GR3 - Paper Prototyping

Prototype photos

Iteration 1:

Iteration 2:

Briefing

We gave our users the following verbal briefing: “We are working on a course management site, something along the lines of Stellar. Students submit psets, TAs get them, grade them, enter the grades, and then students see their grades. Today, we want to test the UI for entering grades. You are Ben Bitdiddle, a TA, and your tasks will all revolve around entering grades for psets.”

Scenario Tasks

• Task 1: Enter grades for one student – Samuel Adams – for problem set 1
  • Sam got the following grades:
    • Problem 1: 10
    • Problem 2: 15
    • Problem 3: 5
    • Problem 4: 8
    • Problem 5: 12
• Task 2: You have many students (30+) whose grades you need to enter into the system. Don't use the mouse – tell us what keys you press. Please note that ordinarily, when faced with this quantity of grades, the user would naturally discover that he or she can use the keyboard to increase efficiency. We can make this assumption since we have data confirmation of this behavior based on the system prior to the UI improvements that we're working on now.
  • The header labels are: Name, Problem 1, Problem 2, Problem 3, Problem 4, Problem 5
  • Samuel Adams: 15, 20, 5, 8, 12
  • Alyssa P. Hacker: 5, 5, 5, 8, 5
• Task 3: Get a list of students without a grade for problem set 1

Observations

• First iteration:
  • User 1: Noticed the name search before the pset drop-down, so he probably would never constrain grades to PS 1. Would use Tab or Enter to move to next student, so we should make both work.
  • User 2: Tried posting grades through Grades > PS 1. Did not know what to do after entering grades for one student, in task 1 (was thinking of using mouse). In task 2, the user selected a student name successfully from the combo box, but the computer forgot to switch focus to the first grade field. The user would press Tab, but questioned his decision (this might be irrelevant, since a real UI would get this right). We should probably have Save buttons, and have some UI for switching to fast entry mode (checkmark + label + question mark that shows pop-up with instructions)
  • User 3: Tried posting grades through Admin > Post Grades. Combobox interaction went well. Also looked for a Save button after entering grades for one student. When focused on the pset selection drop-down, the user tried typing 1 to get to PS 1.
• Second iteration:** User 1: We didn’t populate the table with student names, and the user was confused. This shows that, if we do populate the table, users might try to find student names there, instead of using the search box. Name search was confusing, the user tried to move focus back to the search box after entering grades for one student. We should figure out an interaction model that doesn’t suck for this. Finished task 3 very quickly.
  • User 2: Tried posting grades through Grades > PS 1. For task 2, tried tabbing through entire table until the right student name popped up. Computer had a hard time managing the input focus, which might have bugged the task. For the third task, went to the Admin menu, then gave up. Did not notice checkbox.
  • User 3: Wondered whether should head for Grades or Admin, eventually went for Grades > PS 1. For task 2, tabbed through the UI until the focus sets on the first name field, entered student name via combo box, pressed Enter to select the student, then pressed Enter after each grade. So Enter should work in the same was as Tab. Used arrow keys to select names in combo box. Finished task 3 instantly.

Prototype iteration