A combined introductory course on human–computer interaction and computer graphics

In this paper, we report on five years of teaching experience with our introductory course “Graphical-Interactive Systems”, which covers basic topics of human–computer interaction and computer graphics for students in the third year of their major in computer science. Although the two fields of human–computer interaction and computer graphics are usually taught in different courses, we believe that they have much in common and can therefore be integrated into a combined course. “Graphical-Interactive Systems” builds a foundation for advanced courses in both disciplines and achieves an efficient use of teaching time due to synergy effects.