Design (Iteration 1)

Persona: Ms Wong is a 10 years experience lecturer that working at Sunway University.

Scenario: On a Monday morning, Ms Wong sits down in front of computer with a cup of coffee. She has prepared a list of topic and decided to upload to elearn. Then, she opens up eLearn in her browser, and wanted to upload a few final year project topics to the elearn platform. She sign in to the elearn by entering username and password. Then, she selects the ‘capstone project 1 & 2’ to access to main page of the subject folder. She selects ‘manage topic’ from the left menu bar. A list of topic will be shown but it is empty because she does not have any yet. Hence, she clicks the ‘upload’ button at the lower right. A window will shows up to enter the project details. She is required to enter all the details. After finish filling up the details, she clicks ‘OK’. Then, topic lists table will be updated immediately for all students to view and choose.

After a few days, Ms Wong checks back at the portal to view the status of her topics whether they are being selected by any student or not. She clicks on the ‘topic status’ button at lower right of the main page. A window that contains a table shows up that included the topic title and status of the topics that she has uploaded. She observes that the first topic of her upload shows ‘Unavailable’. She checks her email notification, it is informed that the topic is taken by a student named Alice. Ms Wong may reply the email as an confirmation of the topic.

Action sequence (lecturer side’s portal):

1. Login

1. Enter username and password
2. Click login button

2. Select subject capstone project 1 and 2

1. Click on the link access to subject main page

3. Manage topic

1. Click on the manage topics link on the left menu item
2. May click on the topic status to view the availability of the topic
3. Click on the upload button and enter details of the topic and click OK

4. Selected topic

1. Click on the link on the left menu item
2. The topic will shown with the student’s name

5. Email

1. Click on the link on the top of the menu bar
2. The notification of the email from student will be displayed
3. May click on the sent item to view the previous history
4. Click on ‘reply’ to send an email to the student

Recommendation on design changes:

The design above shows the lecturer may only reply to the email from the student to the selected topic on the current system. Based on the survey we collected from the lecturer suggested that, the meeting schedule should be added to the portal. When the lecturer received an email from the student, they can have choice to reschedule the meeting on a more flexible manner. During the topic uploading process, the lecturer will see an error message display next if there is incomplete field in the capstone topic upload window. This feature is to ensure that the lecturer will fill in all the details of the topics.

Persona: Eddie is a year 3 computing student that is currently studying at Sunway University. He's taking the subject capstone project 1 & 2.

Scenario: At the beginning of the semester, Eddie has enrolled himself into the capstone project 1&2 subject and required to select a topic from the elearn platform. Therefore, Eddie went to the IT learning lab to find a computer and sit down. He enters his username and password and click the login button to access the elearn platform. He clicks on the subject to access the main page of the subject. He needs to select ‘list of topics’ from the left menu bar. A list of topics that is available will be shown, he can make selection by tick the checkbox and click ‘request’. A success message on the request will be shown. After he clicked on ‘OK’, the status of his selected topic will appear on the next page. Then, he proceeds to send an email to the lecturer for time slot booking. He requires to enter an email subject and pick a preferred time slot, along with his message. A message will be shown after this to notify him that his email has been sent. If Eddie presses ‘back’, he will go to an email sent item page. If not he can choose to logout of the elearn.

Action sequence (student side’s portal):

1. Login

1. Enter username and password
2. Click login button

2. Select subject

1. Click on the capstone project 1 & 2 on the my course menu bar

3. Select topic

1. Click on the list of topic on the left menu bar
2. A list of topic will be shown
3. Pick a preferred topic and click request
4. Successful message displayed on the next page and click ‘OK’
5. The status of the selected topic will appear on the next page

4. Email

1. Click ‘send email’
2. Enter email title and message
3. Click ‘send’
4. The successful message of the sent email will be shown
5. Click ‘back’ to proceed to email sent items or click ‘logout’

Recommendation on design changes:

The design of the system include the email function to enable the lecturer and student to communicate with each other more easily. However, the current system only allows the user to send an email without the function to schedule meeting time slot. Therefore, from the results of the survey that collected recommend to add the meeting schedule function on the portal. As this feature can improve the system to allow the student to pick their preferred time slot to schedule a meeting through the system. In addition, to make it more convenient, the email interface will automatically show the supervisor’s email address without the need for student to enter. This email function is an one to one feature where others lecturer will not be able to view it. Another additional feature that will be added is to let student view the history of the list of sent item.

