November 26, 2013
Final Submission
Due: December 3rd, 2013 (Presentation and Prototype)
Due: December 15th, 2013 (Report)
Objective: In this assignment, you will complete your final project. There are three deliverables: 1) a demonstration prototype of your software, 2) a report that describes your project’s motivation, design method(s), implementation (concise) and evaluation, and 3) a 10-minute presentation describing your design process, prototype, evaluation and results.
What to do:
- Continue revising your prototype based on feedback from other students, potential users and obtained during class. The functionality included in the prototype(s) should be based on two factors. First, supporting all of the tasks and activities that you would like during your user testing. Second, making a compelling demonstration for the final class presentation. You can use the same, or different, prototypes for both of these purposes. You should make progress from your first and second prototypes, including additional functionality, a refined look-and-feel, help features, interaction with live data sets, etc.
- Conduct your user testing, based on your experiment design, and feedback from the TA and Instructor. Make sure to follow appropriate policies with regard to informed consent and records release. (Example forms are provided here and here). You should include the TA as a subject in at least some part of your user testing protocol.
- Prepare a presentation that summarizes your process, focusing on the most interesting observations and results, and demonstrates the capabilities of your software. Again, your goal is to describe what is really new and innovative about your design approach and prototype(s), and how you have demonstrated its usability and benefit. You should aim for a ten-minute presentation, with an additional five minutes for questions. Practice beforehand, with an audience if possible! If you go over, you wont be given extra time.
- Make the presentation in class on December 3rd or 5th (your position will be determined by random lottery). Your final project grade will be determined in equal parts by the final presentation and the final report.
- Draft a report, describing your project’s motivation, design method(s), implementation and evaluation. Be concise – use up to a maximum of twelve pages single-spaced 12-point text. Your goal is to describe what is really innovative about your design approach and prototype, and how you have demonstrated its usability and benefit. Some sections your report should include are: Summary, Introduction, Problem Statement, Design Process, Final Prototype (very concise, use images where appropriate, and include a description of what features have not been implemented), Experiment Design, Evaluation Results, Discussion, Current Status and Future Plans. Some of these sections may be combined, but in general all of these topics should be covered.
What to turn in:
E-mail to the professor and TA a link to each of the following before class on December 3rd:
- Your functional prototype assignment submission, as detailed in that assignment.
- Your final presentation slides, movies and/or any supporting materials.
Additionally, e-mail to the professor and TA a link the following before 11:59 PM on December 15th:
- Your final report, accepted in PDF format only. [maximum of 12 pages]
Please contact the professor or the class TA if you have any questions with this assignment.
November 7, 2013
Experiment Design Assignment
Due: Tuesday, November 26th, 2013 before Class
Objective: In this assignment, you will develop a plan for testing your user interface. This includes deciding the tasks to support, the users to test, where to test, the method of testing and the metrics used to evaluate success.
What to do:
- Decide 3-6 tasks that you would like to support during your user testing. The tasks should provide the user with a complete and realistic feel for how the eventual application will work (or, for large projects, how some aspects will work). This should include both high-level user tasks (decide where you want to eat dinner using this interface), as well as specific, low-level tasks (use the interface to search for a restaurant open at 10PM).
- Decide the context where you will test each of these tasks. The location should be as realistic as possible, while allowing for controlled measurement and evaluation.
- Decide how you will recruit participants for your final user study. Aim for testing each task with between 5-15 users. Each task should be tested by appropriate users fitting the characteristics outlined in your persona descriptions. Make sure to conduct a pilot test with design team members or other students before subjecting real users.
- Determine whether it is possible to include a control condition for the testing. For example, if you have designed a new interface for web search, a control condition could be using Google search. This allows you to measure how your new interface compares with current alternatives. Ideally, you should test each task using both your own prototype and at least one control condition. Those without a suitable control condition should compensate by either including more users and/or more performance measures (see below).
- Decide the methods you will use to evaluate performance for each task you want to test. This could include quantitative methods for metrics such as efficiency and error rate, as well as qualitative methods for metrics such as enjoyment and satisfaction. Ideally, you will test each task using at least two quantitative and one qualitative method. Decide how you will measure user performance (for example, task execution time or number of errors), behavior and/or responses (for example, using audio, video, screen recorders, interview transcripts and/or detailed notes) .
- Decide how you will address any learning and/or fatigue effects – either between tasks, and/or between the control and experimental conditions.
