HCI Group Project 8

HCI Project Group 8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!

HCI Group Project 8

Problem to be Addressed by the Project Overview There is currently no simple easy to use computer application for writing maths

equations. This is a problem for note-taking, marking and assignments in an

increasingly digital world. We aim to address this by creating an application that can

be easily used by children, parents as teachers as a learning tool for work and

revision. Problems with current systems for writing virtual maths include knowledge

required about symbols and equations which is incompatible for learning, and

difficulty with incorporating text annotation and equation-writing.

!We will create an interactive maths programme for school-age children and teachers

to be used as a learning aid. The programme will have the potential to be used as a

homework assignment and work submission area. It will be a basic symbol mapper,

with annotation possibilities to enable children to write their homework and notes,

using a database of mathematical symbols which contains definitions and basic

equations for easy insertion.

!!Literature Review

Our system aims to take into account children with learning difficulties. Some of

these include Dyscalculia:

!“...a condition that affects the ability to acquire arithmetical skills. Dyscalculic

learners may have difficulty understanding simple number concepts, lack an

intuitive grasp of numbers, and have problems learning number facts and

procedures. Even if they produce a correct answer or use a correct method,

they may do so mechanically and without confidence.”

!-(British Dyslexia Association)(1)

!This translates into trouble decoding mathematical symbols and queries as well as

counting backwards or forwards (particularly in 2s or 3s), thus the normal method of

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mass-teaching in schools is simply not enough for those with Dyscalculia: they

require appropriate methods of learning and one-on one tuition:

!“Dyscalculic children may be particularly vulnerable where teachers follow an

interactive, whole-class method of teaching as recommended by the National

Numeracy Strategy. Asking dyscalculic children to answer apparently simple

maths questions in public will inevitably lead to embarrassment and

frustration”.

- (British Dyslexia Association)(1)

!We thus hope to make our program accessible and encouraging to those suffering

from this condition where classroom teaching isn’t enough and they won’t feel

discouraged when working in their own time to solve mathematical queries. Making

this program interactive and engaging is therefore key.

!We also needed to make it a design that would be visible for dyslexics, and we found

that the fonts would need to be evenly spaced and that background colours should

not be white with black text, as this contrast is difficult to see for dyslexics. Avoiding

underlining and block capitals was also a suggestion. Concise wording and good

colours also make designs more visible for dyslexics.(2)

!

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Observations from Existing Systems

Microsoft Word

We have chosen to assess Word on its functional use as a tool for learning and

writing maths, (taking into account its existence as a word processor rather than our

end goal: a learning tool).

!Inserting charts in Microsoft Word: The user is able to insert charts in Word, however the charts are populated with

information stored in Excel, meaning that two programs are needed to perform this

function.

To simplify this for users, we would ensure that this could be done easily within one

program. This avoids any inconsistencies in information over the two programs.

!

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! The user is able to edit information in excel, which will then apply to the chart in Word

!Inserting symbols in Microsoft Word: To insert symbols in Word, you simply go to the ‘Insert’ tab and browse the drop-

down menu.

!However, despite symbols being organised into subsets (including general

punctuation, Greek and Coptic etc.), there is only one subset for maths:

“Mathematical Operators”.

Within this, highlighting a symbol brings up its name and shortcut key. This includes

a “character key” followed by a sequence of keys the user must press.

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! In the case of Square Root, the symbol is √ with the shortcut key being: 221A Shift + X

!However, this method of insertion is long-winded and requires memorising the

shortcut key for particular symbols, made up of sequences of numbers. This isn’t the

most convenient of methods, as users will have to memorise many of these

shortcuts, distinguished only by slightly differences within sequences of numbers. It

is also daunting for users with dyscalculia. (Nonetheless, it could be argued that the

“recently used” function relieves some of these problems).

Within “Mathematical Operators” the options are also limited (as seen above), as

symbols are organised into “Mathematical Operators” as a general subset of

‘symbols’, rather than being organised into different subsets of maths respectively

(trigonometry, algebra, fractions etc.)

This is hopefully something we can expand on in our project.

!Inserting equations in Microsoft Word: It is fairly easy to insert built-in equations within Word; for example:

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!

This is useful for general purposes, however there is only a limited selection of

equations available; the majority of which are overly-complicated for the levels of

education we are investigating (Key Stage 3, GCSE

and A-Level) and therefore not suitable for easing

students into maths. For example:

!This is one of 9 (equally as complicated) built-in equations available for insertion. It

describes the algebraic expansion of the powers of a binominal. Although a simple

description of the equation is given when hovered over with the mouse, there is no

simple explanation or walk-through of the harder equations for those who aren’t

necessarily comfortable with equations at this level. This would be quite daunting for

someone easing themselves into maths as Word assumes that the user is already

fully aware of the equation’s purpose.

(However, of course this is a result of Word being a word processor rather than a

learning tool: the latter of which we want our program to be).

Further, the user is also able to insert a new equation of which they can type

themselves:

!

!‘Equation Tools’ options, including ‘normal text’

!

The “insert equation” function goes further than the “insert symbol” function in that it

actually organises similar symbols for similar purposes together. For example,

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“Approximately Equal To” and “Almost Equal To” are positioned next to each other for

easier access.

!LaTeX

LaTeX is a typesetting program for creating scientific and mathematical documents,

and the creator Donald Knuth wanted a system that could “[simply construct] …

mathematical formulas, while looking professional when printed” (Wikibooks, 2014,

<http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Mathematics>).

LaTeX works much like a programming language, where entering commands will

return a document that looks professional.

However, LaTeX is not an easy or intuitive programme to use, with one self-taught

American student describing the learning process as “gruelling” (Taylor Rubright,

2012, <http://www.westernfrontonline.net/news/article_512400df-0419-5171-9c79-

ab3efe785ac6.html?mode=jqm>).

! An example of some LaTeX input and what it renders as (from Wikipedia)

!LaTeX can produce highly polished-looking mathematical symbols and equations,

but would not be suitable for using as a teaching resource. It has no way of easily

inputting maths symbols quickly, and is highly complex to grasp.

!There is an applet, Detexify, which can take drawn input and respond with what

LaTeX symbol it thinks you have drawn, which would make it slightly more

accessible, but this is still not enough, as once you have this information you must

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still have mastered programming in LaTeX normally.

!

!(Detexify, LaTeX symbol classifier, <http://detexify.kirelabs.org/classify.htm>)

!A high-school aged student attempting to learn maths and have a quick and easy

way of creating easily-legible mathematical symbols would probably not be the kind

of user LaTeX is designed for, especially if they have no previous knowledge of

computing programming, as to create your document in LaTeX it needs to compile

correctly, and compiling errors can be daunting to a young person with no computer

science experience. Younger ages would have even more of a problem using LaTeX,

as it would be far too complex for the low-level mathematical symbols they would

need.

!As we’ve discussed Microsoft Word is currently the most accessible and widely used

piece of software to achieve equation-integrated text documents. It is, however not at

all user-friendly and does not provide a large number of functions that would greatly

improve its utility. Particularly, functionality for graphical maths problems, such as

graphing, are not very

!A couple of tools that we found which offered much better manipulations for graphing maths are as follows:

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!Archimy

Constructs graphs from user input equations, however equations do not look much

like natural maths and is instead input is a basic form of programming language. This

makes it not easily readable or learnable for inexperienced users. Another problem

with this software is that it only works as a calculator for

http://www.archimy.com/syntax.html

!Calc 3D Pro

Is mainly a calculator for mathematical problems, although it does support integrated

text, equations and graphing functionalities for note-taking, it could not effectively be

used in a classroom setting because it performs all the calculations automatically. It

does not have an especially easy-to-use or intuitive design

http://www.calc3d.com/

!Mathemtica

This programme offers a much more user friendly way to compute calculations than

LaTeX, and also supports output to text documentation, some of which can be

achieved via LaTeX.

http://www.wolfram.com/solutions/education/students/

!Other apps

There are two other apps that provide mathematical keyboard which allow for easy

inputting of mathematical symbols, but none of these come with explanations of the

symbols, and so would not be entirely helpful for use as a teaching or learning

resource. Also none of them are standardised to one level of study, and so some

people’s needs conflict with others, leaving less advanced users with too many

options, and very advanced users without the proper tools for taking or making

accurate maths notes.

List of links to maths keyboard apps:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/math-keyboard/id522502607?mt=8

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.schwiz.wolfram.full&hl=en

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Here is a handwriting calculator app that takes handwritten input and gives the

answer. This would also not be entirely useful as a learning or teaching resource as

it is not ideal to simply give students the answer without them being shown the

working out.

Handwriting calculator app:

http://appcrawlr.com/ios/handwriting-calculator

!SmartBoards Smartboards are another teaching/learning resource used in classrooms which can

be used for mathematics. Their large white-board style touchscreen can be used to

write up and save class notes and also run lesson-like presentations available for

teachers to download and use.

They have no specific input for mathematical symbols that are not readily available

on a normal keyboard, and if a teacher’s handwriting is not easily legible then

students could make mistakes in their copied notes.

SmartBoards are effective mostly in classrooms, but are not very compatible with

homework or out-of-classroom learning.

! A smartboard in action (http://www.ivci.com/videoconferencing-rear-projection-smart-board

-2000i.html)

!BBC Bitesize

BBC Bitesize is a learning tool that is available to all UK children who are learning

core subjects at various stages, from Key Stage 1 to A-level.

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You cannot create any custom symbols, lesson plans, or questions, but Bitesize

comes with a set of ready-made learning resources that children can use alone or

with the guidance of an adult.

It sets out the KS3 maths topics into an easily understood layout, and then breaks

these larger segments into smaller topics that children can revise, do activities

concerning, or test themselves on.

The whole of the Bitesize website makes use of readable fonts, engaging colours

and pictures, and even has a games section where children can be engaged in a

more fun way by the things they are trying to learn about.

