Issues in Evaluating Health Department Web-Based Data Query Systems: Working Papers

Compiles papers on conceptual and methodological topics to consider in evaluating state health department systems that provide aggregate data online, such as taxonomy, logic models, indicators, and design. Includes surveys and examples of evaluations

An Experience-Driven Pedagogy for the Instruction of Software Testing in Computer Science

In the realm of computer programming, the experience of writing a program is used to reinforce concepts and evaluate ability. This research uses three case studies to evaluate the introduction of testing through Kolb\u27s Experiential Learning Model (ELM). We then analyze the impact of those testing experiences to determine methods for improving future courses. The first testing experience that students encounter are unit test reports in their early courses. This course demonstrates that automating and improving feedback can provide more ELM iterations. The JUnit Generation (JUG) tool also provided a positive experience for the instructor by reducing the overall workload. Later, undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to work together in a multi-role Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) course. The interactions use usability analysis techniques with graduate students as usability experts and undergraduate students as design engineers. Students get experience testing the user experience of their product prototypes using methods varying from heuristic analysis to user testing. From this course, we learned the importance of the instructors role in the ELM. As more roles were added to the HCI course, a desire arose to provide more complete, quality assured software. This inspired the addition of unit testing experiences to the course. However, we learned that significant preparations must be made to apply the ELM when students are resistant. The research presented through these courses was driven by the recognition of a need for testing in a Computer Science curriculum. Our understanding of the ELM suggests the need for student experience when being introduced to testing concepts. We learned that experiential learning, when appropriately implemented, can provide benefits to the Computer Science classroom. When examined together, these course-based research projects provided insight into building strong testing practices into a curriculum

vPlot

Robotic systems under development in the Santa Clara University Robotic Systems Laboratory (RSL) generate large amounts of data that must be interpreted in real-time. Many dimensions of this data must be visualized at once, such as temperature, location, and certainty of the measurement. Current data visualization softwares (such as Mathematica and Simulink) are ill-suited to visualize this much data, due to lack of customization. To solve this, we propose a system that allows users to view real-time streaming data in a virtual reality environment. This allows the user to easily interpret large, detailed datasets through an intuitive interface

Development and Usability Evaluation of a Nursing Graduate Information Management System (GSMIS) Based on User Experience

[Research Background] Recent years, the rapid development of information technology in colleges and universities and the continuous expansion of graduate students have not only increased the pressure of graduate student management in the School of Nursing of Fudan University, but also accelerated the pace of information technology construction in the college, and the School of Nursing urgently needs to use the existing good platform to realize the information technology of nursing graduate student management in combination with the actual situation of the college, so as to realize the communication between graduate student supervisors, graduate students and management, and also to build an objective and scientific clinical competence assessment system in line with It is also important to provide material for the construction of an objective and scientific clinical competence assessment and evaluation system that is in line with the postgraduate nursing education, which is important to achieve the cultivation goals and improve the quality of nursing graduate training. [Research Purpose] Based on the theory of user experience and the concept of "User-Centered Design", this project develops the information management system for graduate students in the School of Nursing by studying the actual needs of teachers and graduate students in the School of Nursing, which can be divided into the following contents: (1) Construction of the framework content of a Nursing GSMIS (2) Development and testing of a Nursing GSMIS (3) Usability evaluation of the a Nursing GSMIS [Research Methods] 1. Demand analysis of the Nursing GSMIS (1) Preliminary framework: Using target sampling method and maximum variation method, semi- structured interviews were conducted with both faculty and student users of the School of Nursing to build the preliminary framework of the system. (2) Final framework: Expert focus group interviews were used to revise and adjust the required content such as interface design, business functions and performance, and to determine the final framework of the system. 2. Development and testing of Nursing GSMIS The “Rapid Prototype Interaction” model was used to develop the system. After the prototype was developed, the Shanghai Institute of Comprehensive Application of Network Technology was contacted for professional system testing, and then the system was modified and adjusted until it met the research requirements. 3. Usability evaluation of Nursing GSMIS A mixed evaluation method of usability test, questionnaire and qualitative interview was used to conduct a more comprehensive and objective usability evaluation of the GSMIS successfully developed in the early stage. It was used to understand the users' feelings and experiences of the system, analyze the advantages and shortcomings of the system, and explore its actual usability.[Research Results] 1. Demand analysis of Nursing GSMIS (1) Preliminary framework of the system: The faculty and student users interviewed expressed that information management is an important step in the progress of the college and the nursing discipline, and expressed strong support and need for the construction of our information system. Based on the literature review and the needs of faculty and students, the framework was initially formulated as four modules: basic information of admission, cultivation process, research results, and clinical cases. (2)The final framework of Nursing GSMIS: It is built from modules and functions, performance, interface, text, color, etc.; Modules include: basic information module for admission, training process module, scientific research achievement module, clinical case library module, employment information module, graduation tracking module; functions include password setting and retrieval, user log-in, user management, data maintenance, custom query, audit and message notification; Performance can be summarized as follows: data structure is clear, complete, with real-time, expansion, operation and stability; Interface Design is friendly and beautiful, simple and easy to use; Layout should highlight the key points; text design is easy to recognize and read, color design reflects the connotation and characteristics of the college. The performance can be summarized as: clear data structure, complete, real-time, scalability, operability and stability; friendly and beautiful interface design, simple and easy to use, layout to highlight the key points; text design is easy to identify, easy to read, color design reflects the connotation and characteristics of the college. 2. Development and testing of Nursing GSMIS Based on the requirements, the engineers used the “Rapid Prototype Interaction Model” to develop the system. After the prototype was developed, the Shanghai Institute of Comprehensive Application of Network Technology was contacted for professional system testing, and then after many rounds of software discussions and corrections between the software engineers and researchers, the GSMIS finally had the registration and log-in page, the informed consent notification page, the information notification page and six main modules. 3. Usability evaluation of Nursing GSMIS (1) Usability Test: Based on the usability test theory, the target sampling method was used, and five graduate students users were selected to participate in the test is sufficient, and the results are as follows. 1) Quantitative results: The effectiveness was mostly at 100%, and the efficiency was 56.2min/s, 72.2min/s, 53min/s, 225.2min/s, 75.8min/s, 33min/s, and 5.5min/s; The overall score of the post-scene questionnaire (ASQ) was 1.24. The evaluation indexes all indicated that the users rated the system highly. 2) Qualitative results: The test subjects all easily completed and highly praised the system during the test, indicating that the operation was not difficult and satisfied the interaction needs of users. (2) SUS Questionnaire: A total of 40 users completed the SUS using the convenience sampling method and the maximum variance method, and the Mean±SD was 70.23±7.7. Among them, the mean score of the Usability sub-scale was 71.59±8.93 , and the mean score of the ease of Learning sub-scale was 64.77±7.53, with scores ranging from 60 to 70. (3) Qualitative interviews: Using target sampling method and maximum variation method, a total of 10 people were interviewed, including 5 students and 5 staff users, and the number of interviews was 3, with no repeated interviews or secondary interviews. The maximum interview time was 46 minutes, the minimum was 25 minutes, and the average was 35.5 minutes. The results can be summarized into three aspects: general evaluation, content and function evaluation, and shortcomings and improvement. This study combines qualitative and quantitative results, reflecting the good usability of the system, but there are also shortcomings and improvements. [Conclusion] This study used various research methods such as literature review, qualitative interview, and focus group interview to construct a system framework based on user experience, completed the development of the graduate student information management system in the School of Nursing, and used mixed methods such as out-of-sound thinking method, usability testing method, questionnaire survey method, and qualitative interview to evaluate the usability of the system, and the results showed that the system has high acceptance, ease of use, and usability

