Program Overview

Course Overview

The User Experience Engineering course, SWEN 303, addresses the engineering of user experiences (UX), presenting principles and guidelines for design and covering a range of design and engineering processes. It also presents techniques for user testing of applications, digital systems, and physical devices.

Course Details

• Dates: 6 July 2026 to 8 November 2026
• Starts: Trimester 2
• Fees:
  • NZ$1,269.45 for domestic students
  • NZ$5,806.35 for international students
• Lecture Start Times:
  • Monday 2.10pm
  • Wednesday 2.10pm
• Campus: Kelburn
• Estimated Workload: Approximately 150 hours or 8.3 hours per week for 18 weeks
• Points: 15

Entry Restrictions

• Prerequisites: COMP 261 or SWEN 221
• Corequisites: None
• Restrictions: INFO 307 (students who have already passed this course cannot take SWEN 303)

Taught By

The School of Engineering and Computer Science — Faculty of Science and Engineering

Disclaimer

This course outline may be subject to change.

Key Dates

Important dates, including mid-trimester teaching breaks, can be found on the University's key dates calendar. Assessment dates will be announced once the course has begun.

About This Course

Designed for in-person study, with a strong recommendation to attend lectures on campus for the most benefit. Most assessment items, tutorials, seminars, labs, and workshops will only be available in person, with exceptions considered on a case-by-case basis.

Course Learning Objectives

Students who pass this course should be able to:

1. Understand principles of usability engineering.
2. Develop user interfaces for desktop and mobile environments.
3. Design a user interface following accepted principles and guidelines within the context of wider software engineering processes.
4. Create user models that describe who a user experience is being designed for and what those users want and need.
5. Evaluate the user experience of a prototype interface, interpret the results to improve the design, and critically reflect on their own work.

How This Course Is Taught

Offered in-person, with the possibility of taking the course entirely online for those who cannot attend on campus due to living outside Wellington or other approved reasons. The course includes two lectures per week, with tutorials and drop-in help desks scheduled based on student need.

Assessment

• Assignment 1: 30%
• Assignment 2: 40%
• Group Project: 30%

Mandatory Requirements

To pass this course, students must achieve an overall pass mark of at least 50% and contribute in good faith to the final group project, as evidenced by regular interaction with the project group and keeping team commitments.

Group Work

The group project will be undertaken in groups of 4-6 students, with 15% of the 30% group project mark based on a group grade.

Lecture Times and Rooms

Specific lecture times and rooms will be provided for the duration of the course.

What You'll Need to Get

No specific texts or equipment are required for this course.

Past Versions of This Course

Older versions of this course may be accessible through the course archive.