Courses have developed as an essential part of the annual CHI conference. Indeed, the “Core to CHI” policy document says that “Courses, in some form, are expected to occur during the conference, as a means to educate the community, showcase experts that can share their knowledge, or highlight upcoming trends in HCI.” As general chair for CHI you need to be aware of the Core to CHI policy, the CHI Courses Compensation policy, the history of courses over the years, or GDPR issues as course instructors may wish to survey course attendees and hence the new CHI Steering Committee Survey Policy. All of these details need to be understood by the general chairs and each year’s courses chairs.

While course may vary, as the Core to CHI policy describes they are typically of three types, (1) Invited Prestige courses, (2) Curriculum courses and (3) Community courses. It’s important for chairs to be aware of the financial support and the compensation model for instructors which must adhere to CHI policies: and the wider SIGCHI volunteer reimbursement policy (as appropriate).

These policies embody a large history of work within the SIGCHI community, from Regina Bernhaupt and Scooter Morris in their roles on the former Conference Management Committee helping to formulate course guidance, to Tovi Grossman on the CHI steering committee helping push forward the Core to CHI policy, or former course instructors or prior CHI chairs such as Stephen Brewster and Geraldine Fitzpatrick pushing for greater transparency in the Courses Compensation policy. As with each part of CHI, where we are today relies on a large amount and history of volunteer effort I’m only touching on here

Today courses are well established within CHI but we always need to revisit how they should evolve to “educate the community, showcase experts that can share their knowledge, or highlight upcoming trends in HCI“. Reaching out to the wider community through related organisations and conferences, our family of SIGCHI Specialised Conferences, our SIGCHI local chapters, our dedicated committees from the Asian Development committee in SIGCHI to our CHI academy there are a myriad range of ways for us to enhance and extend the reach of courses from CHI.