Design Process |
We used an interative design process guided by the THINK design framework . A brief summary is below. |
| Observations |
| We observed students at Redwood High School doing science inquiry as part of the LET'S GO project. They collected science data from the neighboring creek using PASCO sensors. See the proposal Appendix A for a more detailed description. |
| User Stories |
| We started with a user story to paint a picture of how S3AIL would be used. We came up with a scenario of a high school biology student doing science inquiry using the environment we envisioned. See the proposal for the full story. |
| Lo-Fidelity Paper Prototype |
We used paper prototyping to identify the interface and the features of our system. We initially laid things out according to the THINK framework, using each of the five prongs of the framework as a different stage in the process. Check out more screenshots here. We then set up a Ning site to look like the paper prototype, and it didn't work. We tested it with members of the LDT cohort. The Ning site was too cluttered. People hated it and were really confused because of all the distracting Ning-related components that were thrown on to the site. |
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| High Fidelity Prototype |
After our Ning fiasco, we moved back to prototyping outside of Ning, using PowerPoint to design our screens. With our LDT cohort, this was much clearer and easier to navigate.
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Final Prototype
After testing with our hi-fidelity prototype and ironing out some of the issues, we were ready to go back to working with Ning. We cleaned up the clutter and had a clearer vision of how the site would be used. The technical details of implementation changed a few things regarding the interface but we were able to retain most of the main features.
We tested this with people in LDT, teachers, and students. We iterated a few times on the interface until we were satisfied that it was usable.
Check out the final version here: http://stanfordsssail.ning.com.