GR2 - Designs
Scenario
Miak Zan is searching for HASS classes for the upcoming spring semester. He is an intelligent and exceptionally good-looking sophomore who breezed his way through his first three semesters, taking classes that matched his interests without worrying much about HASS requirements. But his advisor has warned him that he will be in Great Danger if he doesn’t take a CI-H this semester, and Miak realizes that the time has come to buckle down and get his HASS in gear.
Miak has previously taken several HASSes including Advanced Fiction Workshop, and Intro to Acting. He is currently anticipating 4 classes in course 6, and needs his HASS classes to fit into his already established schedule. He would like to take multiple HASS classes if there are more than one that interests him, but he needs at least one class that fulfills his requirements. To help him figure out which classes to take, he decides to try a helpful HASS picker tool called “I can has HASS”.
When he first enters the site, he is delighted to find an option to input his previous HASS classes. He does this and the site provides him with a visualization of his current progress through his HASS requirements. He sees that he already has a HASS-D in Categories 1 and 3, a CI-H, and 5 HASS-Elective credits. Based on this information, Miak decides to search for HASSes in 2, 4, and 5 which are CI-H. He does not particularly care whether his HASS class has a final or anything like that. However, he definitely wants the class to be interesting.
Miak begins by running a search with the following options: HASS-D category 2, 4, or 5; CI-H yes; open-times: MWF 9-11, MW 12-2, TR 12-1, MTWR 3-5. The application provides him with all the classes fitting this description.
Miak sifts through the list. He sorts the classes by rating and number enrolled, and organizes them by various constraints (department, topic, time) to help him focus his search. He views the class descriptions of many classes. Eventually, he selects Bioethics, which is HASS-D 2 and a CI-H. He flags Bioethics as “taking this term”. He also flags several other classes in his result set as “interested in.”
Miak wants to see if there are any additional HASS classes that can fit into his schedule. He removes all previous restrictions other than his open-times, and runs the search again. He sifts through the list again, viewing class descriptions and doing various data manipulation as described above. Eventually, he flags a second class, Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics as “taking this term”.
There is nothing good on TV, so Miak decides to use “I can has HASS” to plan out his future HASS selections. He wants to find more HASS classes that he can potentially take in the future.
Miak decides he wants to see what his friends are taking. He updates his friends list on the site by adding all his closest friends.
Some of his friends also use I can has HASS, and Miak looks up what classes they are taking. He finds several additional classes he thinks are interesting and flags them for the future.
The application automatically saves Miak’s selections. Miak prints out a schedule of his classes this semester and leaves the site feeling emotionally and spiritually fulfilled.
Designs
Design 1: Weekly calendar
Learnability
- The interface for creating schedule blocks is very similar to calendar programs, such as Google Calendar, so users who have used similar programs can quickly be able to learn how to use this interface.
Visibility
Efficiency
Error prevention
- Because the calendar has a constant visual representation, you get immediate feedback on how your schedule looks when you click and drag.
- It supports CRUD, by allowing you to create new schedule blocks, update previously created blocks, and deleting blocks.
Design 2: Text-based interface
Learnability
Visibility
Efficiency
- For expert users, this interface is extremely efficient, since all of the input is done on the keyboard.