Courses & Tutorials

The AfriCHI’27 Tutorials and Courses provide opportunities for members of the African HCI community to extend their knowledge in methods, design, or professional skills related to Human-Computer Interaction.  In line with the conference theme, “People Place and Possibilities”, the AfriCHI 2027 conference, which has been approved for publication in the ACM International Conference Proceedings Series (ICPS), aims to create a space where AfriCHI attendees have the opportunity to learn from diverse voices and to see HCI in new ways that center African perspectives. We particularly seek courses that foreground African research with an eye toward citational justice and recognition of our contributions to the field of human-computer interaction.

As researchers and educators, we have the opportunity to shape how the next generation of technologists on our continent develop, critique, evaluate, and use technology. The Courses track is designed for exactly this purpose: an opportunity for us to design short courses. As we think about how we build a pluralist society and ensure that African dignity and agency are not lost in a fast-moving, tech-addicted world, we call on all academics and industry experts with experience in the different aspects of human-computer interaction to apply.

Tutorials and Courses can range in length based on topic from one to four hours, offered by one or more people with relevant experience in that area. They may entail tutorials or practical instruction in a specific aspect of (for example) mobile development or an immersive tutorial on a specific HCI method, tool, or software. Longer programs may entail master classes on a specific topic of broad interest to the AfriCHI community.

Areas of Interest

Tutorials and Courses  might cover (but are not limited to) methods, design, or professional skills

• African perspectives on foundational concepts of HCI research and practice
• Specialized courses with significant depth in specific established and/or emerging areas of research and practice, including the various subfields relevant to the SIGCHI community
• Tools and methods courses that offer hands-on practical skill development in methodologies, technologies, research/design/development approaches, etc.
• Academic or professional meta-skills such as speaking to the press, writing grant proposals, or reviewing and writing papers for SIGCHI conferences

In line with the theme of this year, and the rapidly changing landscape of computing and its impact on society, we strongly encourage professionals with expertise in the following areas to consider submitting a tutorial

1. African Design Theory and Practice
2. Design Justice, Pedagogy of Liberation, Literacy, Empowerment
3. Critical Engagement with Emerging Technologies 
4. African Perspectives on Cybersecurity, Digital Health, Teaching with AI, Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence
5. Storytelling as a Design Methodology
6. Ethical Use of AI to Conduct HCI Research
7. Research Integrity and Ethics 
8. Teaching HCI
9. HCI techniques for Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality
10. Practices of applying HCI theories and methods in industry
11. Foregrounding African Case Studies in teaching and related work

Submissions

This year, our submission format will involve two parts. The first part is a series of questions that must be completed. In addition, authors are required to submit an ACM-formatted extended abstract. If accepted, it will be published as an extended abstract in the proceedings. Both parts must be submitted for a submission to be considered complete. Failure to do so will result in a desk reject of the entire submission. 

Form Submission

Using the Google form: https://forms.gle/mBdchgHMuY8VrnbZ9, you will be asked to provide the following information. Unless otherwise noted, each response should be under 400 words (i.e., 2500 characters).

1. Names and Affiliation of Instructors
2. Target Participants – including the pre-requisite knowledge expected of them (if applicable)
3. Course Level – Introductory, Intermediate, or Advanced
4. Learning Objectives – what participants will get out of the course
5. Course description (~ 250 words) – brief abstract that is used to describe and advertise your course to prospective attendees on the website. The abstract should be as inviting as possible (think: advertising!), as it will be used directly on the AfriCHI 2027 website.
6. Proposed Length of Course – one of: 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours
7. Planned Activities – how the time will be used, including how participants will be actively engaged. Preference will be given to courses with active learning components.
8. Plans for Course Evaluation
9. Justification and Motivation – why this course is relevant to the AfriCHI community
10. List of References
11. Course History – if the course has been given previously, describe where, the evaluation received from attendees, and how it will be modified for this submission
12. Expertise/Merits of Instructors – for each instructor, upload a file that includes up to 500 words of why the instructor is qualified to teach this course and a 1-page summary of CV detailing their teaching and research experience.

Extended Abstract Submission

The extended abstract must not exceed 4 pages. It should include the following:

• Title of the Course (please make this short but descriptive)
• Names and Affiliations of the Instructors.
• 100 words Abstract/Course Description: This will also appear on the CHI website describing your course to promote and advertise your course.
• Benefits: the learning outcomes including skills and knowledge the attendees will gain as a result of attending this Course. This should also include the reasons that CHI attendees would want to take your course.
• Intended Audience(s): types of audience (researchers, students, practitioners, etc) that will benefit from the course.
• Content: describe in detail the material that will be covered.
• Practical Work: describe the expected practical work in the course.
• Instructor Background: list the background for each instructor, including current employment and activities, previous professional activities, and relevant publications.
• Resources: website or other resources (e.g., books) that might be accessed to provide more information about the Course or instructor(s)
• Accessibility: Submitters are encouraged to describe how they plan to improve accessibility of the audience with diverse needs.

Important Dates

Milestone	Date (AoE)
Courses & Tutorials submission deadline	17 Jan 2027
Notification	21 Feb 2027
Camera-ready deadline	15 Apr 2027
AfriCHI 2027 conference	28 Jun – 2 Jul 2027

Please submit your Tutorials and Courses through the submission system.

Selection Process

All proposals submitted in the AfriCHI 2027 Tutorials and Courses track will be chair-reviewed. The chairs will determine which proposals are accepted based on the selection criteria below and may decide to bring in outside experts for further review. There is no mechanism for author response in the Course review process, and decisions are final. In some special cases, the chairs may request changes to the proposal as a condition for its acceptance (“conditional accept”). Authors of accepted Courses will receive instructions on how to prepare and submit the publication-ready source files for their course. These will be due on the publication-ready (camera-ready) deadline.

Selection Criteria

The selection criteria for the AfriCHI 2027 Tutorials and Courses proposals will be guided by this year’s conference theme “People Place and Possibilities” and the proposal’s appeal to the wider AfriCHI community. Specifically, it will focus on   

1. Clarity of intended learning outcomes, value for the AfriCHI community, level of expected interest and engagement, and relevance to the African context and perspectives. A good course submission will give us a high degree of confidence that the course can meet and exceed these goals.
2. Previous presentations and, if appropriate, course participant evaluations of the Course at AfriCHI and the number of times this course (or a similar course) has been offered over the past years, also to balance the HCI courses program over the years.
3. Coverage of foundational courses on HCI and design, as well as of Hot Topics and other categories of interest listed above.
4. Prior experience and qualifications of the instructors.

Publication

Accepted Tutorials and Courses proposals will be published in the conference proceedings and archived on the ACM Digital Library. The camera-ready submission must be uploaded to the conference submission system following the ACM camera-ready standards. 

All accepted Tutorials and Courses will be included in the conference program and will have a dedicated session in parallel with other sessions.

Email:
coursesandtutorials@africhi.africa