human Factors
- The Future of Work: Human-Computer Collaboration and Agentic Systems
Each module includes videos, video transcripts, interactive activities, infographics, readings, and self-assessment quizzes.
Total workload of the course: 50 hours
This MOOC was produced as part of the Edvance project – Digital Education Hub per la Cultura Digitale Avanzata. The project is funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU, Component 1, Investment 3.4 “Didattica e competenze universitarie avanzate".
Intended Learning Outcomes
By actively participating in this MOOC, you will achieve different intended learning outcomes (ILOs).
- Explain the intellectual origins of HCI and situate current debates in a historical trajectory that runs from command-line interfaces through graphical user interfaces to conversational and agentic AI.
- Describe the human cognitive, perceptual, and motor capabilities that constrain interactive system design, and use these models to reason about why certain interfaces work and others fail.
- Apply established usability heuristics and design principles to the analysis and critique of real interactive products.
- Identify the key stages of the user-centered design process and the empirical evaluation methods appropriate to each stage.
- Discuss the design challenges specific to human-AI interaction, including trust, explainability, algorithmic aversion, and appropriate reliance.
- Analyze the user experience implications of emerging interaction modalities, such as conversational, voice, immersive, and ubiquitous.
- Evaluate the ethical and accessibility dimensions of interactive AI systems using contemporary frameworks.
- Translate HCI knowledge into applied settings, including product organizations, healthcare, education, and collaborative work with autonomous systems. effectiveness.
Prerequisites
No formal knowledge is required.
Activities
Throughout the course, you will find activities to help consolidate your understanding, to practice translating abstract concepts into practical applications in the real-world, and to hone your skills relating to. Furthermore, at the end of each week, you will encounter a Reflection Point.
Assessment
Your final grade for the course will be based on the results of your answers to the assessed quizzes. You have an unlimited number of attempts at each quiz, but you must wait 15 minutes before you can try again. You will have successfully completed the course if you score 60% (or higher) in each one of the assessed quizzes. The maximum score possible for each quiz is given at the beginning of the quiz. You can view your score in the quiz on your last attempt or on the 'Grades' page.
Certificate
You can achieve a certificate in the form of an Open Badge for this course, if you reach at least 60% of the total score in each one of the assessed quizzes and fill in the final survey.
Once you have completed the required tasks, you will be able to access ‘Get the Open Badge’ and start issuing the badge. Instructions on how to access the badge will be sent to your e-mail address.
The Badge does not confer any academic credit, grade or degree.
Information about fees and access to materials
The course is delivered in online mode and is available free of charge.
Course faculty
Michele Russo
michele.russo@sdabocconi.it
Fellow, SDA Bocconi School of Management
Recent publications
RUSSO M., PRIX S., GOERGEN J., DE BELLIS E., The 3 Types of Customers Who Buy Smart Products—and How to Market to ThemHarvard Business Review, 4 Novembre, 2025
GABBI G., TONINI D., RUSSO M.A Novel Supervised-Unsupervised Approach for Past-Due PredictionRisk Management Magazine Aifirm, 2024, vol.19, no. 02, pp.4-21
CASELLI S., GABBI G., DE ROSSI L., ABBATEMARCO N., RUSSO M., MORETTI S., For a digital euro that citizens will embrace - Per un euro digitale che piaccia ai cittadini2025, SDA Bocconi Insight, Milano, Italia
TAVA L. V., RUSSO M.IDRO - Negotiation Exercise2023, The Case Centre, Gran Bretagna
Lorenzo Diaferia
lorenzo.diaferia@sdabocconi.it
Lecturer, SDA Bocconi School of Management
Recent publications
DE ROSSI L., DIAFERIA L.Dall’hype tecnologico alla realtà: l’applicabilità a tre dimensioniEconomia & Management, 2024, no. 4, pp.19-26
DIAFERIA L., DE ROSSI L., SALVIOTTI G., AI Management. Strategie e Approcci in AziendaEgea, Milano, Italia, 2024
ARMENI P., POLAT I., DE ROSSI L., DIAFERIA L., MEREGALLI S., GATTI A., Exploring the potential of digital therapeutics: An assessment of progress and promiseDigital Health, 2024, vol.10
DIAFERIA L., Qui la penna, ChatGPT! L’AI generativa alla prova del testoEconomia & Management, 2023, no. 3, pp.72-77
ARMENI P., POLAT I., DE ROSSI L., DIAFERIA L., MEREGALLI S., GATTI A., Digital Twins in Healthcare: Is It the Beginning of a New Era of Evidence-Based Medicine? A Critical ReviewJournal of Personalized Medicine, 2022, vol.12, no. 8, pp.1255
CENNAMO C., DIAFERIA L., GAUR A., SALVIOTTI G., Assessing Incumbents’ Risk of Digital Platform DisruptionMIS Quarterly Executive, 2022, vol.21, no. 1, pp.55-74
Contact details
If you have any enquiries about the course or if you need technical assistance please contact pok@polimi.it. For further information, see FAQ page.