All of the Bitesize tests are multiple choice questions, and there is no possibility of

any user input, be they symbols or text.

Bitesize lacks the flexibility that our users will require from their program.

!

An example of a typical KS3 Maths Bitesize revision topic

!!!

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TouchMath TouchMath is multisensory teaching tool with interactive activities for children.

(<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plQiaCEfl5E>)

Published on Oct 9, 2012) TouchMath's new interactive whiteboard (IWB) program, TouchMath Connect,

revolutionizes the way you teach and the way your students learn math. All senses

are activated when students engage with an IWB, and TouchMath comes to life as

students move, see, say, hear, touch, and learn math like never before! Watch this

demo video to see the unique advantages of TouchMath Connect.

!Apache OpenOffice Math

Another programme for creating mathematical functions and

equations is OpenOffice Math by Apache. It is most

commonly used as an equation editor for a text document

but can be used in to create equations and notes from

scratch. The three main methods for writing mathematics is a

text box with equation symbols, a list of keyboard shortcuts,

and to right clicking on the equation editor to insert directly

into the document. As an interface it feels very intuitive, as

with the multiple input methods it is extremely flexible to its user’s needs and

abilities.

!As it works with the normal range of basic maths commands (e.g. =,+,-) this means

that although many of the functions are of a complex nature it is still relatively

straight forward. This would be useful when being used by secondary school

students or those with less computer literacy as a basic level of knowledge can be

utilised although it does assume that the user already has this mathematical

knowledge.

!Although it is intuitive the screen appears quite barren as it lacks any colour or

vibrancy which would not be ideal for our target market of secondary school students

who often find mathematics un-engaging. This combined with the lack of descriptive

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help means that this is programme designed for those with slightly more

mathematical experience and experience with computer programmes in general.

This is not an entry level programme as many of the features would be lost in a

classroom as its ability to be compatible with LaTex might be impressive but has

limited educational use. This is the flaw in Apache’s OpenOffice Math as although it

is a very intricate and well-designed piece of software it is mainly a text-editor for

personal use with the aim to help mathematicians create other programmes and

achieve other goals. Because of this it is also only single-format and lacks the ability

to work on various different platforms which would be useful.

! (an image of the interface)

!The method OpenOffice Math uses for inputting equations is quite helpful as it

changes the written format of the input into a mathematical formula. However the

language it uses is not the clearest, needing prior knowledge about the input

sequence to get the formulas to work. This would be especially true for key stage

three students who would not only have to focus on what the function does and how

it is written but to learn the language of the editor as well. If this programme was

going to be used in a classroom this would be valuable learning time would be spent

on the editor rather than learning the basics of mathematics. Although this problem

would be hard to avoid OpenOffice Math does not help itself with the lack of tutorials

and instructions which would be very useful for quick learning.

OpenOffice Math is not suitable for an educational environment as it is unable to

perform many of the tasks required for secondary school mathematics, like graph

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mathematics and shapes in. Therefore due to the specific requirements of GCSE

maths the programme is not suitable for our target market. This is a failure of aims

rather than of interactivity as it sets out to be a very usable equation editor and

achieves its goal in a focused manner but this means that it has fallen short on a few

basic functions.

!Programs that use goal-setting:

Duolingo (analysed as a learning tool)

Duolingo is a free translation platform for learning languages. Although it is not a

learning tool for maths, it is useful to evaluate for our project as it is encourages the

user to progress through goal-setting in manageable steps.

!How it works

Users gain coins (or skill points) whilst learning a language, for example when they

complete a lesson, with up to 13 points being awarded for each lesson. This is

documented on a progress bar (as shown below).

As lessons are completed in

particular topics, skills are

documented as ‘learned’ and

the user is able to progress to

the next level (‘Basics2’ from

‘Basics1’, for example). This is the bar that documents the user’s progress and the ‘coins’ they have acquired (skill points)

!Thus, users are able to break down their learning into manageable steps: selecting

the lessons they wish to attempt and unlocking the next lesson once that is

completed. (In the example below, the user is at the ‘Basics 1’ stage in their learning

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progress).

! ^ An example of the stages of ‘unlockable’ lessons available as the user progresses

!Providing help for users: Ability to adapt

Duolingo also adapts according to the user’s progress: at each level of learning, the

system analyses which questions the user has difficulty with (based on the amount

of points they scored/where they made mistakes and lost points). Duolingo then

collects this data and adapts itself according to the patterns it sees. It is therefore a

very progressive platform for education: being driven by and adapting to the data it

receives from each user.

Providing hints

Duolingo also provides tips and notes for the user before they start a lesson, which

reassures the user that they’re on the right track for learning, reinforcing the

information in the user’s mind before they can then apply it to the lesson. Of course,

these tips are optional for the user: some users may be more confident than others

and feel they can disregard these tips.

!

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This comes up on the lesson selection page, below the lesson icons

!Dividing it into separate topics

The user is also able to view their progress in various topics: and is thus able to see

where they may need to practice (for example, with plurals).

!

!< This displays the topics available to test yourself on

!This ensures that the program is not over-complex and is easily broken down into

bitesize chunks/topics.

!Encouragement and testing

Duolingo has a game-like format at times; users starting off with 4 lives in initial

lessons which decreases as the level of learning increases. A life is lost with each

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mistake the user makes. After they lose all of their ‘lives’, they then have to retry the

lesson.

!Duolingo also includes a time practice feature: the user is given 20 questions to

answer in 30 seconds, being rewarded a skill point and 7-10 bonus seconds for

every correct answer.

!This ‘game-like’ testing format could be beneficial for those lacking motivation. This

is supported by the Creative Teaching Site which claims that the using games can

improve logical thinking:

!“Here is an example of a situation where logical thinking is required: You need

to get into a building, but it's locked. Logically, what methods or steps would

you use to fulfil your objective (getting inside the building)?... Get keys from

pocket, select correct key, insert key into lock, turn key, open door handle,

push door open. Each step is required. The methods used to open a door are

obvious, but most students need to think the steps through before they can

use them. Another example of a thinking skill is the ability to think in

sequential order. It's surprising how difficult that is for some people. Things

need to be done in the correct order - in real life and in computer simulations.”

- (http://www.creativeteachingsite.com/videogames.htm)

!Lucid Research ltd also claim that:

“Research studies have previously shown that playing video games can

increase attention skills… which are typically weak in dyslexic children”

- (Lucid Research ltd: http://www.lucid-research.com/news.htm?news_id=26)

!General appearance and format

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Duolingo is laid out simply, using bright colours and eye-catching colour schemes. It

uses simple graphics, text and logos so as not to overload the user with visuals.

!

!< This icon gives a very simple overview of the user’s progress

!The tabs are laid out logically and clearly, for easy navigation and the progress icons

in the right hand corner (seen below) ensure that the user is rewarded by being able

to see themselves progress as they learn more.

! < The progress icons show the user their daily progress, as well as the courses they are

signed up for

!

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Evaluation of currently available programmes:

The current set of programmes and learning aids that aim to solve our initial problem

is quite broad, but they all have certain issues.

!Most especially, they are all quite advanced, and are not aimed at the level which we

are aiming to engage in mathematical learning. BBC Bitesize, although aimed at the

correct learning stage, is not as flexible as we would desire: there is no easy way of

teaching or learning from Bitesize.

!However, this project will be sure to take inspiration from Duolingo, which provides

an encouraging platform for learning. The progress bar/icons are items that would be

useful in our maths program, as well as the hints: which are necessary for students

that are less confident (including and especially children with learning difficulties).

!

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Personas

User Type 1: Teacher

Name: Ms. Brace

Age: 53

Occupation: Teacher

Level of Computer Experience: Very low,

an older woman who is new to most

technology.

User Requirements: Needs to:

- teach maths,

- set homework,

- mark homework,

- leave homework hints/help,

- give extra time on assignments and

more attention to students with learning

difficulties,

- teach lower level/catch-up classes,

- keep an eye on the class’ average

marks and individual students’ marks to identify areas of confusion and

misunderstanding

Frustrations: new to technology, has severe time constraints due to multiple classes

and large class size, will not be taught how to use a complex new system by her

employer

!Explanation of user: Ms Brace needs to teach Key Stage 3 mathematics to a large class but is new to

technology as she is an older teacher. She needs to keep an eye on the whole class’

marks, as well as individual marks. She makes class assignments, homeworks and

revision notes for her class to use. Sometimes, students will need to contact her out

of school hours with questions about homework.

!!

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!Scenarios:

Teaching Maths to students without learning difficulties: Ms. Brace creates class notes and in-class assignments with some questions for the

majority of her students. These in-class assignments will all have the same number

of questions, and be in the same format.

Teaching Maths to students with learning difficulties: Ms. Brace makes assignments and in-class exercises with less questions or more

time for the students with learning difficulties, and remain aware of their difficulties

when making decisions about overall class progress and what should be taught next.

Mark homework: Ms. Brace marks homework and returns it to her students with individual comments

about where they went wrong and what they might need to revise or brush up on.

Demonstrating in class: Ms. Brace draws notes and questions up on the board for the children to take down

and then revise from later.

!A Day in the Life: Ms. Brace gets up at 6am and makes sure she is in school for 7:45 to prepare her

classes for the day. Her students begin to arrive between 8 and 8 30. She attends

assembly with the other staff members and students from 8:30 until 9, and then has

classes that last an hour each from 9 until midday. These classes range from year 3,

to year 8. After an hour’s break for lunch, she helps out on the playground before

returning to class from two until 4. In lessons, Ms. Brace teaches a wide range of

topics to classes that range in size from 15 to 30 students. She sets and collects

homeworks, answers questions, and sets class work that she can help children work

through.

!Ms. Brace stays in school for a couple of hours most days, sorting out her lesson

plans for the next day, and collecting homework to take home and mark. Sometimes,

she will have students or parents come and see her at 4pm to ask questions about

homeworks or progress.

