gpa progress monitor

Allen StaufferRarihwenhawi LaFrance

University students often lack time to keep track of grades and monitor progress

System would focus on providing a simple way of doing so

Takes grading schema information as input and outputs a custom form

Students use this form to enter current and future grades to track progress

System must be: Helpful* Easily Learnable Effective

User provides program with grading information

Program returns a customized form to accept grades as inputs

Student enters grades as they are received

Hypothetical future grades may be entered to analyze impact on GPA

Metaphor: Meeting with professor to discuss GPA progress

George Freshman business major Hopes to own a company someday Very active outside of class – CUSA, CEO Not much free time – loses track of grades

during the semester and has trouble knowing where more work is needed

Doesn’t have the knowledge or time to learn how to create such a system for himself

Chris Junior electrical engineering major Doesn’t have the best GPA, wants to

improve for career fair Spends free time with Formula SAE

Speed Team and working on cars Despite desire to improve grades,

doesn’t want to take time to track them, or create a way to track them

Jose, sophomore engineering student receives ES 260 Syllabus

Uses web browser to navigate to application’s home page, and logs in

Clicks “Add Course” and fills out the appropriate grading information, and clicks “Submit”

Exits the program confident that when he starts receiving grades the application will be ready to take them in

Colleen, a junior finance major receives an EC 384 test grade lower than she expected

Uses web browser to navigate to program homepage, and logs in

She enters the new grade and, concerned about her overall GPA, a few hypothetical grades

Colleen learns that if she stays on top of the homework and studies hard for the next exam, she will be in good standing for the final

Students from a variety of majors at Clarkson University identified these as the most important features of such a program: Easy to Use Quick to Use Ability to ‘forecast’ grade progress

http://is.gd/3P4gQ

Majority of focus on ridding interface of ambiguity

Simplicity and intuitiveness should be embraced

GPA forecasting prominent feature, must receive emphasis

Created 1 mockup each separately Ensured different ways of accomplishing

same tasks, for a relatively simple interface

Compared/critiqued individual designs

Developed third based on critique of individual designs, while incorporating new ideas

Design 1

Design 2

Design 3

Each proposed design had inherent strengths and weaknesses

Potential users were surveyed to discover the most important strengths and weaknesses

Also to identify fatal flaws

Students were asked to evaluate the three designs focusing on: Simplicity Functionality Usability

Asked to rate each design (1-10) in functionality, choose favorite, and provide strengths/weaknesses

o No option for cumulative gpa

o No option to edit names of assignments

o Too simple

o No option to change weights

o Buttons not clear

o Lack of organization

o Too much whitespace

o Cluttered buttons

o No option to change weights

Design 3 was chosen by students as both top-rated and favorite design

Taking survey into account, final design draws heavily from Design 3

Takes some elements from Design 2 to help avoid Design 3’s pitfalls

http://people.clarkson.edu/~stauffar/cs459/index.html

Prototype was evaluated to determine how well it adhered to these principles: Easy and Fast to Use High Learnability Consistent/Expected Results

Survey Walked user through prototype

Showed user a screen, and asked what they would do to accomplish a given task

Showed user the result of a successful interaction, and asked for thoughts on how this compares to what they expected

Allow us to have an idea how hard it is to determine how to perform certain actions, and also if the design agrees with what the user expects to see

http://bit.ly/7Ridll

Varying responses regarding expected program behavior About 50/50 split between “yeah.. duh”

and “no! I thought _____” when asked if what the program did next was expected

Red x = successGreen checkmark = failure

Confusion regarding difference between adding an assignment and adding an assignment type because of phantom button

Users also confused how to add rows to form on “Add Course” page

Navigation system was met with praise “Self-Explanatory” “Intuitive” “Simple and easy to use”

Working prototype would allow much more accurate evaluation

Mockup prototype severely limits options for gathering feedback

Add personal interviews where a user discusses how they would use the program after seeing it for the first time

• Spreadsheet layout will be difficult to implement, especially with “phantom cell” method of adding grades

• May have problems with students taking large number of classes at once

• Must keep track of both current and past courses

• Many things not yet accounted for, including:• Classes worth more or less credit hours• Dropping lowest grade• Retaking a class

Actually making system functional Either improve “phantom button” system,

or remove it Move assignment type grade summaries to

top of spreadsheet to not break the “grid” Better method of archiving classes Many students requested additional

features:• Naming assignments• Point system vs. Percentage• Professor contact information• Assignment due dates• Transfer courses