James Prather, Ph.D.
I care about people and their experience with technology. I've been an award-winning UX teacher and researcher since 2013.
View my ACU Faculty Profile and my Google Scholar page.
Portfolio
Click the cards below to read detailed case studies.
iHeart Media - Sound+ (2020)
Redesigning the live studio experience.
iHeart Media - Campaign Recap (2019)
Helping account executives provide a better final recap to advertisers.
Faithlife - Child Check-In (2018)
Including parents in the spiritual development of their children
while keeping the kids safe.
Experience
Associate Professor of Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction
I teach three courses per semester while I am actively involved in serving the university, mentoring students, working on my personal research, and overseeing student research. I started in the Fall of 2013 as an instructor and in the Fall of 2018 I moved up to Assistant Professor after completing my Ph.D. I was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022.
UX Principal
Setting vision and guiding product design for the programming and play out platform, which includes five different products across the radio spectrum. These products include live radio play out control, leveraging AI to assist hosts and programming, station management, and more. As a principal, I have been tasked with leading stakeholders, developers, and other designers in early discussions around new product creation and seeing it to completion. This involves both setting a product vision ("it should look like this and do that") as well as leading efforts to create an MVP ("but we should start here"). I also manage multiple designers working on these different products, meet with them regularly to provide feedback, and represent the UX team with high-level stakeholders to ensure alignment.
Senior UX Researcher
I work full-time during summers and part-time during the school year. I perform user interviews, observations, qualitative and quantitative data analaysis. I create personas, journey maps, user flows, and wireframes. I have also led a project and directed the work of a junior UX designer. Check out the portfolio examples above for examples of my work.
Testimonials:"Thanks for spending time with us at iHeart, you really made a difference." - Steve Mills, Global CIO, iHeartMedia
"Thanks for the great UX sessions. I really enjoyed them. And love all the good examples." - Laura Osorio, Senior UX Designer, iHeartMedia
Interim Director of UX
After the departure of our previous director, I served in that role for until a permanant replacement could be found. In this role, I managed the UX team, held weekly meetings with various product teams, advocated for a cohesive vision across the ecosystem, hired new designers, and shepherded an intern. I also continued doing some UX research on designing the live radio show experience in the web browser.
May 2021 - Oct 2021
UX Researcher
I spent the summer of 2018 as a UX researcher for Faithlife, helping lead problem and solutions discovery, design, and user testing for a brand new product. See the card about "Child Check-in" above to see my portfolio artifacts generated from this job.
Testimonials:"10/10 would hire full time." - Leah Bradford, Faithlife UX Designer
Front End UX
Created beautiful front-end experiences, led users and stakeholders in design discovery sessions, ethnography with missionaries and major donors.
Software Developer
Developed web and desktop applications to support the work of civil engineers using C, C#, and PHP.
I had previously done quite a bit of research on live shows, but for a different portal that would be used by production directors. I was therefore asked at the outset of this project to go back through old user interviews that I had done and synthesize what we know about live shows into a one-pager for management consumption.
I then began interviewing selected top talent from across the nation in focus groups to get a better understanding of how talent do their jobs, what it's like to run a live radio show, how they use the current software, and what the new cloud-native software needs to be able to do to support their work.
The design sprint was a total of four days: three days in a row, then a week to prototype, and a final day for the finale and validation. Each day we had iHeart's top talent on the call and participating in the design exercises. Buy-in from stakeholders is key in design and this design sprint was perfect for getting it. All of our talent were excited to be helping create the software they would be using in the future.
After just a week on the job, iHeartMedia flew me to New York City for a week to conduct user interviews with business stakeholders. The following week they flew me to San Francisco. Finally, I returned to corporate HQ in San Antonio to conduct more interviews the following week.
I interviewed people at every level of the company from C-level executives to sales support staff, totaling 17 interviews. For the sales staff, these conversations were in pursuit of answering our research questions outlined above. For the executives, the conversations were to understand the vision of where the company was headed, trends in media, and to get some measure of buy-in from the top.
Each interivew was carefully transcribed and the salient highlights pulled out for analysis of trends. After this was completed for all the interivews, I produced first and second order themes so we could establish patterns in the data, understand our users, and move towards a user experience redesign.
