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FHTW Berlin
Fachbereich 4
Internationale Medieninformatik
MMA I: Aktuelle Themen multimedialer Anwendungen
Sommersemester 2001
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Exercise
4:
Target Group Analysis and Scenario Development
We
are now going to be working on a large evaluation project. This project will extend
over three exercise sessions. You must prepare documents and a report on every
week, however, and submit them to me by the begin of your next exercise. The final
report on your evaluation is due at 9.45 on July 26. All groups must be present
at the final discussion group and submit their reports on this day.
We will
be analysing on-line, web-based learning software that is being produced for the
Virtuelle Fachhochschule. Please note that
this software is protected by copyright, you may not make copies for any other
use than for completing this exercise. This is a production system that will be
used in October of this year. The authors, Prof. Dr. Dieter Hannemann und Dr.
Lorenz Hucke from the Fachhochschule Gelsenkirchen have kindly consented to provide
us with documents and an access to the software. They are very interested in your
findings, as they will have 2 months time to fix some of the major errors.
The
course is called "Info-Physik" and is a first semester course for students
of Media and Computing (Medieninformatik). You will be preparing a formal
testing environment in the next exercise and will be conducting the test in exercise
6.
- Your first task is a target group analysis. What sort of person
might want to study at the Virtuelle Fachhochschule? Please review the web site
at http://www.oncampus.de to learn more
about the program. [Note: we are not evaluating this site.] Define at least 4
groups (5 if there are 5 in your group) of persons that would be interested in
such studies. Describe briefly typical characteristics of persons from this group.
- For
each group of persons make up a short, believable story for one person from this
group on why this person is planning on studying Media and Computing. Give the
person a name! I have an example for Lena
P. available, yours does not need to be this long, however. (I must apologize
for it being in German!) What knowledge will this person have in mathematics and
in physics before beginning the course? Will this person be learning at home or
at work? What kind of a physical configuration of computer will they have (computer/monitor/modem
connection)? Will they be learning in the morning, in the evening? Will there
be any factors that are distracting for the student? Any special factors that
will help the student learn? If you were going to be doing a test like this in
industry you would prepare a user group profile
in order to help you select good test takers that are representative of your target
user group. Prepare a user group profile for your report.
- Prepare a background
questionnaire for the test persons.
- Choose from the table
of contents the part of the module that you want to concentrate on.
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Decide what kind of test you will be doing. Do you want to do a formative
evaluation? This helps improve interface design. Here you learn why
something went wrong, not just that it went wrong. You will want to collect process
data - qualitative observations of what happened and why. Or do you prefer to
do a summative evaluation? Here you assesses
overall quality of the interface and test some definite performance requirements.
You collect bottom-line data - quantitative measurements of performance: how long
did users take, were they successful, how many errors did they make. It does not
matter which you choose, and you may even do both. But you need to differentiate
between the two in your final report if you do.
- Normally, you would have
a dedicated usability room that is quiet, has sufficient lighting, and has refreshments
on hand. We will have to make do with the lab, but you need to describe the testing
room for your final report. So describe the lab! Hardware, software (browser and
version), etc.
- Since you will be using software that is not yet publicly
available, you must have all participants read and sign a nondisclosure
and consent form. Adapt this to the test that you will be performing!
Please read Tognazzi's article on how to prepare a professional
report before you begin your report!
Debora Weber-Wulff
(weberwu@fhtw-berlin.de)