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Divisions, Departments, and Degree Programs .:

Select One Anthropology Division of Biological Sciences Chemistry Communication Studies Computer Science Economics English Environmental Studies Geography Geosciences History Liberal Studies Mathematical Sciences Military Science Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures Native American Studies Philosophy Physics and Astronomy Political Science Psychology Sociology

Additional Programs .:

Select One African American Studies Asian Studies Central and Southwest Asian Studies Program Creative Writing Program Film Studies Human and Family Development Minor Intercultural Youth and Family Development Program (M.A.) Irish Studies Program International Development Studies Latin American Studies Linguistics Non-Profit Administration Minor P.E.A.S Program Pre-Engineering Pre-Law Pre-Medical Sciences Pre-Nursing Religious Studies Wildlife Biology Program Women's and Gender Studies

Projects, Centers and Institutes.:

Select One Avian Science Center Center for Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics Center for Ethics (non strictly CAS, but closely affiliated) Center for Riverine Science Flathead Lake (Yellow Bay) Biological Station (affiliated program) Institute for Medicine and Humanities (not strictly CAS, but closely affiliated) Multicultural Learning Solutions Paleontology Center Stella Duncan Memorial Research Institute Shafizadeh Rocky Mountain Center for Wood and Carbohydrate Chemistry The Writing Center

Contact: Dean Chris Comer
LA 136, Missoula, MT 59812
Telephone: 243-2632
Fax: 406-243-4076

Office Location:
Office Telephone: (406) 243-4618
E-mail: yolanda.reimer@umontana.edu

Field Of Study:

Human-Computer Interaction; User Interface Design; Studio Method of Teaching; Notetaking Applications; PIM (Personal Information Management)

Research Interests:

I am currently working on a three-year NSF Collaborative Research Award (No. IIS-0725145) entitled Investigating and Refining the Studio Experience as a Method for Teaching Human-Computer Interaction. This award is a collaborative effort between myself and researchers at Virginia Tech and the University of Oregon. Our research focus is to discover how the Studio approach to design, which is commonly used in Schools of Architecture and Industrial Design, can be applied to teach User Interface (UI) design within Computer Science departments. During the past two years we have been gathering data from my UI design course to help us better understand how students most effectively engage in the process of design and how we can encourage and facilitate that process using a variety of classroom techniques. Upon analyzing that data, we will be formulating new curriculum changes to be implemented and evaluated during the spring of 2010. Our website for this research can be found at http://www.studiocollaborative.soe.vt.edu/index.htm

I also continue work on my NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award (Grant No. 0545681). The goal of this five-year research project is to study how the process of notetaking is changing for students in higher education, and how we might better support this emerging paradigm by offering critical software support. Most recently, we have been working on the design and development of a software application prototype called GIG (Global Information Gatherer). The GIG prototype allows users to view and edit a variety of different file types from within one seamless interface, has integrated Web browsing functionality and notetaking support, and provides remote file access. During the spring semester 2009, we distributed GIG to my UI design class for more extensive user feedback. We are currently evaluating that feedback and using it to build an updated version of the GIG prototype.

 

Courses:

CS476/576 User Interface Design / Human-Computer Interaction

An essential aspect of designing useful and usable products­—whether kitchen appliances, or buildings, or software systems—is continual focus on the needs and behaviors of the end-users. This course introduces you to key concepts of human behavior and principle elements of usable design, and will help you develop a critical eye for assessing the usability of everyday objects. You will engage in Usability Engineering processes as you work towards developing interactive software solutions, with a special focus on User Centered Design (UCD). You will gain experience with requirements analysis, prototype implementation, and evaluation, all while participating in regular design “crit” (critiques) sessions with your peers. We spend the semester working together in a studio-like environment to develop design solutions for real-world applications, and we focus early and often on end users throughout the entire development cycle.

Selected Publications:

 

• Reimer, Y.J., Bubnash, M., Hagedal, M., & Wolf, P. (2009). Helping Students with Information Fragmentation, Assimilation and Notetaking. Proceedings of the 2009 Joint International Conference on Digital Libraries, Austin, Texas, June 2009, pp. 15-18.
  
• Reimer, Y.J., Brimhall, E., Cao, C., and O’Reilly, K. (May 2009). Empirical User Studies Inform the Design of an E-Notetaking and Information Assimilation System for Students in Higher Education, Computers & Education Journal 52, pp. 898-913. DOI information: 10.1016/j.compedu.2008.12.013
  
• Reimer, Y.J., Brimhall, E., & Cao, C. (2007). Synergy Between Education and Research in a Studio-based User Interface Design Class. Proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Frontiers in Education: Computer Science and Computer Engineering, Las Vegas, Nevada, June 2007, pp. 47-53.
  
• Reimer, Y.J., Brimhall, E., and Sherve, L. (2006). A Study of Student Notetaking and Software Design Implications. Proceedings of the Fifth IASTED International Conference on Web-based Education, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, January 2006, pp. 189-195.
  
• Reimer, Y.J., and Douglas, S.A. (2004). Ethnography, Scenario-Based Observational Usability Study, and Other Reviews Inform the Design of a Web-based E-notebook. Int. J. Human-Computer Interaction, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 403-426.
• Reimer, Y.J., and Holmes, M. (2004). Developing Electronic Portfolio Software for Assessment Purposes. In Proceedings of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, Chicago, IL, October 2004.
• Reimer, Y.J., and Douglas, S.A. (2003). Teaching HCI Design with the Studio Approach. Computer Science Education Journal, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 191-205.
• Reimer, Y.J., and Douglas, S.A. (2003). Implementation Challenges Associated with Developing a Web-based E-notebook. Journal of Digital Information (JoDI), Vol. 4, No. 3. Available at: http://jodi.tamu.edu/Articles/v04/i03/JacobsReimer/

 

 

Professional Experience:

Andersen Consulting, 1990-1994.