Special Projects in Undergraduate Human Factors Courses: Evaluation of Power Plant Boiler Control Interface

Abstract

A special project involving a campus utility plant HMI evaluation was offered to a group of undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory human factors class. Fifteen out of 55 students enrolled in the course volunteered for the special project. Specific subtasks were created in collaboration with the plant management and allocated to subgroups of students. These subtasks were scheduled to coincide with corresponding topics in the course. Evaluated by both the educational outcomes and the usefulness of the project deliverables to the power plant, the project clearly represents a beneficial situation to both students and instructors. The value of hands-on experience with task analysis, control room design, and HMI design to the students is undisputable. This case is also exemplary in terms of providing a service to the University community as a byproduct of the academic pursuits.