The next step was to create a better understanding of how the users currently conduct their work and the visualize the painpoints into a workflow so we could target those weaknesses in any future design work. Whatever app redesign we envisioned, it had to address user needs (personas) and their workflow (journey map and service blueprint).
A service blueprint, like the one to the right, allowed us to see the AE's workflow, but also to see all the interactions they have with internal and external systems, other users, and see where in the behin-the-scenes process a roadblock can occur.
We started with abstract user flows. How should a user move through this redesigned app? What should their experience be? Visualizing this allowed us to minimize complexity while supporting the full experience desired by our account executives that we interviewed.
First, I performed a competitive analysis of what features our competitors were already offering to get a sense of the product space. I collected information from websites and marketing material from the seven most-popular child check-in solutions currently on the market. This was important to answer our first research question above.
Next, I conducted research with 78 children's ministers through telephone interviews and a Google Forms research survey. I wanted to find out what users want, what frustrates them about their current experience, and how they actually use their current software solution. This helped answer research questions two and three.
I took the research data and processed it into themes and patterns so that we could get a "big picture" view of the trends we were seeing from 30,000 feet up. Since I collected data from churches of all sizes - from less than 100 to more than 5,000 members - it was important to show the data in different ways. I broke out the data by church size, by current software solution, and current overall satisfaction level.
Finally, I could answer "what problem are we actually trying to solve?" and "what should our solution be like?" which allowed me to generate a user experience flow for each user type at every point of interaction. This recieved virogous discussion through collaborative comments with the various stakeholders, as well as other members of the UI/UX team.
The first step into design was to translate the user experience flow document into a ux flow chart with each screen being represented and thinking about how one moves from screen to screen in the app.
Each user test was transcribed with speech from each person color coded and positioned opposite of a screenshot of what the user was looking at when they made the comment. After transcription was completed, I made thorough notes that highlighted the most important and salient discoveries from that session.
Education
Ph.D. in Computer Science
Master of Arts in Old Testament
Master of Divinity
Master of Science in Applied Cognition and Neuroscience
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
Peer Reviewed Articles & Research
I conduct research on a variety of topics. As a human-computer interaction researcher, I'm interested in how humans use technology, which can take place in many different contexts. Right now I'm working on novice programmer interaction with large language models, metacognition in novice programmers, human factors and design of programming error messages, and usable privacy and security. I am also the sponsor and research mentor for the SIGCHI Local Chapter at ACU, which conducts research that I oversee.
My Research
2023
Paul Denny, James Prather, Brett Becker, James Finnie-Ansley, Arto Hellas, Juho Leinonen, Andrew Luxton-Reilly, Brent Reeves, Eddie Antonio Santos, and Sami Sarsa
Communications of the ACM (CACM)
Contributed Article (peer-reviewed journal article)
James Prather, Brent Reeves, Sami Sarsa, Paul Denny, Brett Becker, Juho Leinonen, Andrew Luxton-Reilly, Garrett Powell, James Finnie-Ansley, and Eddie Antonio Santos
ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI)
Peer-reviewed journal
Brent Reeves, Sami Sarsa, James Prather, Paul Denny, Brett Becker, Arto Hellas, Bailey Kimmel, Garrett Powell and Juho Leinonen
Proceedings of the Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education conference (ITiCSE ’23)
Peer-reviewed publication with 27% acceptance rate
Brett Becker, James Prather, Paul Denny, Andrew Luxton-Reilly, James Finnie-Ansley, and Eddie Antonio Santos
Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '23)
Peer-reviewed publication with 29% acceptance rate
- Best Paper Award
Juho Leinonen, Brett Becker, Paul Denny, Arto Hellas, James Prather, Brent Reeves, and Sami Sarsa
Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '23)
Peer-reviewed publication with 29% acceptance rate
James Prather, Paul Denny, Brett Becker, Arisoa Randrianasolo, Robert Nix, Garrett Powell, and Brent Reeves
Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '23)
Peer-reviewed publication with 29% acceptance rate
James Finnie-Ansley, Paul Denny, Andrew Luxton-Reilly, Eddie Antonio Santos, James Prather, and Brett Becker
Proceedings of the Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE '23)
Peer-reviewed publication with 43% acceptance rate
- Best Paper Award
2022
Barbara Ericson, Paul Denny, James Prather, Rodrigo Duran, Arto Hellas, Juho Leinonen, Craig Miller, Briana Morrison, Jan Pearce and Susan Rodger Proceedings of the Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education conference (ITiCSE ’22)
Peer-reviewed publication
James Prather, Lauren Margulieux, Jacqueline Whalley, Paul Denny, Brent Reeves, Brett Becker, Paramvir Singh, Garrett Powell, and Nigel Bosch
Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER '22)
Peer-reviewed publication with 14% acceptance rate
James Prather, John Homer, Paul Denny, Brett Becker, John Marsden and Garrett Powell
Proceedings of the 2022 World Conference on Computers in Education (WCCE '22)
Peer-reviewed publication
Dastyni Loksa, Lauren Margulieux, Brett A. Becker, Michelle Craig, Paul Denny, Raymond Pettit, and James Prather
ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE)
Peer-reviewed journal
Brett A. Becker, Paul Denny, Daniel Gallagher, James Prather, Colleen Gostomski, Kelli Norris, and Garrett Powell
Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '22)
Peer-reviewed publication with 29% acceptance rate
Paul Denny, Brett A. Becker, Nigel Bosch, James Prather, Brent Reeves, and Jacquelin Whalley
Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '22)
Peer-reviewed publication with 29% acceptance rate
James Finnie-Ansley, Paul Denny, Brett Becker, Andrew Luxton-Reilly, and James Prather
Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Australasian Computing Education Research Conference (ACE '22)
Peer-reviewed publication with 38% acceptance rate
- Best Paper Award
2021
Paul Denny, James Prather, Brett A. Becker, Catherine Mooney, John Homer, Zachary Albrecht, Garrett Powell
Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'21)
Peer-reviewed publication with 26.3% acceptance rate
Brett A. Becker, Paul Denny, James Prather, Raymond Pettit, Robert Nix, Catherine Mooney
Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Australasian Computing Education Research Conference (ACE '21)
Peer-reviewed publication with 35% acceptance rate
2020
James Prather, Brett A. Becker, Michelle Craig, Paul Denny, Dastyni Loksa, Lauren Margulieux
Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER '20)
Peer-reviewed publication with 22% acceptance rate
- Best Paper Award
Paul Denny, James Prather, Brett A. Becker
Proceedings of the Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education conference (ITiCSE ’20)
Peer-reviewed publication with 28% acceptance rate
- Best Paper Finalist
2019
Brett A. Becker, Paul Denny, Raymond Pettit, Durell Bouchard, Dennis J. Bouvier, Brian Harrington, Amir Kamil,
Amey Karkare, Chris McDonald, Peter-Michael Osera, Janice L. Pearce, and James Prather.
Proceedings of the Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education conference (ITiCSE ’19)
Peer-reviewed publication
Paul Denny, James Prather, Brett Becker, Zachary Albrecht, Dastyni Loksa and Raymond Pettit
Proceedings of the 19th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research (Koli Calling '19)
Peer-reviewed publication with 37% acceptance rate
Brett A. Becker, Paul Denny, Raymond Pettit, Durell Bouchard, Dennis J. Bouvier, Brian Harrington, Amir Kamil,
Amey Karkare, Chris McDonald, Peter-Michael Osera, Janice L. Pearce, and James Prather.
Proceedings of the Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education conference (ITiCSE ’19)
Peer-reviewed publication
James Prather, Raymond Pettit, Brett Becker, Paul Denny, Dastyni Loksa, Alani Peters, Zachary Albrecht, and Krista Masci
ACM Inroads 10 (2), 42-49
Re-print in official ACM magazine
James Prather, Raymond Pettit, Brett Becker, Paul Denny, Dastyni Loksa, Alani Peters, Zachary Albrecht, and Krista Masci
Proceedings of the 2019 ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)
Peer-reviewed publication with 32% acceptance rate.
- 1st Place Best Paper Award
2018
James Prather, Raymond Pettit, Kayla McMurry, Alani Peters, John Homer, and Maxine Cohen
Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER)
Peer-reviewed publication with 22% acceptance rate.