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!She arrives home at around 6pm and makes dinner, and will spend the rest of the

evening marking homework before having a relaxing bath and going to bed at 10pm.

!How the Programme Would Address Ms Brace’s Problems: The programme would make it easy for Ms. Brace to present class notes in an easily

legible way, with clear symbols. She would be able to call on the symbol’s short

explanation to quickly aid understanding.

!It would also make it easier for her to set homeworks to the whole class, and to

answer any questions that the students may have out of hours using the messaging

centre.

She would be able to view students’ progress and previous marks and discover gaps

in their knowledge, as well as viewing the whole classes’ statistics to pick up on

areas that the whole class is unsure of.

!The system would let her give students with learning difficulties extra time on timed

homeworks, or sometimes set less questions for those students.

Overall, the system would aim to streamline her teaching of mathematics to a range

of students in the class, while remaining easy to use and quick to pick up due to her

lack of experience with technology.

!!!!!!!!

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!!!!!!User Type 2: Child without Learning Difficulties

Name: Rajesh Mamoud

Age: 12 years

Occupation: Student

Field: Maths

Level of Computer Experience: Fairly low, he has only used

computers in a school context due to

strict parenting. This means he has

had little experience with recreational

activities computers can be used for,

such as gaming. As a result of this,

however, he is proficient at Microsoft

Word and Excel-type programmes,

but has never used them for something as complex as writing maths notes.

!User Requirements: Rajesh Needs:

- An easy-to-use system that he can get to grips with quickly, and navigate with

ease.

- Interactive support from staff outside of teaching hours.

- A prompting system for symbols that he’s unsure about.

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- He needs a system that can help him to easily organise his work and notes.

- The programme will need to be able to motivate and encourage own-time

learning and revision sessions.

Frustrations: - Rajesh has difficulty motivating himself when it comes to working in his own time

and is under a lot of pressure from his parents to do so.

- He wants to do well at Maths but he finds it hard to pay attention.

- He needs to be at school to have access to a computer

- Because of parental pressure he does not want to ask them for help when he is

having difficulty with work

!Explanation of User: Rajesh is your average 12-year-old, year 8 pupil working hard to achieve good

grades like those that his parents want. He lacks any desire to do well on his own

terms and is only looking to please his family. He wants to improve his mathematical

skills and also improve his revision/working techniques as he finds it very hard to put

his mind to the task and structure his learning on his own.

Scenarios: In-class

In-class learning is split into two parts, firstly when the teacher is demonstrating

portions of the course and secondly when the class is set some work to complete for

the rest of the lesson, asking for help as necessary. Both parts need to be engaging

for the students. Rajesh needs a simple way to take legible notes during

demonstration that he can easily refer to during the exercise section.

Homework

Rajesh struggles with motivating himself to enjoy his work because of the pressure

he is put under by his family. This leads him often to work slowly and ineffectively.

The difficulty he experiences when completing homework is exacerbated by being

too embarrassed to ask his parents for help, and he finds his textbook confusing to

look-up topics in.

Revision

Rajesh finds it difficult to engage enjoyably with his work because of the need-not-

want spin put on performance by his family. Encouraging forms of group-work could

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increase his motivation and interaction with the course content, and providing fun

ways to solve-problems and approach course material will help immensely with his

desire to do work in his own time. As well as a section for his own notes he needs to

be able to call up references when he does not understand something he’s written. It

would be useful for Rajesh to be provided with extra, unassessed practise exercises

for him to complete in his own time, when revising.

!A Day In The Life

Rajesh gets to school for 8:30, ready for classes to start at 9. Each lesson last for an

hour with approximately half of the time used for the teacher going through the topic

on the board, with the class then being set work to do either on their own or with the

aid of a tutor (depending on their confidence level). Rajesh often struggles to find the

motivation to work during this time period, which makes it harder for him when he

goes home to complete the homework tasks; when he becomes frustrated

(especially with maths).

This means he often puts off tasks until later, especially when afraid to ask for help.

!How the Program would address Rajesh’s Problems: The program would allow Rajesh to engage in interactive learning; making it more

fun to use than simply a pen and paper whilst also allowing his notes to be legible in

class. It would be set up in a colourful, easy-to-read format which would make the

prospect of completing work less daunting (when compared to working from a

textbook, for example).

!The program would allow Rajesh to see his past homeworks and therefore see

where he was correct in solving problems previously (which would provide

encouragement).

!The program would also provide hints when Rajesh requested it (under a ‘need a

hint?’ link) so that Rajesh can see if he is on the right track. However, if this is not

enough and Rajesh needs extra help, the program would allow him to send

messages to teachers and tutors when he got stuck with the work. This would

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eliminate the embarrassment of asking questions in front of a class of around 15-30

people and provide reassurance.

!!!!!!

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User Type 3: Student with Learning Difficulties

Name: Xander Harris

Age: 12 years

Occupation: Student

Learning Difficulties: Dyscalculia and Dyslexia

(has performance anxiety as a result of this)

Field: Maths

Level of Computer Experience: Fairly high

because of a preference for interactive learning.

Can use Microsoft Word and Excel. He’s also

familiar with video games and owns a PC at home.

!User Requirements:

Xander Needs:

- Large, easily readable font because of his dyslexia.

- An interactive learning experience

- An easy-to-use program for his work, with clear labelling

- Extra learning support and encouragement because it takes him longer to work

than other children without learning difficulties (this includes extra hints/time)

- Preliminary work checks to avoid mistakes

- One-on-one support because of performance anxiety

!Frustrations: - Xander takes longer than other students to complete and comprehend his

work and as a result, lacks confidence within school

- Other children tease him for progressing slower

- The traditional method of teaching to large groups is not effective as it doesn’t

cater to his particular learning style; he requires extra support

- Due to the above reasons, Xander also lacks the motivation to learn

!Explanation of User:

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Xander is a student studying maths at Key Stage 3 level. He has the barrier of

having both dyslexia and dyscalculia. Performance anxiety dissuades him from

engaging in group work as his classes are made up of around 15-20 students. He is

a bright and imaginative child, however lacks motivation in academia after years of

frustration with words and numbers.

!Scenarios: In-class

Xander needs to be able to follow the guidelines and walk-throughs of the set

homework in class and complete the exercises his teacher sets him.

!Homework

When set homework, Xander often initially panics at the prospect of doing work

independently as he needs assurance that he is approaching exercises correctly. He

is not confident in his academic ability and prefers going to homework help after-

school classes as the tutors are able to go through the work at a pace which suits

him.

Revision

When revising, Xander needs encouragement that his problem-solving is on the right

track. He also needs to be able to think and work independently as well as attending

revision sessions with other children/tutors as this will improve his confidence.

!A Day in the Life

Xander wakes up at 7:30 ready for school which begins at around 8:30. He is a

bright child, but struggles with motivation due to being discouraged by traditional

teaching methods and his performance anxiety, which makes the prospect of school

seem unattractive.

!He will often become frustrated when in class as his dyscalculia and dyslexia are

learning barriers which other children don’t have and thus he often feels left behind

whilst other students seem to be progressing quicker than him. This leads to some

teasing, which greatly affects Xander’s confidence.

!

HCI Group Project 8

After going to classes and having homework set, Xander returns home where he

becomes engaged in more interactive and kinesthetic learning; including playing

games and building various projects. When attempting homework independently he

can get very frustrated and thus resort to procrastinating, however his parents make

sure he attends some after-school homework sessions once a week for when he is

encountering problems.

!How the Program would address Xander’s Problems:

!The program would allow Xander to ask for extra help without the embarrassment of

having to announce this in front of the entire class. It would provide hints and

examples where necessary that could be tailored by the teacher to Xander’s level of

learning.

!The program would also be useful by providing the option of having easy-read text

for dyslexic students- which Xander is. This would be one less barrier for him when

processing/addressing mathematical problems.

!For encouragement, the program would allow Xander to see his past graded

homework answers; allowing him to see where he was correct previously and how

the methods he used for these could be applied to the current homework.

!The teacher would also be able to see his notes- and thus see in his ‘working-out’ his

thought process when attempting to solve mathematical problems. From this, they

could then refine where Xander needs extra tutoring/time etc.

!The program could also provide a ‘buddy’ (a learning tool, similar to the paperclip in

early microsoft word) which would provide hints when Xander has accidentally used

the wrong method/symbol for a task, to get him back on track. E.g “remember that pi

r squared is for working out the area of a circle, not circumference!” (with mini

diagrams). The teacher could tailor this learning tool to give hints where Xander most

commonly gets muddled -in this case, with implementing pi.

!

HCI Group Project 8

!User Type 5: Admin

Name: Joshan Giuseppe

Age: 42

Level of computer ability: High, they are

highly adapt to using technology as their job

revolves around communicating with other staff

as well as exploring and inputting into

databases.

User Requirements: •Assign Students to suitable classes.

• Ensure all results of students are collected. • Gives termly report of how students are progressing. • Checks whether teachers are achieving their government assigned targets. • Reviews class progression as a whole. • Liaise with Teachers and Head of Maths departments on progress.

!Frustrations:

• Needs to liaise between teachers and management which can take time and

many messages • Check progress of students and classes without being disruptive • Viewing past marks for children without the use of graphs can make it difficult

to make decisions about what classes they should be in

Explanation of user:

Admin staff are in many ways the bureaucratic beating heart of the educational

establishment as they have a multifunctional role which is responsible for both

students and teachers. They are in charge of appointing students to classes which

match their mathematical ability so they encourage an environment where teaching

is suited to the ability and needs of the students. They are also responsible for the

tracking of the grades students are receiving so they can warn and inform teachers

about students who are underachieving and those that are excelling. Admin staff also

are in charge of monitoring the progress of classes as a whole in order to check

HCI Group Project 8

whether teachers are performing adequately and warning the Heads of Departments

that they might need to offer extra help to some teachers. Another one of their big

jobs is the collection of results of exams and to distribute them to both the students

and the parents in order to relay the achievements of each student.

