  Support cards summarise a set of core information about a subject. The
periodic table of chemical elements and the mathematical tables are well-known
examples of support cards for didactic purposes. Technology professionals also
use support cards for recalling information such as syntactic details of
programming languages or harmonic colour palettes for designing user
interfaces. While support cards have proved useful in many contexts, little is
known about its didactic use in the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field. To
fill this gap, this study proposes and evaluates a process for creating and
using an HCI support card. The process considers the interdisciplinary nature
of the field, covering the syllabus, curriculum, textbooks, and students'
perception about HCI topics. The evaluation is based on case studies of
creating and using a card during a semester in two undergraduate courses:
Software Engineering and Information Systems. Results show that a support card
can help students in following the lessons, remembering and integrating the
different topics studied in the classroom. The card guides the students in
building their cognitive maps, mind maps, and concept maps to study
human-computer interaction. It fosters students' curiosity and permanent
engagement with the HCI topics. The card usefulness goes beyond the HCI
classroom, being also used by students in their professional activities and
other academic disciplines, fostering an interdisciplinary application of HCI
topics.
