LEARNING LOOPS OR ONE-OFFS? ASYMMETRIC DYNAMICS IN A PBL HCI PROTOTYPING COURSE

Interdisciplinary student teams in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) courses are often expected to
engage in iterative prototyping, testing, and refinement. In practice, however, intensive course formats
may compress design processes, with students devoting more attention to ideation and building than to
testing, analysis, and documented iteration. As a result, the learning loops intended to support evidence-
based design risk being incomplete.
This paper reports an exploratory mixed-methods baseline study from an intensive prototyping module
in a problem-based learning HCI course at Aalborg University. Twenty-one master’s students completed
pre- and post-course questionnaires, and six team artifacts were evaluated using a rubric focused on
brief compliance, evidence chains, iteration and coverage, and digital implementation.
The findings suggest a mismatch between students’ stated confidence in prototyping and testing and
their reported allocation of effort during the module. Students reported positive attitudes toward
evidence-based design and iterative practice, yet most time was allocated to concept development and
prototyping, while testing and analysis received limited attention. Artifact evaluation further indicated
that more structured concept briefs were associated with stronger evidence chains and more visible
iterative refinement, whereas more open-ended or technically demanding briefs were associated with
weaker documentation and fewer signs of testing-informed change.
Rather than treating these patterns as failures of individual students, the study points to course-design
tensions in intensive prototyping education. The paper contributes with an exploratory baseline account
of how truncated learning loops can emerge in HCI prototyping courses and outlines implications for
course design, including clearer scaffolding for testing, analysis, documentation, and balanced
participation across project phases. The paper is intended for educators who design and deliver
intensive HCI prototyping modules and want to scaffold testing, analysis, and iteration more deliberately.
Keywords: HCI education, prototyping, iterative design, design education, interdisciplinary teamwork,
reflective practice, course design.