The HCI major and minor require four 9-unit (or more) electives, which need to be approved by the HCI undergraduate program director. Undergraduate students in the HCI programs must submit all electives through EASY, the HCII's internal academic audit system. 

This page lists some of the pre-approved electives for the HCI major and minor. This list is not exhaustive and there are many other accepted electives university-wide. 

Other courses may be approved as well, provided that they have HCI-relevant content and extend what the student would do in their primary major (for this reason, basic courses in the student's primary major typically are not approved as electives).

The general rules on HCI electives are:

1. They need to be HCI relevant and

2. If offered in your primary major’s department they need to be 300-level or higher.

Even if a course has a graduate number, it can be used as an undergraduate elective if it is open to undergraduate students.

Pre-approved Electives

05-xxx: All HCI courses with an 05 prefix are pre-approved as electives, however core courses cannot double-count as an elective. If you have questions about any other HCI core course counting as an elective, please contact the Undergraduate Programs Director. Please remember that you CANNOT use a 200-level course from the below list if it is from your primary major department. 

  • 08-732: Law of Computer Technology
  • 08-761: Information Security and Privacy
  • 10-301: Introduction to Machine Learning
  • 10-315: Introduction to Machine Learning (SCS Majors)
  • 11-411: Natural Language Processing
  • 15-390: Entrepreneurship for CS
  • 15-437: Web Applications Development 
  • 15-462: Computer Graphics
  • 15-465: Animation Art and Technology
  • 16-264: Humanoids
  • 16-467: Human Robotics Interaction
  • 16-899: Special Topics: Robotic Assistive Technology for Nursing and Health Care
  • 36-202: Methods for Statistics and Data Science 
  • 36-309: Experimental Design in Behavioral and Social Sciences
  • 45-881: Entrepreneurial Thought and Action
  • 48-510: Digital Studio
  • 48-739: Making Things interactive
  • 51-327: Introduction to Web Design
  • 51-359: Prototyping Tools for Embodying UX Design
  • 51-367: Design Center: Computational Thinking 
  • 51-379: Information Interaction and Perception
  • 51-744: Research Methods for Human Centered Design
  • 51-785: Designing for Service
  • 51-796: Information Design for Mobile Interface
  • 51-831: Design Center: Methodology of Visualization 
  • 53-609: Game Design
  • 53-831: Building Virtual Worlds
  • 60-414: Advanced ETB: Animation Art & Technology
  • 70-311: Organizational Behavior
  • 70-415: Introduction to Entrepreneurship
  • 76-887: Online Information Design (same as 76-784)
  • 85-211: Cognitive Psychology 
  • 85-241: Social Psychology 
  • 85-310: Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
  • 85-712: Cognitive Modeling
  • 90-732: Information and Communication Technologies
  • 90-845: Social Enterprise Incubator
  • 95-788: Planning for an IT Start-up
  • 95-808: IT Project Management