!Scenarios

Placing the Students into a correct group: A student has recently been performing below his usual skill level for various

reasons. The marks he has been receiving in his homework have been steadily

falling and he is quickly falling behind his advanced class. The student, therefore,

needs to be moved down into a more balanced set so he can gain confidence in

maths and learn the basics he would need to rise again. Therefore Mr Giuseppe will

need to contact both teachers and the student to inform them of the decision while

also placing a tab onto the student’s progress to see if he does progress in his new

group. This would be sufficiently difficult as without an automated system in which he

can both keep track of and contact people with it would have to be done manually

which would time consuming and off putting.

!Collecting the results of a termly test: It is the easter holidays and all the classes within the school have just performed a

test in order to manage the development of the students in the school. As this test is

performed in all subjects across all years the results are enormous in proportion and

soon the admin office is flooded with information. In maths this is especially hectic as

the teachers have been lackluster in their marking and a few results have still yet to

be collected.

!The admin staff have to trawl through the mountains of tables and graphs in order to

work out which students are missing and where the hole is in their data. The

teachers had marked the work themselves and have submitted them in various

forms however some teachers have elected to submit the data in an electronic

format and others have handed in a badly written document with just the rough

pencil written results scribbled in.

!

HCI Group Project 8

Out of this data it is the admins job to chart the course of each class and student in

order to develop an idea of the quality of teaching within the school. Finally when the

marks and data have been recorded they are returned to the teachers who have

already began to teach the next terms curriculum and find themselves pressed for

time in order to cover the topics which their students have struggled in.

!Inserting a new student into a class: The administrator is also in control of inserting new students into classes, should a

new student arrive. To do this he must first inspect the students previous grades and

reports from their former school to assess their ability. Mr Giuseppe must then

search through the school’s registers to investigate any free spaces within classes to

see where it is possible to place the new student. Finally he must try and match the

student to the most suited group with free places before informing the teacher of the

incoming student and adding the class on to the timetable to be given to the student

on their first day. The overall records must then be updated in order to include the

new student and the registers re-written so in case of a fire drill the student is

accounted for.

!A Day In The Life: Mr. Giuseppe gets up early, at 6am, to make sure he is in school on time to do lots of

paperwork before the children begin arriving. Having been given the registers of the

attendance for the day, he will write these up into the school’s computer system until

lunch. He will take an hour’s lunch break, and then have more homework and test

results delivered to him, which need to be copied onto children’s permanent records.

Sometimes, he will need to email parents and teachers about moving a child into a

different class from the one they are in, because their marks are suffering.

Mr. Giuseppe works late, until about 7pm, in the school office, filing paperwork and

updating the school’s system to make sure that all the students’ records are up to

date, including those of new students. He will then go home, watch some TV and go

to bed.

!How the programme will address his problems:

HCI Group Project 8

The system will aim to make it easier for Mr. Giuseppe to message teachers, view

students’ marks, view class marks, and generally perform admin tasks (such as

creating classes and students). It will aim to give him a simple way of storing

information about children’s learning difficulties which he can pass on to teachers.

!The system will also give him the ability to set goals for children to achieve in their

marks, stretching children to achieve their best.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HCI Group Project 8

User Type 4: Parent

Name: Magnolia Harris

Age: 36

Occupation: Receptionist

Level of Computer Experience:

Reasonably high, uses computer at work

and helps her children.

User Requirements: Needs to:

- Help her child with learning difficulties

remain motivated.

- Help with homework.

- Tutor children.

- Have tips so she understands the work given.

- Check the mark Xander got for class work.

- Set goals for future work.

!Frustrations:

She is a single mother of three children. The eldest child, Xander, has various

learning difficulties and needs considerable help with learning Maths. She has very

little time after work to learn a complex new system and needs to use her time in the

most efficient way possible.

!Explanation of user: Magnolia Harris needs to be able to tutor her children, and especially Xander, Key

Stage Three mathematics to a level in which they can pass year nine SATS with

good grades. However she has barely any time between her work and looking after

her children. Therefore the interface will have to be simple enough for Magnolia to

pick up quickly. Although she has quite a lot experience with computers and a larger

than average intelligence she hasn’t performed any maths in the last decade

therefore the programme will need to be considerate of this situation and of

descriptions as to what the varying mathematical symbols and functions mean. As

Xander has learning difficulties he requires monitoring to see if the style of teaching

HCI Group Project 8

is appropriate for him, The system will then need to be able to notify Magnolia of the

progress Xander is making.

!Scenarios

Helping son with learning difficulties revise for a test: Although Xander is only 12 he faces the end of year exams which determine which

ability of maths group he should be put in for the following year. This would be a

stressful time in any parent’s life but considering the difficulties that he has extra

pressure is added as this could be his chance to keep up with the rest of his class.

As a parent who takes the success and wellbeing of her children very seriously

Magnolia is determined to help her son do well. Therefore she becomes his tutor.

The programme would need to cater for this scenario by allowing the Parents to set

questions which then the child would be able to answer. It should then have an

interface which allows the parent to mark the answers and award gold stars when

the child does well. These results should then be sent to the teacher. A timer would

also be a good addition as Magnolia would need to make sure that Xander has done

his revision even if she is too busy to manually supervise him.

!Teaching her child mathematical principles: If you suffer from learning difficulties then you often fall behind in class and lose

concentration as the class room hasn’t been designed to cater for someone with

specific problems. Magnolia therefore would have a compulsion to help her son in

learning brand new mathematical principles which had failed to be absorbed by

Xander. In order to do this she would need to use the device to show him

explanations and examples which he could copy and learn from. Therefore there

should be an inbuilt mathematical dictionary which gives a short explanation of the

purpose of each symbol and function. This would be key in a more in depth teaching

style for someone with no formal mathematical training. It would also allow Magnolia

to make sure her teaching is correct and to expand her knowledge so she can pass it

on to her son.

!!!

HCI Group Project 8

Helping with homework: Xander’s teacher, Ms Brace, is likely to set a steady amount of homework in order to

encourage her students to progress with their mathematical ability and for

independent learning. However as Magnolia is trying to help her children progress as

far as feasibly possible then she is likely to help out and go through and mark the

homework after Xander has completed. The system should allow corrections to be

made after it has stopped being used so Magnolia can explain the mistakes that

Xander has made and so he can learn before handing it in. If the questions contain

something which Magnolia does not understand then it should have another function

which takes the information the teacher has given and links it to the correct symbol.

This would save a lot of time for a single mum trying to help her son as looking on

the internet may take up precious time for her so having an inbuilt function would

make it more accessible and help Magnolia in helping her child’s homework.

HCI  Project  Group  8

Overall  conclusion  of  program  requirementsStudents  need  a  program  with:

Student  Without  Learning  Difficulties(Rajesh)

Student  With  Learning  Difficulties(Xander)

In  Class Easy  navigation

A  simple  way  of  making  legible  notes  to  refer  back  

to

Easy  navigation

Easily-­readable  font

A  function  that  allows  work  and  notes  to  be  organised  easily

Homework A  messaging  system  allowing  students  to  

contact  staff  outside  of  teaching  hours

A  hints  section

A  ‘past  homeworks’  section

A  messaging  system  allowing  students  to  

contact  staff  outside  of  teaching  hours

A  hints  section  

A  ‘past  homeworks’  section

A  prompting  system  for  unusual  symbols

Walk-­throughs  without  time  limits

Revision An  option  to  time  work

The  option  of  having  unassessed  practice  

exercises

References  to  the  topics  the  student  most  

struggles  with(data-­driven)

Teachers  need  a  program  with:

Miss  Brace

Teaching Easy  navigation

27

HCI  Project  Group  8

Clearly  labelled  icons

The  possibility  of  giving  less  questions/  more  time/  assistance  to  students  with  

learning  difficulties

Marking A  way  of  easily  leaving  feedback  comments  on  students’  work  

A  statistics  page  to  keep  track  of  student’s  progress

Demonstrating A  clear  way  of  writing  up  mathematical  concepts

A  function  for  looking  up  short  explanationsof  symbols/concepts

An  ‘upload’  notes  function  for  some  students

Admins  need  a  program  with:

Joshan  Giuseppe

Placing  the  students  into  a  correct  group

A  window  to  check  the  past  marks  of  students

A  message  function  for  contacting  both  staff  and  students

A  function  which  measures  the  progress  of  students  that  are  

struggling

An  update  function  to  implement  thesechanges  on  the  database

Collecting  the  results  of  a  termly  test

A  statistics  window

The  ability  to  return  marks  and  data  back  to  teachers

28

HCI  Project  Group  8

Inserting  a  new  student  into  a  class

A  class  register  browser/  search  function

A  message  function  to  inform  teachersof  the  new  student

The  ability  to  access/update  records

A  timetable  creator

An  update  function

29

HCI Group Project 8

!!

First Generation Prototypes

Prototype 1

Tools used: hand drawn/drawn in Word

Primary Target: Teacher

Rationale:

The goals of homework creation, marking homework, and messaging were key in this design, with the specific needs of the teacher in mind.

This was a quickly made prototype, mostly drawn by hand, with some screens made in Microsoft Word as very little versatility was needed to demonstrate the ideas at hand.

Login screen:

The Teacher’s First Screen:

!

A text entry for username and password. This would be the same for all users, and the different usernames would correspond to different versions of the system opening.

LOGIN

A clear and easy to see Log in button

A clear button to create a new class, would lead to this screen to sync the children’s devices with the teacher’s

7Bnew class

mail!

List of current classes 8J

Messages – notification of new and link to message centre

HCI Group Project 8

!!The Teacher screen opens onto a list of the current classes, and when a class is selected, it will take the Teacher to a screen where more options for this class are available, including an ability to see the students’ grades, set and mark homework, set revision, and open all lesson plans.

The mail centre will be where messages from students appear, and a picture of an unopened envelope by the ‘mail!’ button will denote an unread message.