Cloud services, interoperability and analytics within a ROLE-enabled personal learning environment

The ROLE project (Responsive Open Learning Environments, EU 7th Framework Programme, grant agreement no.: 231396, 2009-2013) was focused on the next generation of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). A ROLE PLE is a bundle of interoperating widgets - often realised as cloud services - used for teaching and learning. In this paper, we first describe the creation of new ROLE widgets and widget bundles at Galileo University, Guatemala, within a cloud-based infrastructure. We introduce an initial architecture for cloud interoperability services including the means for collecting interaction data as needed for learning analytics. Furthermore, we describe the newly implemented widgets, namely a social networking tool, a mind-mapping tool and an online document editor, as well as the modification of existing widgets. The newly created and modified widgets have been combined in two different bundles that have been evaluated in two web-based courses at Galileo University, with participants from three different Latin-American countries. We measured emotional aspects, motivation, usability and attitudes towards the environment. The results demonstrated the readiness of cloud-based education solutions, and how ROLE can bring together such an environment from a PLE perspective

SCU Courses

Registering for classes is a nightmare that students at Santa Clara University undergo three or more times a year while juggling midterm exams. It’s hard to find a schedule that works well for you, balancing the need to take classes that will satisfy degree progress with the need to work around obligations outside of class and avoid getting stuck in an 8am lecture. SCU Courses is a web app where students input their current degree progress and receive a list of possible schedules to take next quarter, collapsing the time-consuming process of carefully crafting a schedule into just one step: choose your favorite

Kodinportti Mobile user interface usability research and redesign

Abstract. Usability is described as follows “The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use”. Usability plays a crucial role in the success of interactive products and services. With good usability can be achieved an important competitive advantage in an ever-growing market if it is involved in software products development life cycle. User experience (UX) is based on people’s expectations and the following emotions and it involves extensively everything that happens outside the screen. UX design aims to emphasize features that are bringing pleasure in addition to practicality. Usability evaluation is easy and very cost-effective way to analyze user interface and find possible usability problems. In general, the empirical methods like heuristic evaluation and usability testing are the most used and principal means to evaluate user interfaces. This thesis focuses on exploring the usability of Kodinportti Mobile application. The motivation for the study is to improve its user interface (UI) more user-friendly using usability research methods that include heuristic evaluation, usability testing, and user experience research. The practical work in the study is responsible by the University of Oulu usability testing course student group and the group also reports the results of research. The goal of the study is to redesign the app’s UI. Kodinportti Mobile is designed to meet the needs of the residents of the housing association and serves as a supplement to the electronic bulletin board for the residents. Mobile application UI design applies the same basic guidelines as any other UI design process and in mobile application UI design, it is often recommended to keep it simple as possible and cut out as much as possible. The results of usability research revealed several flaws in the apps usability and user experience. In the final phase of the thesis, the concept plan of new UI was designed based on the research results. There was also a perception during the process that it would be recommendable that designers are involved in all stages of the process. That would improve the process and minimize the possibility of misunderstandings during the process, which will certainly have a positive impact on the result