- Decide the conditions of success. For experiments with a control, this may be some relative improvement over the control condition. For experiments without a control, this may be some absolute measure of efficiency, accuracy, subjective satisfaction, etc.
- Decide the materials you will need to conduct the usability test. This includes the script you will use to conduct the test, the prototype itself, and any questionnaires you will administer before and/or after testing. This should include a demographic questionnaire capturing important user details (age, gender, education, experience with your proposed kind of technology and/or application, etc), as well as informed consent and records release forms allowing you to conduct the test with the user and/or capture audio, images and video. (Example forms are provided here and here).
What to turn in:
The preferred method of turn-in is a PDF document, including each of the following components. To avoid a late penalty, e-mail a link to your group’s submission to the professor and TA before class on Tuesday, November 26th:
- Cover sheet including yourself and your partners’ names, and your chosen focus. Note the time, duration and attendance of each brainstorming session. Include a paragraph describing what each person contributed to the assignment [1/2 page].
- A list of tasks that you intend to test during your usability testing.
- Description of your control condition(s) and experimental variants, if any (it is highly recommended to include a control if possible) [1/2 page].
- Details about how many users that you will test for each task, and how you plan to recruit participants, including for the pilot test. If the same persona applies to multiple tasks, it is fine if the same user is tested for all of them, making sure to account for any learning / fatigue effects [1 page].
- Description of the methods that you will use to evaluate the usability of each task, and how you will measure document user behavior and responses. It is recommended to evaluate each task using at least two quantitative and one qualitative methods. Mention how you will address any learning and/or fatigue effects – either between tasks, or between the control and experimental conditions. Provide the location where you will test each task [2-3 pages].
- A list of conditions of success for each of the tasks [1/2 page]
- A description of the supporting materials that you will need for conducting your user test – including forms, testing scripts, questionnaires, props, and the prototype itself [1 page].
The total length of your report should be less than 8 pages. Brevity, clarity and focus on the goals of the assignment will be rewarded.
E-mail a link to your group’s project page to the professor and TA before class on Tuesday, November 26th.
Please contact the professor or the class TA if you have any questions with this assignment.
November 4, 2013
Functional Prototype Assignment
Due: Tuesday, December 3, 2013 before Class
Objective: In this assignment, you will refine your interactive prototype based on feedback you have received. You will also provide enough functionality so that your prototype can be tested by users in a realistic way.
What to do:
- Review the feedback you have collected from users and classmates about your Balsamiq prototype. Decide the points that you plan to address in your next prototype, and any general changes you would like to make.
- Decide the tasks that you would like to support during your user testing. The tasks should provide the user with a complete and realistic feel for how the eventual application will work (or, for large projects, how some specific aspects of the future application will work). The interface should support both high-level user tasks (decide where you want to eat dinner tonight), as well as specific, low-level tasks (search for a restaurant open at 10PM).
- Revise and/or re-implement your interactive prototype based on the tasks that you intend to support. It is not essential that you implement all of the back-end functionality, or that you provide a completely refined graphic presentation (polished icons, visual design, etc.). However, your prototype should be complete from an interaction perspective – the user should be able to use all of the functions that he/she needs to perform the tasks that you have outlined. Moreover, the interface should provide sufficient functionality to gracefully allow exploration the user might do to perform these tasks. Any potential user errors should also be handled gracefully. In short, the system should provide a realistic and complete experience for the user while performing the tasks you have described.
- In class on November 26th, be ready with at least an initial version of your interactive prototype. You will conduct a pilot usability test and receive feedback on your prototype, including whether or not you have provided enough functionality to support testing with real users.
What to turn in:
The preferred method of turn-in is a PDF document, including each of the following components. To avoid a late penalty, e-mail a link to your group’s submission to the professor and TA before class on Tuesday, December 3rd:
- Cover sheet including yourself and your partners’ names, and your chosen focus. Note the time, duration and attendance of each brainstorming session. Include a paragraph about what each person contributed to the assignment [1/2 page].
- The list of changes that you decided to make based on the last round of feedback. [1-2 pages].
- Describe the tools you used to develop your prototype, how they helped and/or created additional obstacles [1/2-1 page].
- Provide a link to your functional prototype, as well as directions about how to install and/or run it. Supplement with screen shots [1-2 pages].
- Be ready with a preliminary version of your interactive prototype in class on November 26th.
The total length of your report should be less than 4 pages (not including any prototype screen shots). Brevity, clarity and focus on the goals of the assignment will be rewarded.
Please contact the professor or the class TA if you have any questions with this assignment.