!

!The buttons along the top layer of the screen below the class name correspond to other screens the teacher can access.

Grades:

!

Homework:

When a class is selected, it opens automatically to a list of all students, and when a student is selected, the teacher can see their information, and change settings such as giving them extra time, and using a reduced list of questions where available.

The teacher can select a single student from the drop-down menu to look at their individual marks and past grades in a graph format, or they can select seeing the whole class’ marks.

First the teacher can select what topic they would like to create a new homework for.

HCI Group Project 8

!

!!Revision:

!

!Child Screen:

Similar to the teacher’s screen in terms of layout, the student screen has a settings area, a notification for due homework or new mail, and links to homework, notes and revision.

!

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Here will be a file tree of premade and previously saved homeworks, sorted by topic.

Here the teacher can create questions, putting whatever input they like, and having as many questions as they like.

The teacher can either select a premade revision to set the class, or create a custom revision exercise using the same layout and input as th homework creator. Revision homeworks can be set with a time limit to test children under exam conditions, and extra time students’ systems would automatically give them the correct amount of time

Here is an example of a homework they need to fill in, they will use the on screen symbol mapper to

The child can see their grades and how they did in marked homeworks on this screen

The child can change some settings like font size, and see if they

HCI Group Project 8

!!Evaluation:

As a quickly-made design, this prototype has a lot of potential, but also obviously many flaws and areas that will need tweaking and refining if it is to become the second generation prototype. It will now be evaluated by Neilsen’s heuristics, and then looking at the personas and their scenarios.

Heuristic Evaluation:

!

Visibility of System Status • No obvious way of knowing if the system is connected to the children’s wireless touchpad devices

• No evidence of loading bars

Match between system and real world • Very little, the system uses many buttons rather than some sort of overarching intuitive design metaphor

User control and freedom • The teacher can create their own revisions or use readymade ones

Consistency and standards • There is consistency between the teacher and child’s screens in terms of labelling of buttons and screens

Error prevention • There is no error prevention for creating or submitting homeworks, or editing classes when the devices sync with the teacher

Recognition rather than recall • All buttons labelled

Flexibility and efficiency of use

Aesthetic and minimalistic design • The aesthetic aims to keep the buttons at the centre of the design but is sometimes messy and may be unhelpfully laid out

Help users recognise and recover errors • No help whatsoever

Help and documentation • No obvious help manual

HCI Group Project 8

Persona Evaluation:

Teacher:

• Scenario 1: Teaching

o Ms. Brace would find it quite difficult to teach using this system as lesson plans are readymade and the design to write notes is unintuitive.

• Scenario 2: Setting and marking homework

o Ms. Brace would find it difficult to correct mistakes in both the creation and marking of homework, and there is no way to leave individual comments on homeworks for children.

Student:

• Scenario 1: Class learning

o Rajesh and Xander may find it difficult to navigate the system and make notes.

• Scenario 2: Homework

o The children can complete their homework, but submission is not yet clear.

o They can review their results, which will help with learning.

• Scenario 3: Revision

o Again, the tasks can be completed, but with no mention of how they should be submitted to the teacher.

Admin and Parent

• There is currently no functionality in this prototype for these two types of user.

!Overall:

Some of the design ideas in this prototype are good, but none of it is fully functional, and it will need some serious work to become the final prototype. Some ideas from it may be utilised in the second generation prototype, such as the file tree and the message centre.

!

HCI Group Project 8

Prototype 2

Tools used: hand drawn/drawn in Word

Primary Target: Teacher and Student

Rationale:

This design concentrated more on the requirements of the student.

!Login screen options:

Both these login-page designs assume that the requirements for the teacher and student versions of the programme differ so widely that separate logins are necessary. In these designs, no information is built-in to the login details provided by the user that would give the programme appropriate knowledge to open the desired student or teacher portal.

!Version 1

!

!!

Version 2

!Pros Cons

Student V2: Do not get distracted or procrastinate by trying to login as teacher

Teacher V2: May get confused on initial few uses and not find the login button. This could lead to time wasted incorrectly logged in as a student

Teacher login buttonStudent login button

Student Teacher

Student login button

Login

Teacher Login Link to the teacher login page

HCI Group Project 8

One of the major problems with learning platforms is often that teacher usability is sacrificed in place of student (as students are the ones benefitting most from the system) BUT teacher requirements are just as important if both student and teacher are going to make the most of the system.

SOLUTION: Pop up error message with pointer to correct login when teacher details are used to try to access the student portal, however if the programme is able to use the login details to get this information why is it necessary to have separate login portals at all?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HCI Group Project 8

Student Homepage/Notes

Automatially opens to note page

!!

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!

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Self-Timer Can be switched on/off at student/parent discretion. Intended to help with revision/motivation or to aid children who like a challenge

Clicking anywhere on the notepad enables typing, similarly to Microsoft Notepad, this gives flexibility in note design

Symbol-pad organised grouping by topic to make symbols easier to find.

Can hide selected pads if irrelevant.

Hovering over a symbol causes a description to display

Pop out for inserting graphs or other drawn objects – detailed later

Side arrows to switch to earler/later lesson notes

Enables symbol insertion via hand-drawn symbols in case student cannot locate correct symbol. System identifies what you have drawn and highlights it in the symbol pad.

HCI Group Project 8

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!!

!!

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Sidebar with ‘ask a question’ link, alerts (e.g. homework due) display below.

Question-type features, while some of the most important features that learning platforms offer, are often some of the least used and therefore we have used many techniques to try to make it a more appealing section. Here, putting the Query Tool above Alerts is an attempt to make it more visible and thus more appealing to users. This has been done despite Alerts arguably being more important, this will be negated by the Alerts either being in bold, red or flashing.

Descriptions are also accessible when symbols are in homework questions or when highlighted in notes/revision

Descriptions contain interactive links through to further information in case a concept is too complication for student/parent to understand

Student Portal – Homework Main functions similar to note-taking as requirements are the same

Access most recent assignment feedback

Clicking marks where the intercept goes, instruction displays as a message

HCI Group Project 8

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Drag triangle box for gradient

Also functions as a teaching method for understanding how gradient works

Student Portal – Progress Review

Reward/Ranking System to help students with motivation

Personal StatisticsProgress Bar to indicate

distance to reward

Encouraging messages

Class Statistics

HCI Group Project 8

!!

!

!!!!!

Student Portal – Messages/Queries

Notification appears here if a question the user has asked has been answered. Clicking jumps to result displayed in main screen

Search for questions that have already been answered

Questions appear anonymously to the students but the teacher can identify which student asked a question so that they are able to tailor help given in person

Thread of other students’ questions

Submit a Question: tick box if you want your question to be visible by classmates

Student Portal – Revision

HCI Group Project 8

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Centre screen splits in two to make revision notes. One view has the original notes and the other imitates a notecard, to encourage students to condense their notes for revision purposes

Double-clicking creates bullet points Entry Screen for Revision section allows selection of revision

method – from notes made, teacher’s notes, past exercises, revision exercises and practise tests

Teacher Portal – In Class Notes

Flashes if any new student queries

Entry Screen for teachers is not the main note-taking tab

Layout and interaction of the teacher notes tab is the same as for student portal note-taking function but with added board-pen-writing capabilities

Save button leads to pop-up option window

Teacher Portal – Set Homework

Chapter/topic selection causes drop-down subfolder to keep work organised

HCI Group Project 8

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Submit button - commit assignment as written, leads to pop-up option window

Question overview so teacher can put in mark allocations

Icons displayed as red/green for percentage correct

Before work is Teacher Portal – Mark Homework

Link to answer overview so teacher can see general responses/which questions students got wrong a lot. Once a piece of work

is marked, icons link to student stat page

Teacher can highlight errors and leave comments for the student to view – similar to Microsoft Word ‘comment’ functionality

Mark achieved can be altered by teacher

Identity of student not revealed until teacher has committed mark to system

HCI Group Project 8

!!

!!

!Evaluation:

Heuristic Evaluation:

Visibility of System Status • No methods for showing progress of upload of documents (notes, or homework assignments) or login progress.

Match between system and real world • A folder-tabbing system is used as a real-world design metaphor in this prototype, this is a strong metaphor as ought to be relatable to both staff and students.

• The metaphor is weakened by departing from the theme in the splitting of the main screen into sidebars, similar to simple web design.

User control and freedom • No other options given

Teacher Portal – View Statistics

Submit button – once submitted, dialog box pop-up to ask if teacher wishes to see student’s stats.

If ‘no’ return to work to mark page and select new piece of work

If ‘yes’ taken to this page

On selecting, takes to individual stats page, set up much like student view – highlights areas student is struggling n based on homework responses and make

HCI Group Project 8

!Persona Evaluation:

Teacher:

• Scenario 1: Teaching

o Even if unable to understand the majority of the systems, naviating to the in-class note function is straightforward thanks to the tab system, and once there Ms Brace could use the board-pen-writing funtion to make class notes.

Consistency and standards • There is a large amount of consistency for most areas of the programme, even across the student and teacher portals but there are several areas where consistency is greatly diminished

• Student Revision screen • Teacher entry screen • Both of these screens use an

otherwise avoided categorising technique that has no real-world relatability

Error prevention • Pop-up screens to check whether submission is intended are present.

Recognition rather than recall • All buttons labelled

Flexibility and efficiency of use • Programme allows flexible usage, as gives user different tools for input (typing, symbol-mapper, hand-drawing tool )

• Efficency not catered for by recently-used files

Aesthetic and minimalistic design • Although most menus are collapsible the screen is significantly cluttered and this design goes for functionality over simplicity.

Help users recognise and recover errors • None

Help and documentation • Useful notification messages pop-up for certain functions of the programme – eg symbols, graphing tool.

HCI Group Project 8

• Scenario 2: Setting and marking homework

o The comments section is quite complex though hopefully due to it’s similarity to the commonly used programme Microsoft Word, Ms Brace would quickly adjust.

