HeliumKnights

―We are graduate students providing an easy to use, multifaceted, intuitive technological solution to graduate

students to help cope with the rigors of academic life and to facilitate leisure activities.‖

HeliumKnights

The Design Challenge

Long hours spent in isolation are not uncommon to graduate students as they struggle through the four or five — or more — years required to finish their degrees. Though resources exist to help graduate students, many still struggle with academic stress, isolation and pressure to graduate on time. Some students may have to leave without a degree if they cannot pass their general exams on the first or second attempt, while others struggle through the proposal and defense stages. Though many people pass, the pressure of succeeding creates a lot of stress for students. As a part of this design challenge, we'll have to design a new system that works to counteract some of the effects of isolation for graduate students and supports them in achieving their goals.

Initial ResearchExperts:

Dr. Neil Burton, Director for the Center for Career &Professional Development

Kathy Mabry, CAIF and International Students

Literature Review

Stress, anxiety and depression

Surveys:

Variety of Graduate Students (Masters, Doctoral,Domestic, International)

Focus on stressors, familial relationships, stressrelievers, etc.

Survey Results

A survey was administered to Graduate Students at Clemson University

Of the 20 respondents, we found:

53% Female, 47% Male

53% 18-14, 37% 25-29, 5% 30-35, 5% 36-40

53% U.S. Citizen, 47% Non-U.S. Citizen

74% Master’s Students, 20% Ph.D.

Insights

From the survey, we were able to generate the following insights:

Graduate Students of all levels seem to struggle with managing their time

Finances seem to be a common stressor among graduate students

With the balancing of school/ research, work, and possibly a family, students find it difficult to carve out some time to de-stress themselves.

The Concept

LifeSync, A web-based application thatenables graduate students to keep track oftheir hectic schedules, create a dynamicsocially interactive experience with otherusers, and to compare schedules with otherusers in order to plan social events.

Low-Fidelity Prototype

A paper prototype was devised to demonstrate the login, profile, calendar, and event creation functionalities of our design.

Usability testing, involving a think-aloud protocol while performing a series of tasks, was conducted with five participants at the Multimedia Authoring Teaching and Research Facility (MATRF) at Clemson University.

Prior to testing, the participants assembled a ballpoint pen while describing the process to build rapport with the researchers as well as to understand think-aloud protocols (Reddish and Dumas).

Low-Fidelity Prototype

Usability Test

DEMO

Heuristics

1. Visibility of system status

2. Match between system and the real world

3. User control and freedom

4. Consistency and standards

5. Error prevention

6. Recognition rather than recall

7. Flexibility and efficiency of use

8. Aesthetic and minimalist design

9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

10. Help and documentation

User TestComments:

I like the way the website allows the user to set moods

The website is simple and easy to understand

The summary of events on my profile is a novel feature

I like how the information is arranged in the profile page it allows me easy access to all the features in a single click

The logo is kick a**

With a few more tweaks I think this could be a really awesome app

Oh !! I can access Spotify ..so cool!!

Future Work Building for extensibility

Go-to for scheduling

Add more ―social‖ interaction

Build message/notification feature

Integrate with google calendar api, increase features

Reminders – Email, SMS, pop-up extension

Visual enhancement:

―rich-media‖ + ―subtle delivery‖

Special Thanks To:

The Multimedia Authoring Teaching and Research Facility

(MATRF), Clemson University

The Usability Testing Facility, (UTF) Clemson University

Clemson Michelin Career Center

Clemson Area International Friendship (CAIF)