Group Design Project 6
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[edit] Instructions
- First, form new groups that will develop and test some interaction design during the remaining weeks of the course. These should be new groups of 3 or 4 members each. Use this as an opportunity to meet and work with some new people. Form groups that have a good mix of the skills needed for interface design and testing. Be creative about using the functionality of the VMT system for social networking to engage in the group-formation process: the Lounge, messaging, profiles, etc.
- Once you are in a new group, decide on an extension to VMT or a social procedure for using the VMT technology (Lobby, Chat rooms, tabs, wiki) that might support social networking of students around the world to form groups for discussing math. This should be a feature that you will be able to incorporate in an interface design and show to people to see how well they can understand and use your new feature. Try to think of something that is innovative and that might prove important -- i.e., do not just copy profiles from some popular site or focus on a help or un-do button. You can build on an idea that someone in the class had for their conceptual design paper.
- Now design a prototype interface for your new feature. This could be some kind of sketch of what you think that feature might look like in the VMT system. You can use the chat room's draw tools to make a rough version of your prototype that your group agrees upon. Then create a graphics file with another application and use the "Upload file" link in the left frame of the wiki to upload it. This will give you a file name to use in your team's report below.
- Also develop a scenario narrative that describes an important usage of your new feature. Your readings describe the nature of scenarios and prototypes.
[edit] Comments on Group Statements
In general, these prototypes seem under-developed. There is not enough illustration of how the interaction will be managed by the interface. How can the user accomplish the steps of the scenario using features designed into the interface, such as buttons or menus or lists? More detail is needed for an heuristic evaluation and screen designs of intermediate steps will be needed for a cognitive walkthrough.
A. VMT SYNCH: how does a user enter a meeting time or a blog message? What does the search interface look like?
B. VMT STUDENT MATH DICTIONARY: What does the display of definitions look like? How does one find terms -- what if something is known by different words? Are terms categorized under different fields of math? Is there a history of how definitions have been changed, and by whom, and why? Is there an ability to discuss controversies about definitions? The big question is, would anyone be motivated to post definitions -- we have a dictionary for this course at Our page and no one has posted anything to it!
D. VMT MOBILE COMPUTING: The big issue with cell phones is their small viewing area. Which content from the chat room will be displayed on the cell phone? How will messages from the cell phone appear in the chat room? The technical flow chart is not part of the interface prototype; this is not visible or relevant to the user. The prototype should show the cell phone and chat room interfaces and illustrate how users send messages back and forth and how the screens look at each stage of this process.
E. VMT USER STATUS: The user status function is a very simple one, yet there are some questions that a prototype should address. Why should the name of the room appear in the User Status area, rather than at the top of the whole room? Are there options other than "Active" and "Away"? Does the prototype assume that LisaG is the current user and can therefore only change her own status?
[edit] Team A Statement
- Seth, Brian & Olivia
- Seth E 19:05, 13 May 2007 (EDT)
VMT Extension Prototype Design
A picture is worth a thousand words...or so they say (see prototype diagram).
General Description:
VMT sync is an interactive forum designed to allow students the opportunity to do basic scheduling and blogging, all within the same application as the VMT TabbedChat. It has a basic 7-day scheduler that acts as a meeting planner and notifier. It includes profile viewing, blogging, and chat features. The following scenarios will elucidate this protoype description.
Scenario Description A (Group meeting scheduling):
Team A consists of 4 group members (Brian, Seth, Olivia, and Jane Doe). At the beginning of each week, there is a posted agenda of goals for the week. These sometimes include problems to be solved, readings to discuss, and POW to work on. With the "VMT scheduler", the group members can predetermine the dates and times for that week's meetings. The meeting times will be present and easily accessible by all members everytime they log in to the VMT. Without this scheduler, there was no way of tracking the next meeting time (typically groups would post the information in a text box or in the Chat for future reference).
With the "VMT Scheduler", users can identify meeting times, propose new meeting times, or change existing meeting times. When the meeting times are modified, automatic notices are sent out to the members of the group and reflected in the 7-week daily calendar (as noted by the pink dots on the prototype diagram).
The user proposing the time can then insert a comment regarding their proposed meeting change in the form of a whiteboard/forum message. The user can use this forum to leave noteworthy messages pertaining to the VMT topics being covered, or any other messages within the range of pertinent conversation. When there is an update to the forum that is more than 30 words, VMT will send out a message to the group members' email address and tell them that the forum was updated.