Student:

• Scenario 1: Class learning

o Rajesh and Xander may find the system difficult to use as the screen is overly complicated

• Scenario 2: Homework

o Homework completion falls into the same trap as note-making due to the complicated screen organisation.

• Scenario 3: Revision

o As this screen has a completely different design aesthetic to the rest of the programme and does not continue with the tabbing system present for other sections the children find this screen confusing.

Admin and Parent

• There is currently no functionality in this prototype for these two types of user.

!Overall:

There are several good features of this design, namely its strong use of the tabbing metaphor, however, it sacrifices simplicity for functionality so while may be a good design for an experienced computer-user it is not suitable for its intended demographic of teachers and students.

!

HCI Group Project 8

!Prototype 3

Tools used: Inkscape and Microsoft Word

Primary Target: Student and Teacher

Rationale:

The main goal of this prototype was to make it simple for students to submit and understand homework and for teachers to easily create and assign marks for it.

This prototype was initially drawn by hand, then created in Inkscape and Microsoft Word in order to make it easy to edit. It was quickly drawn, in order to encourage the flow of ideas and thus has some flaws, however we will evaluate these later on.

Login Screen:

!

!Main Student Screen:

!!!

!!

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Text entry for username and password, corresponding to students in this instance

Password:

A clear Login button

This will link to another window

where the assignments will show

List of symbols. When these are

selected, they appear on

Main output screen

HCI Group Project 8

!The student screen opens up, with several tabs appearing at the top of the screen related to submitting their work.

• When the ‘File’ tab is selected, a drop down menu appears including the option to save and export work.

• When the ‘Options’ tab is selected, a drop down menu appears including the option to change the colour of the font etc.

• The ‘Submit’ tab goes to a separate window in which students can upload their work.

• The ‘Due’ tab opens up a window in which the assignments and their due dates are listed.

The main input of this design will be a hand writing converter designed for tablets or interactive whiteboards.

It will therefore be touch-sensitive.

There will also be a handwriting ‘recogniser’ which converts handwriting into computerised font, but the main option will be to type using a keyboard which pops up.

Graph/ Table Page:

!!!!

!!

This is the Graph/Table These tabs at the

bottom allow exploration between different windows

This lists different types of graphs. When

selected, this will come up on the main

output screen

This is the ‘point inputter’ to insert

values into graphs. It is draggable around the

screen

Main output screen

HCI Group Project 8

screen which is designed to help people at Key Stage 3 to create graphs and tables for data.

The student can go to the graph page by clicking on the tabs on the bottom left which allow the user to go into a different window.

They can select the type of graph they want by exploring the types on the right hand side and selecting it, which will bring it up on the main output screen.

To enter coordinates and data, there is an ‘inputter’ which has an “enter values” button. The graph on the main output screen will then adapt according to the new data.

Teacher Screen:

!!!!!!!!

!!!

!!

List of classes This is where the teacher declares the maximum amount of marks to be

awarded for the question

The teacher writes the correct answer

here

Subject selection for the type of question

This allows the user to switch between

questions (should be labelled as question 1

etc.)

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Setting Homework:

The Teacher Screen allows the teacher to select which class they are setting questions for on the left. They will then select the subject for the questions from the right hand side (this will then be applied to the output screen).

The teacher can then set questions, typing them in simply. They are able to import graphs /tables if needed by selecting the ‘options’ tab. This will lead to a dropdown menu which will have an ‘insert’ option.

Assigning Marks:

The teacher can then select the maximum amount of marks available for this question by clicking on the ‘Marks’ tab, which will bring a drop down menu with numbers of marks on it from 1-15. They are also able to adapt these according to individual student’s needs by selecting “see more” under the class they have selected, bringing up a list of individual students.

They can then move on to set the next question by selecting the next icon on the bottom left (these should be labelled q1, q2, q3 etc.)

Evaluation:

This design was quite rushed, and thus has a lot of practical flaws.

We will now evaluate it using Neilsen’s heuristics, then looking at personas and scenarios through the use of cognitive walkthroughs.

Heuristic Evaluation:

Visibility of System Status • There’s no obvious way of knowing if the system is connected to the children’s wireless touchpad devices

• No loading bars

Match between system and real world • Very little, the system uses many buttons and tabs rather than some sort of overarching intuitive design metaphor

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!

User control and freedom • The student is able to make decisions regarding what symbols/ graphs or tables they wish to use, however they are very much constrained by having to answer the questions their teacher has assigned them.

• The teacher can create questions in any topic studied at Key Stage 3 and are able to insert examples

Consistency and standards • There is consistency between the teacher and child’s screens in terms of labelling of buttons and screens: the teacher obviously having more autonomy

Error prevention • There is no error prevention for creating or submitting homeworks, or editing classes when the devices sync with the teacher

• This could be a problem for when students input the correct answer, but don’t capitalise one letter etc. which would bring up an error message

Recognition rather than recall • Not all buttons are labelled (however this was because of a rushed design)

Flexibility and efficiency of use • The options for creating and answering questions are quite limited

• Students wouldn’t find this flexible at all and this lack of flexibility/ ability to be creative in their working out/ answers might even put them off taking time to learn using this system.

Aesthetic and minimalistic design • The aesthetic aims to be minimalist, however is sometimes not obvious enough (for example, with a significant lack of labelling)

Help users recognise and recover errors • No help

Help and documentation • No obvious help manual

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Persona Evaluation:

Teacher:

• Scenario 1: Teaching

o Ms. Brace would only really be able to create assignments using this program: this makes it incredibly limited in terms of its use. It is not versatile at all.

• Scenario 2: Setting and marking homework

o There is no way for Ms. Brace to 1) add extra hints and comments to the assignments when creating them and 2) to add comments to the work when marking it which explain why the student received the mark they did.

Student:

• Scenario 1: Class learning

o Rajesh and Xander will find this system hard as it is not clearly labelled and doesn’t allow much flexibility for note taking (which is essential, especially for Xander as he needs to make extra notes in order to walk himself through the steps of equations etc.).

• Scenario 2: Homework

o The Students can complete their homework, but the tabs make it confusing to navigate. It is also not obvious how exactly they would submit work

o They can’t review their results.

• Scenario 3: Revision

o The tasks can be completed, but with no mention of how they should be submitted to the teacher.

Admin and Parent

• There is currently no functionality in this prototype for these two types of user.

Overall:

The overall concept is reasonable, however when the user does the walk through it becomes clear that this prototype has a lot of flaws which would catch people out and confuse them when setting/completing work. It does have some useful features (such as the ability to import data into graphs), however it is not fully functional.

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Ultimately, another one of the first generation prototypes would be better to expand on to make into the final prototype.

!

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Final Generation Prototypes

!Evaluation of tools:

Process: • The high-fidelity prototype was created in Photoshop • We selected some of the important screens to illustrate how the system would

work • We decided against illustrating all of the screens as the system is very in-

depth, but the main aspects of its functionality are able to be explained

through the main screens. • Also as a first prototype if we decided to develop each of the individual

screens it would mean we would be too tied down when it came to developing

our ideas. Instead we decided to elect to generate an array of broad ideas

then evaluate their virtues from which we could have a suitable structure to

develop a more in depth prototype .

!Photoshop CS6:

• Photoshop is a flexible image creation tool which gave us the freedom to

make the prototype look how we wanted. • It did not leave us with any chance to make the prototype fully interactive • However, the custom graphics and designs made up for this, as it is more true

to how the real system would look. • We decided that if used appropriately it was more important to get the overall

theme correct rather than to simulate the interactivity as from a design point of

view we needed a platform which would appeal to users before playing with

interactive features.

!PowerPoint:

• PowerPoint can create basically interactive screens to illustrate our system • However, we decided against creating our prototypes in PowerPoint due to

time constraints and the desire to have a more flexible approach to the

prototypes mock-up screens.

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The interactivity of powerpoint is very limited so even if we were to develop a prototype within the programme it would still be based upon powerpoints designs and would in turn hinder our creativity.

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Presentation of Final Prototype

!This is the first screen that the user sees of

the system. The login screen includes an

option for having forgotten one’s username

or password and they will then be guided

through security questions to find out their

username or change their password.

The login screen will be the same for the 3

different types of the system, and the differences between admin, teacher and

student will be apparent in their usernames, and the correct version of the system

will load up afterwards.

This is the loading graphic, it will fill with red clockwise until the

page is ready. It will appear when the user is logging in and

performing other actions like opening a new class note.

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Student Screen

This is a typical screen for a student user of the system.

!The system for student users has four main tabs, one for notes, one for homework,

one for revision, and one for questions.

The notes section will automatically open on the previously worked on notes, which

will be highlighted in the file tree at the side.

The side file tree will also have a recently opened note section, which will show the

10 most recently opened class notes.

The notes will be saved into the topic where the child creates the file, and it can be

moved into another folder by dragging it across the screen.

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For note taking, the child has access to the creation of graphs and diagrams. For

inputting other symbols there is a topic selection at the side which will open a symbol

selection screen for symbols related to the current topic.

If the desired symbol cannot be found quickly, there is a hand drawn symbol

identifier which will make a guess at the desired symbol based on a hand drawn

input onto the screen.

At the top of the screen there are the notifications, for due homework or to alert the

student to a new message, or to a change to their goals.

There is also a progress bar and a self timer. The child can set a time for them to

complete their homework or exercise within, and this will act as a countdown,

showing how much time left until their desired time is up. directly beneath this is a

progress bar, showing how much of the homework has been completed.

These two bars are kept together so that the child can gauge their progress in the

homework with respect to how much time they have left.

!The homework tab will automatically open to the last worked on homework, and the

file tree at the side will be replaced with current uncompleted homework in each

topic, and below it will be a completed homework file tree. There will also be a

notification if a homework has been marked. This means the student can look at their

previous homework and their marks.

