This program is tentative and subject to change.

Fri 20 Feb 2026 16:00 - 16:20 at Meeting Room 100 - Natural Language, Code, and Usability

Usability is a crucial aspect of software development, yet it is not emphasized enough in computing education. Studies show that poor usability leads to significant financial losses, with businesses in the United States alone incurring $62 billion in annual losses due to subpar user experiences. Despite its importance, usability principles are not sufficiently taught to computing students. This experience report presents HeuristicBuilder, an interactive multimodal educational tool designed to teach Jakob Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics. These principles are essential for designing user-friendly interactive systems, but often pose challenges in practical application. HeuristicBuilder addresses this by combining theoretical learning via reading and quizzes with practical UI design exercises. The tool was evaluated with 224 participants, showing significant improvements in both theoretical understanding and practical application of usability principles. Participants found HeuristicBuilder to be valuable and effective, preferring its interactive approach over traditional methods such as reading books or online courses. In conclusion, HeuristicBuilder proves effective in educating users on usability heuristics through engaging and accessible means. Its positive reception highlights its potential to enhance usability education and user experience design practices. Future enhancements aim to further optimize interactive learning and practical application, advancing skills among interaction designers and usability practitioners.

This program is tentative and subject to change.

Fri 20 Feb

Displayed time zone: Central Time (US & Canada) change

15:40 - 17:00
Natural Language, Code, and Usability Papers at Meeting Room 100
15:40
20m
Talk
Describing Functionality in Natural Language May Improve Decomposition Behaviors
Papers
Matthew Burns Utah State University, Wesley Edwards Utah State University, John Edwards Utah State University
16:00
20m
Talk
HeuristicBuilder: An Interactive Multimodal Approach to Teaching Usability Heuristics
Papers
Wajdi Aljedaani Saud Data & Artifical Intelligent Authority, Marcelo Medeiros Eler University of São Paulo, Parthasarathy PD BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa Campus, Will Witherspoon University of North Texas, Andrew Pamer University of North Texas
16:20
20m
Talk
You Don't Need a Data Center to Explain in Plain English! Comparing Open-Source and Propriety LLMs for EiPE Grading
Papers
Eddy Jiang University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Max Fowler University of Illinois
16:40
20m
Talk
Systematically Thinking about the Complexity of Code Structuring Exercises at Introductory Level
Papers
Georgiana Haldeman Colgate University, Peter Ohmann College of St. Benedict / St. John's University, Paul Denny The University of Auckland