Heuristics Evaluation

Nielsen’s heuristics	Problem details	Problem severity Rating*
Visibility of system status The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.	Wong: Students will receive successful message once the request email is sent out to the lecturer. Lecturer will also be able to view the current status of their topic. Vyvyan: There is no successful message is shown to the lecturer to inform them the topic is uploaded. Saaqib:The lecturers are provided with user interface stating what needs to be included in topic details.	Wong: 2 Vyvyan: 2 Saaqib: 2
2. Match between system and real world The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.	Wong: The language used could be easily understood by users since there are no system-oriented language used. Vyvyan: The language or acronym that used in this portal is understandable by both lecture and students, therefore, they should know how to work on the system. Saaqib:This system is extended on elearn that deals with students who are talking capstone topics in their final semester. The information provided is relevant and understandable to both users.	Wong: 0 Vyvyan: 0 Saaqib: 0
3. User control and freedom Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.	Wong: In students’ side of the portal, user cannot deselect the topic that he/she has chosen. While for lecturer side, it is good that he/she is able to exit immediately from the upload window. Vyvyan: In the lecturer’s side portal, they are not able to remove the topic that have uploaded wrongly. In the student’s side portal, they are not able to undo their request once they click on the button. Saaqib:The students does not have a function of proposing their own topics to teacher.	Wong: 2 Vyvyan: 3 Saaqib: 3
4. Consistency and standards Follow platform conventions.	Wong: It is consistent because the action buttons are always placed at the bottom right. But there is still lack of some functionalities. Vyvyan: No button is added on the topic status page that caused the user unable to proceed to others page. Besides, there is inconsistency on the button across the portal as some of the button named cancel and back which carry the same function. Saaqib: The system shows inconsistency of going back to the previous window or doesn't provide buttons to delete the topic or edit	Wong: 3 Vyvyan: 3 Saaqib: 3
5. Error prevention Design to prevent problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.	Wong: There is no error prevention dialog/warning. Vyvyan: No hint is given to ensure that all the field should not be empty while the lecturer is entering the information of the topic to be uploaded to the portal, and the student is sending an email. Saaqib: No error message showing to ensure user to complete all fields.	Wong: 2 Vyvyan: 3 Saaqib:2
6. Recognition rather than recall Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. Make instructions visible or easily retrievable.	Wong: Important actions are easy to access and identify. Lecturer is able to select manage topic from sidebar. Students are able to find the topics through the link created in sidebar. Vyvyan: The users should not have problem using the portal as all the features are clearly labeled on each page of the portal. Saaqib:The hyperlinks are visible enough for both students and lecturers for convenience. And the functions module functions are on the left side of the window.	Wong: 0 Vyvyan: 0 Saaqib:0
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use Allow users to tailor frequent actions. Cater system to both experienced and inexperienced user.	Wong: For lecturer, all the folders and links are customizable. Lecturer can control the visibility of the folders and links as well. Meanwhile students are not able to customize anything, because they are not necessarily to do so. Vyvyan: The logout button may be difficult to be seen by the users as it small in size and the pop-up windows on the portal is unable to close using the Windows’ shortcut command.   Saaqib: Students still has to write the email of lecturer while sending mail. And the availability is not available at the topic of lists link.	Wong: 1 Vyvyan: 1 Saaqib: 2
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design Allow users to tailor frequent actions. Cater system to both experienced and inexperienced user.	Wong: The design of the plugin is kept to minimal, with only important features and buttons are included. Vyvyan: It is unnecessary to include the box where the student can select the number of lecturer to send an email in the student side’s portal, because each of the topic is only supervise by one lecturer. Therefore, the system may automatically show the supervisor’s email address. Saaqib:The signup process has been eliminated from the system to reduce the burden of using third party system other than elearn	Wong: 0 Vyvyan: 2 Saaqib: 0
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, recover from errors Express error message in plain language, precisely indicating the problem and constructively suggest a solution	Wong: There are no help center. Therefore, users are not able to fix the problem encountered on their own. No error message included. Vyvyan: In the lecturer side’s portal, no error message will be given while the lecturer clicked to upload a topic with empty field. In the student side’s portal, the email system will not prompt an error message to notify the student that they are required to fill in all the field in order to send an email successfully. Saaqib: The lecturer and students do not have any error messages while login to the system.	Wong: 3 Vyvyan: 3
10. Help and documentation Provide help and documentation even is the system is easy to use. Information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.	Wong: There is no manual/tutorial for users currently. Vyvyan: There is no help manual to assist the user on using the features on the portal currently. Saaqib: No helping tutorial or documentation is provided	Wong: 3 Vyvyan: 3 Saaqib: 3

* Problem severity Rating

0: I don’t agree that this is a usability problem at all

1: Cosmetic problem only (need not to be fixed unless extra time is available)

2: Minor usability problem (fixing has low priority)

3: Major usability problem (important to fix)

4: Usability catastrophe (must be fixed before product can be released)

Heuristic Evaluation Analysis

From the heuristic evaluation above, many problems are found in the system. There are no successful message shown to users even if their action is handled successfully. Therefore, users are not kept informed about what is going on. There are no option to edit or remove the topic for lecturers during topic uploading. Students that do not want to choose any topic from the list are not able to propose their own topic because they do not have an option to do so. Buttons are inconsistent in every pages. Users that enters information wrongly do not receive any error message. There are no help center or manual for users, so they will not receive any help when they do not know how to use it.