!The revision tab will also automatically open to the last used revision piece and have

a file tree at the side, with revision exercises in each topic, and a completed exercise

file tree in the lower section.

The Questions tab will automatically open to an FAQ, and then the children will have

an inbox on the left where they can see messages from their teacher. It will look

much like the Teacher messaging screen, meaning the child will have options to

create and send a message using buttons on the right hand side of the screen.

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!

Teacher Screen:

!

A typical screen for a teacher trying to create a homework.

!The screen has 5 main tabs, one for notes, one for set work, one for marking, one for

messages and one for stats.

!The ‘Set Work’ tab will allow the teacher to quickly assign questions under various

topics using the topic selection icons. For instance, in the example above Ms Brace

is setting work for the topic “numbers”.

!To aid her with this, there are also icons for ‘recently used symbols’ that can be

easily inserted into the questions.

!

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The program also allows her to set due dates for the assigned work, ensuring that

she is able to mark work and keep to deadlines.

!She can also assign different homeworks for different classes, so that groups of

students are allocated questions appropriate for their level of maths.

!There is also a drop-down menu for each question which allows the teacher to

assign how many total marks are available for each question. We have chosen to

practice it in this format in order to reduce the error percentage.

!

A typical screen for a teacher marking work.

!The screen above exemplifies the format for marking students’ work. On the left,

there is a list of classes and when selected, the program will then come up with a list

of students from which the teacher is able to assess their work and their progress.

!

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Their work appears in the centre of the page, where the teacher is then able to

decide (again on the drop-down menu) how many marks should be allocated to the

student for each question. The teacher is also able to leave multiple comments on

the right which aid the student’s learning process and, (as it is in a computerised

font) is easily readable. The latter is an essential feature for children with learning

difficulties as the feedback should be made clearly and simply.

!

A typical screen for a teacher trying to send a message with a view of their inbox.

!On the top left the teacher is able to access e-mails from the teaching staff. Below it

on the lower-left the teacher can contact and receive messages from students

regarding the work.

!This is necessary as Ms Brace is able to discuss problems with her students and

adjust the difficulty of the work accordingly, or give extra hints where possible.

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!On the right, there are easily-recognisable icons for sending, forwarding, replying

and deleting messages. When deleting messages, there will be a “multiple select”

option for deleting several e-mails. A warning message will come up when delete is

selected, ensuring that important messages aren’t accidentally discarded. A

‘deleted’ folder will also be added which the teacher is able to empty when

necessary.

!

A typical screen for an admin, viewing class stats and the option to create more students.

!The admin has four main tabs, for Classes, Statistics, Schedule and Goals.

The Classes tab has a set of all classes on the left hand side, with and the currently

selected class will be underlined. There is a selection to create a new class at the

bottom.

When a class is selected the members of it will be shown on screen, with the option

to add a new student. When a student is selected on this screen it will open a page

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which displays information about the student such as their name, their date of birth,

and a note of any disabilities.

At the side of the selected class there will be an at a glance view of the classes’

statistics, such as their past mark averages, and a pie chart showing how much of

the class passed or failed the last homework assignment.

Under statistics, the admin can look at the statistics of the class more closely, with

the possibility of selecting individuals to view their statistics and past performance.

This means that the admin can move a student from one class to another if they

believe they are struggling with respect to the rest of the class. A student can be

moved under the Classes tab by dragging their name to the desired class at the left

hand side in the class tree.

Under the schedule tab, the administrator can view class timetables and their

messages from various teachers.

In the goals tab, the administrator can select a student and set them goals based on

their performance, pushing children to do better than previously. These goals will

appear in the child’s notifications tab at the top of their screen, and the teacher will

receive a message updating them of the new goals for their students.

!Prototype Evaluations

We will now evaluate the final prototype using heuristics and then using cognitive

walkthroughs to test it against the goals of the users.

!Heuristic Evaluation of Final Prototype: Heuristic Discussion

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Visibility of system status: • The central portion of the

screen will have a

background colour that

corresponds to the colour of

the currently selected tab. • There will be a loading

graphic which appears over

the central section of the

screen when the system is

transitioning between tabs

or working on a request

from the user

• This will help users quickly and easily

identify if they are in the right place to

do the work that they need to. • The loading graphic will mean that

the user will be aware of when the

system is processing something. The

graphic has portions that become

coloured as the program nears

completion of the current task, further

aiding the user in gauging how long

they will be waiting.

Match between the system and the

real world • The system uses an intuitive

tabbing system which

mimics real world folders

with coloured tabs. • Names of children and

classes are ordered

alphabetically • Use of file trees for storing

notes

• The design metaphor of using a

tabbing system is very intuitive and

will help users navigate the system

more easily as people are used to

using coloured tabs in folders. • Ordering things alphabetically will

help the admin and teacher users find

the classes or children they are

looking for on the lists. • File trees are also an intuitive design

metaphor, as people know that

folders can store information related

to the name of that folder. In our

system, the class notes are

organised by topic, making it easy for

the user to find what they are looking

for.

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Consistency and Standards • All class notes use the

same file tree system

throughout the programme,

even in the revision section • All toolbars will be located in

the same places on every

work screen.

• This will aid users in finding the notes

and work that they are searching for

as the file tree system does not

change and will remain on the same

side of the screen. This is especially

important for the children. • This will maintain consistency

throughout the programme as the

students will know where they

required information and design help

is stored.

Error Prevention • The homework creation for

the teacher utilises a

“review” page. • Children will have a ‘review’

page for submitting

homeworks • The admin will have

prompts of “are you sure

you want to continue” when

creating or deleting classes

and students or making

changes to student records • When deleted the

information will be retained

up to a day.

• This means that a teacher can review

all of their homework questions

thoroughly before submitting them. • Letting the children review their

homework answers will mean they

can look over their work and make

sure they haven’t made mistakes

before submitting • These prompts will mean that the

admin has less of a chance of making

a mistakes in important situations like

deleting a class. • By retaining the information for a day

it will create a temporary back up so if

the admin staff do make a mistake,

despite the prompts, there is a

margin for error and the information

can be retrieved.

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Recognition rather than Recall • Tabs are named • Buttons have labels • Having a recently used

symbol section • Admin messages are under

schedule

• Having these labels and recently

used sections makes it easier for all

users to navigate the system,

whether they have used it many

times before or are just using it for

the first time. • It is not intuitive and must be

remembered by an admin that their

messages are stored in the schedule

tab of their workspace.

Flexibility and Efficiency of Use • User can select the last

worked on piece from any of

the menus, such as note

creation • Teachers can add as many

or as few questions to a

homework as they like

• This allows the user to easily select

their next piece of work without

becoming distracted by having to

endlessly scroll again and again to

the piece they wish to work on. This

accessibility leaves more time for the

problem at hand. • However, organising files by dates

accessed rather than by title/

assignment could be annoying,

especially when a file is selected by

accident. • As there aren’t a fixed amount of

questions for each task, teachers are

able to tailor how difficult/ how many

questions there are in respect to

particular classes’ levels of learning.

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Minimalist Design • Cluttered and possibly

confusing screens

• The desired effect is to make the

system colour-coded and easily

understood by children, but this has

led to the design being very colour-

intensive and having many boxes and

options on screen at once. • This means that the program appears

very busy, and thus could be

overwhelming to some students.

Help Error Recovery • If not saved, when a tab is

reopened, it will

automatically recover the

last piece of work • Rectifying moving students,

classes, and notes is not

easily undone without

moving them back.

• With all tabs recovering the last

worked on or last saved piece of

work, whether that be a homework, a

message or class notes, this means

the system is consistent in aiding the

user in not losing their work. • Making changes to class structure,

note structure and other options is

difficult to rectify if a mistake has

been made.

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!!

Help and Documentation • The login screen has an

option for if the user has

forgotten their username

and password • The children’s FAQ section

has a pointer to the ‘new

message’ button

encouraging children to ask

a question if they still cannot

find the answer. • An explanation of the

mathematical symbol that

has been chosen is visible

by tapping the symbol. • No easily visible help

section for the teacher or

admin.

• This is a good addition because there

is always a chance that a user will

need walking through steps to reset

their password or be reminded of

their username. • The FAQ is an easy way for the

children to find the answers to

questions they may have without

overloading the teacher with

messages to answer. • The explanation of the mathematical

symbol aids children and teachers in

a classroom and a homework

environment, providing a quick and

easy explanation of the current

symbol. • There is the issue of there being no

obvious help section for the teacher

or admin.

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Cognitive Walkthroughs

A cognitive walkthrough is a way of checking the created system against the possible

users. Instead of evaluating the prototype based solely on impersonal heuristics, it

puts us in the shoes of our personas and asks us to take their steps through a task

and make an evaluation of the successes and failures that they encountered trying to

use the system. We will start with a task for a user, break it down into steps, and look

at those steps individually, before evaluating the outcome.

!Task #1

Goal: For the admin user to create a class and add a certain number of students to it. Steps in the task:

• Login as admin • Go to classes tab • Add new class (with appropriate information) • Add students to class (with appropriate information)

!(X) - Firstly, Giuseppe opens the programme and enters his username and

password. It takes him a moment of searching for the login button to realise that he

simply needs to press enter to login to the system.

(✓) - He is opened automatically into the classes tab and easily selects the “new

class” selection at the side of the screen. He enters the name of the class and the

username of the teacher into the information box that pops up, and then selects the

“create” option at the bottom of the screen.

(✓) - He can easily see the “Add new Student” option on the screen of his new class,

and selects this, to be taken to a popup where he enters information about the child,

including their name, date of birth, and a note of any learning difficulties that they

may have.

(✓) - He repeats this step until he has as many students in the class as he needed.

!

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Overall, this task is a success, and the only real problem is that Mr. Giuseppe does

not understand the login options, and it takes him a while to understand that the

enter key is needed to login.

