Assignments

Design and Implementation of an Interface Prototype

This series of assignments involves designing a prototype of an interface for an information system and developing a description of that interface.

The design process involves six components

  1. identifying and describing the intended users of the system | due on 29 Jan | worth 10%
  2. identifying and describing the essence of the task to be supported by the system | due on 26 Feb | worth 20%
  3. making justifiable decisions about the design | due on 24 Mar | worth 20%
  4. graphical overview of the system and a prototype of the interface | due on 07 Apr | worth 20%
  5. usability inspection of a design developed by one of your classmates | due on 16 Apr | worth 10%
  6. a thoughtful response to that inspection | due on 02 May | worth 10%

For those who are working in teams, each team member will receive the same grade on the project. The evaluation criteria for these projects will emphasize the quality and justification of your design decisions. They also include the quality (clarity, appropriateness for users/tasks) of the design itself and the quality (specificity, completeness) of the user and task analyses. Throughout your documentation, strive for clarity.

The fourth component concludes with a system documentation of your prototype. A sample outline for the system documentation is available. You do not need to follow it strictly, but it does give you some idea of the material that should be covered.

This is the version that will be graded. The entire package should be turned in, by sending the instructor an email note which will include a URL link to the place in your web storage space where you have saved the document. It should be a single document (in pdf, Word, or similar format). You may point the evaluators to a "working" prototype if you wish, but all screen views should also be available in the documentation package.

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Class participation is encouraged, expected, and appreciated. Each student is expected to participate actively in both the class blog and in face-to-face class discussions. These forms of class participation will be evaluated in terms of their contribution to the class's learning opportunities, and will account for 10% of the course grade.