Tim, I'm currently studying the HCI-E Masters at UCL, and I am enjoying every moment of it. Ok, maybe not every moment, but I'm really happy I decided to go with UCL instead of City (my other choice).
I've put up some thoughts of my experiences on my blog, which might give you a flavor of what it's like: http://boonyew.com/interaction/category/uclic/ Another review, not done by me, is from Kevin Cheng of OK/Cancel. He took the course in 2004. http://www.ok-cancel.com/archives/article/2004/09/a-review-of-uclic.html A bit about my background, I've been working in software development for 7 years, and fell into UX work when I picked up Cooper's About Face 3 and kickedstarted a project using his Goal Directed Design methodology. That inspired me to switch gears towards more HCI work, and that led me to the Masters. UCL has a lot of good research, and a lot of ex-students I've met now work in established UX companies like Flow Interactive, Serco, Systems Concepts, Webcredible and well-known tech companies like Google. The ergonomics component provides solid grounding if you're interested in doing stuff in human factors, industrial design, etc. This module is quite practical and UCL regularly brings in practitioners from the field, which can help with networking and getting a feel of what's out there. An intensive 2-week design work is aimed at getting your hands dirty with the methods commonly applied in industry. In response to David Little's comment about the lack of research at UCL - this is totally untrue. There are a good group of strong researchers here, and some only focus on doing research alone. The lectures encourage heavy reading of literature from CHI and other established high-profile HCI-related academic conferences, and our coursework is graded against a similar quality. I would say that City offers a more hands-on, practical perspective of the field, whereas UCL gives you a very broad, historical, but essential parts of the practice. We have a fair number of practitioners here, both part-time and full- time, and I think because UCL focusses a lot on the integration and critical application of theory and practice, you may find it challenging because it causes you to see UX work in the light of many contrasting perspectives (psychology, ethnography, design, ergonomics, etc.), even with considerable amount of UX experience. While I agree that UCL's website is not as flash, it really doesn't do it justice. If you're keen to find out more, I'd be happy to help answer any queries you have. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