James Prather
Doctoral dissertation
Committee Members: Maxine Cohen (chair), Raymond Pettit, and Michael Laszlo
2017
James Prather, Raymond Pettit, Kayla McMurry, Alani Peters, John Homer, Nevan Simone, and Maxine Cohen
Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER)
Peer-reviewed publication with 27% acceptance rate.
James Prather, Robert Nix, Ryan Jessup
15th Annual Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames) in cooperation with ACM SIGMM and ACM SIGCOMM
Peer-reviewed publication with 33% acceptance rate.
Raymond Pettit and James Prather
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges 32(4)
Peer-reviewed publication.
Student Research from My Lab
The following papers were written by undergraduate students that I mentored or from the SIGCHI local chapter that I sponsor.
Davis Arnold, Benjamin Blackmon, Brendan Gipson, Anthony Moncivais, Garrett Powell, Megan Skeen, Michael Thorson, Nathan Wade
Extended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '22)
Peer-reviewed publication with 50% acceptance rate
- 3rd Place Student Research Competition
Adam Garcia, Garrett Powell, Davis Arnold, Luis Ibarra, Matthew Pietrucha, Michael Thorson, Abigail Verhelle, Nathan Wade, Samantha Webb
Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '21)
Peer-reviewed publication with 50% acceptance rate
John Marsden, Zachary Albrecht, Paula Berggren, Jessica Halbert, Kyle Lemons, Anthony Moncivais, Matthew Thompson
Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '20)
Peer-reviewed publication with 29% acceptance rate
John Marsden
Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '20)
Peer-reviewed publication
Collin Blanchard, Holly Buff, Travis Cook, Raquel Dottle, Gideon Luck, Alani Peters, Virginia Pettit, Isaak Ramirez, and Jessica Wininger
Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '18)
Peer-reviewed publication with 50% acceptance rate
Kayla Holcomb McMurry, Nevan Simone
Proceedings of the 47th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '16)
Peer-reviewed publication
- 1st Place Student Research Competition
Monographs
Jeff W. Childers and James Prather
Gorgias Press, Piscataway, NJ
Invited monograph
Interests
I'm a husband and father of four kids, so when I'm not at work, I'm usually hanging out with my family, going on adventures with them, or travelling. I love travelling. My wife and I were study abroad sponsors to Oxford during the summer of 2017 (I kept a daily travel blog if you'd like to see what that was like). I've travelled internationally to attend conferences and present research. I'm also a committed Christian who believes in living the words of Jesus ("love your neighbor as yourself"), the words of the prophets ("do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor"), and the words of Paul ("do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves"). I think Christianity calls for inclusion and Jesus models that behavior. I enjoy a good theological discussion. I also enjoy combining my two interests, Computer Science and religion, into work in Digital Humanities and am part of a three-year grant project to perform data analysis on ancient Ethiopic manuscripts of the Old Testament.
In the rare moment that I have downtime, I enjoy playing video games with my students (mostly Blizzard's Overwatch), playing D&D with friends, reading a good fantasy/steampunk/sci-fi novel, or writing my own novel (yeah, everyone is writing a novel).
Awards
Research:
- Best Paper Award, SIGCSE, 2023 (link)
- Best Paper Award, ACE, 2023 (link)
- Best Paper Award, ACE, 2022 (link)
- Best Paper Award, ICER, 2020 (link)
- Best Paper Finalist, ITiCSE, 2020 (link)
- Best Paper Award, SIGCSE, 2019 (link)
University:
- Dean's Award for Research, College of Business Administration & Technology, 2023
- Outstanding Junior Faculty (Weathers Fellowship), College of Business Administration & Technology, 2021
- Teacher of the Year, School of Information Technology and Computing, 2020
- Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year (STEM), ACU Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, 2018
- Teacher of the Year, School of Information Technology and Computing, 2017
- Teacher of the Year, School of Information Technology and Computing, 2015
- Exceptional Leadership and Dedication Award, 2013
A superb educator
Damn fine researcher
-Josh M., Sr. UX Designer @ iHeartMedia