!Task #2

Goal: For the admin to move a struggling student into the correct class

Steps in the task: • Login to the system • Open the statistics tab • Select a class • Select a student • Check their statistics • Move them into a more suitable class • Alert the teacher of this change

!(✓) - Firstly, Giuseppe needs to login to the system. This takes him less time than the

first, as he is aware that he needs to press enter to login to the system

(✓) - He can quickly navigate to the statistics tab and select a class from the left

hand side of his screen.

(✓) - Mr. Giuseppe then quickly selects a certain student and can see their progress

over the past few weeks. He can also see a pie chart of how many previous

homeworks they have successfully achieved more than 50% in (and thus passed)

(X) - After searching for a way to move the student, he realises there is an option on

the students screen at the top to move them to another class. He selects this, and

then selects their destination class.

(✓) He can then send a message to the teacher of the class that the student has

been moved into, alerting them of this change to their register.

!Overall, this task was successful, but had the large problem of the admin not

realising how they would be able to move the student into another class from the one

that they are currently in.

!Task #3

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Goal: For the teacher to create a homework

Steps in the task: • Login as a teacher • Go to the Set Work tab • Create a new homework - selecting the class, due date and topic • Create questions • Review the homework • Send the work out to all the students

(X) - Ms. Brace enters her username and password, but like the admin user, she fails

to realise there is no login button, and will need to press enter to login to the system.

This takes time.

(✓) - Once logged in, Ms. Brace can see the Set Work tab and quickly navigates to it

(✓) - She selects the class, due date, and topic from the intuitive drop-down menus.

(✓) - Ms. Brace creates new questions, and selects how many marks each question

will be worth from the drop-down menu, up to a maximum of 20 marks.

(X) - it takes her a moment to find the button for finishing a homework and sending it

out to the class, which causes her frustration

(X) - she initially navigates away from the homework by accident, and panics that

she will have lost her work, but reopening the tab shows her work has been

autosaved and is ready for her to continue working with

(✓) - Sending out the homework brings up a review page, meaning she can check

her work for mistakes, and select if she wants less of the questions to be sent out to

the children with learning difficulties.

(✓) - the homework is then sent out to all the children and will appear as a new

homework notification

!Task #4

Goal: For the Teacher to send a new message Steps in the task:

• Login as teacher • Go to the messages tab • Go to the “New Message” icon • Address it to a recipient

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• Add a subject • Write the message • Send message

!(X) As above, there is no login button

(✓) The messages tab is easy to see and select

(✓) The new message button brings up a new window where the message can be

written

(X) There’s no address book, so Ms Brace has to remember email addresses,

which makes the process of writing emails slower. Also, although on the left, the

messages are divided into ‘Staff’ and ‘Students’, there is no similar division in the

address book, which would mean that Ms Brace would have to scroll through all the

names on the system, (rather than through a subset)

(✓) She simply selects the ‘subject’ bar, and then types it in

(X) Writing a message is easy, however there is no ‘symbol insert’ option for when

Ms Brace is helping students with their assignments

(✓) Sending a message is simple- just click on the ‘send’ icon

!(This walkthrough will be similar in the cases of admin and student)

!Task #5

Goal: For the teacher to make legible notes

Steps in the task: • Log in as a teacher • Create new notes • Write up the notes as the class takes place • Save the notes so they are available for students to access at a later date

(X) - once again, it takes Ms. Brace a moment to remember that logging in simply

requires her to press the enter button rather than finding a login.

(✓) - she can quickly find the notes tab and creates a new note in the correct topic

(✓) - Ms. Brace finds note creation easy, as she can type in the notes she needs,

and add relevant symbols to her notes in front of the class, explaining it as she goes.

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When she is unable to find the relevant symbol quickly, she draws it in the symbol

identifier and the correct one is selected.

(X) - at first, she is confused at how to create a new page in the notes, but eventually

realises she needs to press the green arrow to the right to move forward onto a new

page.

(✓) - the notes are automatically saved by the system and then available in the

children’s revision tabs, saved under the correct topic. The system autosaves it with

the date of creation.

!Task #6

Goal: For the Student to take notes in a class. Steps in the task:

• Login as a student • Create a new set of notes • Take class notes • Save them for use at a later date

!(✓) - Rajesh is able to quickly login to the system, simply by pressing enter.

(✓) - the system opens automatically onto the notes tab and Rajesh finds the

selection to create new notes.

(X) - at first, he struggles to find the list of symbols, but eventually finds them within

each of their relevant topics on the right hand side of the screen.

(✓) - when he forgets a symbol, he uses the symbol identifier to find it more quickly

(✓) - Rajesh’s notes are saved automatically onto the system by the date into the

folder where he selected to create new notes.

!Task #7

Goal: For a student to complete and submit a piece of homework

Steps in the task: • Login as a student • Select the homework that is due • Complete the homework • Review all answers

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• Submit the homework

!(✓) - Xander successfully logs into the system by pressing enter after filling in his

details

(✓) - the latest homework is obvious at the top left hand side of his screen, indicated

by a flashing red button. He selects this and is taken directly to the homework.

(✓) - using the symbol mapper and the drawn symbol input, Xander completes the

homework to the best of his ability.

(✓) - before submitting, he is taken to a review page where he can check out his

answers. Here, he is prompted by the system about some simple errors, such as

writing a plus symbol instead of a divide symbol.

(✓) - Xander successfully submits the homework and hopes for the best.

!Task #7

Goal: For a teacher to mark a piece of homework

Steps in the task: • Login as a teacher • Select the Marking tab, correct class, correct homework, and first student. • Mark the work, including adding comments • Review the marks. • Return the marked homework to the correct student.

!(✓) - Ms. Brace logs into the system successfully.

(✓) - She selects the purple Marking tab from the top, then sees a list of classes at

the side. She selects the correct class and sees the latest homework from them.

(✓) - Ms. Brace selects the first student in the list on the right hand side of the screen

and is shown their homework.

(✓) - She marks their work, giving them marks using the drop-down menu, and

writing in comments when the child has made a mistake that she feels need some

extra elaboration upon.

(✓) - Once completed, she is prompted to review the marks, and then submits it back

to the child for them to find in their homework tab.

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!Task #9: For an admin to set a learning goal for a struggling child. Steps in the task:

• Login as an admin • Select the goals tab • Select the correct class and child • Set a goal for their next homework • Message the teacher and alert them of this.

(✓) - Mr. Giuseppe successfully logs in as an admin

(✓) - He can quickly navigate to the goals tab

(✓) - He selects a class from the right hand side, and then a student

(✓) - He then inputs adds a ‘New Goal’ and selects that he wants Xander to achieve

55% in his next homework assignment

(✓) - He then navigates to the messages tab and messages Ms. Brace to alert her of

this change. The notification will appear on Xander’s main page when he logs in.

Discussion of Results: Our prototype was not in-depth enough to be shown to possible users, and thus our

evaluation of it consists solely in the heuristic evaluation and the cognitive

walkthroughs.

They have shown that our system does well through its use of the intuitive tab

design, however there are some areas where it lacks depth. These include the

symbol mapper and the file tree. Although they seem well-designed, when it comes

to using them there are some vagueties about how symbols and text will actually

appear on the screen, and how it will aim to be legible.

The topic selection at the right hand side of the children’s notes also seems

superfluous, as the notes are sorted by topic. The question of whether the symbols

for the relevant topic would be chosen automatically or the student would need to

navigate through them to find the correct symbol is not fully addressed.

There is also no illustration of how the graph creator and diagram section would

work. The forgotten password button is also not in a very intuitive place on the login

screen, hidden in the corner. There is also no send button on the message centre.

HCI Group Project 8

The goal setting and schedule sections for the Admin need considerably more

explanation and illustration to be entirely useable.

!Overall, the system has some strong features, but some other very weak ones that

would make using it at this early prototype stage completely impossible.

!

HCI Group Project 8

Recommendations

For this system to be usable the admin section would need to expanded on • The message centre would need re-working to include a send button and a

set of contacts • The goal setting system would need to be modified • The teacher area would need work, including on the setting and marking work • Example revisions and homeworks would need to be created and tested on

user group • More in-depth investigation of how to lay out class marks and grades • Better communication methods between admin and teacher user types so

they can coordinate children’s marks and learning

!Summary

We were observing solutions to the problem of children implementing and

understanding mathematical symbols, and while some of our prototypes focused on

this, the main focus became how the system would be used in a teaching and

learning classroom environment.

We looked at relevant literature and information on specific types of learning

difficulties, and how to adequately design for students with learning disabilities.

Then, the currently available programs were considered, and it was found that they

all lacked the kind of flexibility and learning-centered approach that we wanted ours

to have, with most of them being either far too advanced, or without the ability to be

implemented in a classroom environment.

The personas that we chose illustrated this, how we chose to have an admin user,

and although the parent user’s needs were never considered in the system design, it

was still an integral part of the process to understand their role in teaching young

children mathematics.

The first generation prototypes did not cater to the needs of the admin or the parent,

but rather focused on the student and the teacher. The first prototype was mainly

aimed at the teacher, with an ability to create and modify classes and set and mark

homework, with homework capabilities for the children.

The second prototype had very strong design techniques and the side bars.

HCI Group Project 8

The third prototype focused mainly on symbol creation and had no user capabilities

for admin or parent users.

The second generation prototype focused on being usable by the main user classes

of Teacher, Admin and Students (both with and without learning difficulties), and

implemented the main look from the second prototype (the tab design). We took this

forward and aimed to make it usable in a teaching environment, with full capabilities

for all of the goal scenarios, which was illustrated in the cognitive walkthroughs being

mainly successful for the most key of tasks.

The heuristic and overall evaluations of the system, though, showed that there was a

lot of work left to do to make the system usable in a professional way.

!Bibliography - a list of all utilised resources

This has numbering where applicable

(1)

http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about-dyslexia/schools-colleges-and-universities/

dyscalculia.html

(2) http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about-dyslexia/further-information/dyslexia-style-

guide.html

!