Scenario Description B (Profile Viewing):
Team A consists of 4 group members (Brian, Seth, Olivia, and Jane Doe). When the members leave blogs/postings, they can click on the user name (highlighted in blue) and view the profiles of members. For instance, Seth_E clicks on the link for Olivia, and is brought to the profile page, where user-defined profile information is contained. The profile page is the same as the one currently used in VMT personal profiles. This method of profile viewing offers users an opportunity to include personal news and information on their profile page, so group members can stay current with their interests and happenings.
Scenario Description C (Blog Searching):
Team A consists of 4 group members (Brian, Seth, Olivia, and Jane Doe). All members do research about their POW, problems, etc each week, and try to help people with there personal math hang-ups. When they are between group meetings they post support information, ideas and any other information that they find for the group or individual to see at their own convenience. So, the blog search box will be a box which could help retrieve and review information, if the blog got really long and posting were hard to find by just browsing. A word search could search everyone blogs. Also if your group worked together for a long time and on various materials, a blog search would be helpful with the diverse and larger amounts of blog subject matter.
[edit] Team B Statement
- Elizabeth
- 23:03, 15 May 2007
Design Description:
The VMT Student Dictionary would be similar to the Internet Mathematical Library currently available for students; however with the VMT Dictionary students would have more control over the environment. It would in essence be for them, by them. The VMT Dictionary would contain concise definitions of mathematical terms and examples of math problems as well as resources for other reliable information about math. Like the wiki, student will be able to post math problems that they found interesting. These problems will be saved and archived for future students to access enjoy and learn from. In addition to being able to add math problems, students will also be able to add resources that they found useful as well as make relevant comments on what they post. Allowing students to share and comment on what they’ve learned makes the learning process more personal and thus more meaningful to them.
Scenario #1:
A team is meeting to discuss some math problems recently assigned to them by their teacher. While discussing one of the problems, one of the students can not remember the meaning of an item in one of the problems. She quickly goes to the VMT Dictionary and is able to look up the definition she couldn’t remember in the problem. This helps her to stay on track with her group members and avoids her having to interrupt the flow of conversation since she was able to quickly locate the needed information.
Scenario #2:
A group is looking for some interesting math problems to solve. Because the dictionary contains other math resources, finding some interesting problems will be fast and easy for these students. Students can go to the archived section of the VMT Dictionary and pick the problems they would like to work on that previous students have posted.
Scenario #3:
A team has just finished solving all their homework problems; however the team members would like to know more about the types of problems they were discussing in their group. They can go to the VMT Dictionary and look at other resources pertaining to the types of problems they were discussing; thus gaining deeper meaning by having been able to immediately pursue their initial curiosity and motivation to explore further.
Prototype Interface:
[edit] Team C Statement
- Ben, Kevin
- Kevin 10:50, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
Design addition to VMT
We propose to add in a search function to allow users to search profiles of existing users to find potential group members. First we took out some information from the profile that could be potentially harmfull like age. The we added into the profiles a selection for preffered online time. We then designed a prototype search page where you can search by online time and math interests. Finally we designed a search results page that allows a user to select people from the search and select from a list of friends, then type an invitation to everyone and a button to send out the invitation.
Scenarios:
Current Use Scenario A student is interested in developing his or her mathematics skills outside of the classroom environment. They have heard of VMT, and decide they would like to join. The process of conatcting members cold is somehwhat intimidating, but the student does not know how to find members to form groups with who share their interests and are able to meet at the same time of day. The student tries contacting a few members to ask this information, but is unable to find someone who has the same requirements. The student eventually decides to form a group with people she has physical access to, as the process of getting this information is much simpler through speech.
Futuristic Scenario A student is interested in joining VMT. When the first screen is encountered, the student sees a search screen which will allow them to find other VMT members who have the same mathematical interests and are able to meet at the same time of the day. The search screen is designed only to support these functions, and is therefore simply designed. There are two fields which can be searched: meeting time and areas of mathematical interest. By filling in information in these fields, the system searches other member profiles, and returns potential group members who have matching profiles. The new user can then contact these members without feeling like they may be wasting their time or being bothersome. The search results will also show a list of friends which the group member regularly meets with in groups; most of these friends will likely have similar interests and times of availability, so even if their profiles don't match the search request exactly, they may still be more likely than not to represent good potential matches. The student selects the people to be invited and writes out an invitation to the group then clicks invite and the invitation is automatically sent to all the people selected.
