gpa progress monitor
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Allen Stauffer Rarihwenhawi LaFrance. GPA Progress Monitor. Part 1: Understanding the Problem. Problem Space. University students often lack time to keep track of grades and monitor progress System would focus on providing a simple way of doing so - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Allen StaufferRarihwenhawi LaFrance
University students often lack time to keep track of grades and monitor progress
System would focus on providing a simple way of doing so
Takes grading schema information as input and outputs a custom form
Students use this form to enter current and future grades to track progress
System must be: Helpful* Easily Learnable Effective
User provides program with grading information
Program returns a customized form to accept grades as inputs
Student enters grades as they are received
Hypothetical future grades may be entered to analyze impact on GPA
Metaphor: Meeting with professor to discuss GPA progress
George Freshman business major Hopes to own a company someday Very active outside of class – CUSA, CEO Not much free time – loses track of grades
during the semester and has trouble knowing where more work is needed
Doesn’t have the knowledge or time to learn how to create such a system for himself
Chris Junior electrical engineering major Doesn’t have the best GPA, wants to
improve for career fair Spends free time with Formula SAE
Speed Team and working on cars Despite desire to improve grades,
doesn’t want to take time to track them, or create a way to track them
Jose, sophomore engineering student receives ES 260 Syllabus
Uses web browser to navigate to application’s home page, and logs in
Clicks “Add Course” and fills out the appropriate grading information, and clicks “Submit”
Exits the program confident that when he starts receiving grades the application will be ready to take them in
Colleen, a junior finance major receives an EC 384 test grade lower than she expected
Uses web browser to navigate to program homepage, and logs in
She enters the new grade and, concerned about her overall GPA, a few hypothetical grades
Colleen learns that if she stays on top of the homework and studies hard for the next exam, she will be in good standing for the final
Students from a variety of majors at Clarkson University identified these as the most important features of such a program: Easy to Use Quick to Use Ability to ‘forecast’ grade progress
http://is.gd/3P4gQ
Majority of focus on ridding interface of ambiguity
Simplicity and intuitiveness should be embraced
GPA forecasting prominent feature, must receive emphasis
Created 1 mockup each separately Ensured different ways of accomplishing
same tasks, for a relatively simple interface
Compared/critiqued individual designs
Developed third based on critique of individual designs, while incorporating new ideas
Design 1
Design 2
Design 3
Each proposed design had inherent strengths and weaknesses
Potential users were surveyed to discover the most important strengths and weaknesses
Also to identify fatal flaws
Students were asked to evaluate the three designs focusing on: Simplicity Functionality Usability
Asked to rate each design (1-10) in functionality, choose favorite, and provide strengths/weaknesses
o No option for cumulative gpa
o No option to edit names of assignments
o Too simple
o No option to change weights
o Buttons not clear
o Lack of organization
o Too much whitespace
o Cluttered buttons
o No option to change weights
Design 3 was chosen by students as both top-rated and favorite design
Taking survey into account, final design draws heavily from Design 3
Takes some elements from Design 2 to help avoid Design 3’s pitfalls
http://people.clarkson.edu/~stauffar/cs459/index.html
Prototype was evaluated to determine how well it adhered to these principles: Easy and Fast to Use High Learnability Consistent/Expected Results
Survey Walked user through prototype
Showed user a screen, and asked what they would do to accomplish a given task
Showed user the result of a successful interaction, and asked for thoughts on how this compares to what they expected
Allow us to have an idea how hard it is to determine how to perform certain actions, and also if the design agrees with what the user expects to see
http://bit.ly/7Ridll
Varying responses regarding expected program behavior About 50/50 split between “yeah.. duh”
and “no! I thought _____” when asked if what the program did next was expected
Red x = successGreen checkmark = failure
Confusion regarding difference between adding an assignment and adding an assignment type because of phantom button
Users also confused how to add rows to form on “Add Course” page
Navigation system was met with praise “Self-Explanatory” “Intuitive” “Simple and easy to use”
Working prototype would allow much more accurate evaluation
Mockup prototype severely limits options for gathering feedback
Add personal interviews where a user discusses how they would use the program after seeing it for the first time
• Spreadsheet layout will be difficult to implement, especially with “phantom cell” method of adding grades
• May have problems with students taking large number of classes at once
• Must keep track of both current and past courses
• Many things not yet accounted for, including:• Classes worth more or less credit hours• Dropping lowest grade• Retaking a class
Actually making system functional Either improve “phantom button” system,
or remove it Move assignment type grade summaries to
top of spreadsheet to not break the “grid” Better method of archiving classes Many students requested additional
features:• Naming assignments• Point system vs. Percentage• Professor contact information• Assignment due dates• Transfer courses