[edit] Team D Statement
- Rajeev, Kate, Bertha, Eric
- Jeeves5454 21:15, 10 May 2007 (EDT)
Scenario Based Approach to Mobile Communication VMT Extension:
Necessary fields in Web interface: 1) Cell Phone Number 2) Service Provider, or if not available in drop down provide cell phone email address 3) Number of times to monitor the site 4) Locations and groups that student is member of 5) Message Formats - Html, text , audio
Using the cell phone to text message into the VMT system allows users to reflect on math problems and then input from any location. Cell phones have Internet access and the user may be able to view a math problem and text messages to a discussion forum in the wiki or to a web page that can be accessed by group members. This will increase the likelyhood of exploratory inquiry even if the chat is done through different mediums and at different time frames. On a global perspective users would come from different time zones and would not meet in real time as a group
Scenario 1
It is currently the beginning of the week. A new problem has been presented but there has been no input yet. A member of the groups posts the first part of the solution and asks a question. Each group member has a profile which contains their identification as well as non-published cell phone number.
Participants:
1 Web User working away at the solution, and needs more information from members quickly. 1 Cell Phone user, not designated to check the site for many hours still, and is away from a computer.
Event:
The Web User updates the Chat room with the first part to the solution, and asks a question of the other members? Time is of the essence as there is a narrow window when all members of the team are active around the world. The Mobile Communications VMT extension monitoring the site catches the updated message, and checks the other members affiliated with that chat room. All members associated with that room that are signed up for message updates are separated out, and checked for email inboxes or cell phone preferences, and the information is wrapped in an email with timestamp, member posted, and message to messaging server. The messaging server determines SMTP server for inbox receipt and contacts service provider. Service provider sends information to Cell Phone User, the process having taken no more than 10 minutes. Cell Phone user, can check phone for message at leisure.
Scenario 2
A problem is being discussed among members of a group. Each group member has a profile which contains their identification as well as non-published cell phone number.
Participants:
1 Cell phone user currently on an hour commute 1 Web user currently spending the next hour at a computer reaserching the problem
Event:
Cell phone user sends a text message posting because they have an idea on how to solve the problem they think will be helpful to the group. The message goes to a messaging server for VMT that identifies sender of the message with a member of the group by matching up the originating cell phone number and user profiles. The message is added to the forum by the server. The web user sees the message when the forum is updated. The web user is able to focus his research using the information provided by the cell phone user. How this enhanced the knowledge-building experience: The web user was able to benefit immediately from the cell phone user's idea. Without the enhancement, the cell phone user would not be able to post his message until after his 1 hour commute, at which time, the web user will no longer be researching the problem. The conversation's development will have been delayed, and so would knowledge-building.
Scenario 3
A problem is being discussed on the whiteboard. Each group member has registered with a username, cell phone number and email address. The users have met once and are in the middle of solving an equation. User one is at a lunch break at work and thinks of a possible variable to the problem at hand. He text messages the forum from his cell phone and in turn the forum sends out a text to all the group members via their cell phones or emails. User 4 is disabled and has a mild vision impairment but he has a modified phone to help him read the text. He would not be able to participate in this forum without this extension which allows him to customize his experience. The users meet at the next scheduled time and used the idea to solve the problem.
[edit] Team E
[edit] General Description
The current implementation of the VMT Chat tool provides the ability to see users currently logged on to the chat room. Missing from this current implementation is a visual identification as to the group name or topic being discussed. Also, the VMT tool does not support user presence. The proposed design would incorporate a title area for the chat room and the ability to set user status (i.e. active/away).
[edit] Scenario
The following scenario is based on a real situation. Names have been changed to protect the innocent:
Dave logs in to VMT. In his infinite wisdom he mistakenly clicks on week 5 while hurriedly logging in and eating his pastrami sandwich at the same time. When the chat window comes up Dave sees the big Week 6 above the user names and realizes he's in the wrong week's chat room. He logs out and logins into the correct week, week 6.
The rest of his group proceeds to log in. They start a discussion into use cases. Midway through the discussion Dave has a stomach ache and has to literally run to the restroom. He clicks on his name and sets his presence to away. Lisa is just about to ask Dave a question but sees that he is away; she continues to discuss the use cases with the other group members. Dave returns and clicks his name to set his presence to online. Lisa sees that Dave is online and proceeds to ask him if he posted yesterdays summary to the Wiki.
As they continue to work on their summaries with Fernando, a new user joins up. Haj logins into the chat room and notices the big INFO 608 sign above the users. Now knowing that he was in the wrong place he apologies to the group and asks if they know where the Problem of the Week (PoW) chat room was. Since none of the users knew, Haj proceeded to leave the room in order to email a VMT admin.
[edit] Prototype
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