Using paper prototyping as a rapid participatory design technique in the design of MLCAT - a lecture podcasting tool

Podcasting has permeated the developed world higher education environments. Despite this, there is inadequate research published to explore podcasting in developing Higher Education Institutions. In areas with limited electricity, never mind the internet, how can podcasting succeed? This paper describes Participatory Design activities with university lecturers in sub-Saharan Africa (University of Cape Town and Makerere University) to design a podcasting tool. We postulate that by involving them in the design, we can identify specific requirements and they will accept and use the tool. Academics have heavy workloads and tight schedules and conducting design sessions with busy professionals demands preparation, improvisation, and clarity of purpose. Therefore, this paper presents the use of paper prototyping technique during the two hour Participatory Design sessions with lecturers in the design of a horizontal MLCAT prototype. In addition, we present formative evaluations that reveal insightful results which will be used in the further implementation of the tool

Paper Prototyping as a Rapid Participatory Design Technique.

This paper describes participatory activities with university lecturers to design an online community. The objective of this study is to engage the users of an online community to collaboratively design their online community. We speculated that by involving them in the design team, we can identify their specific requirements, and they will accept and use the system. However, lecturers have heavy workload and tight schedule. For that reason, we thought that paper prototyping is the most suitable tool to be used because it is fast and easy to create. Therefore, paper prototyping technique has been adapted in a two-day participatory design session. We found that paper prototyping is indeed the most suitable technique to elicit requirements from the end users under a time constraint. Moreover, participants came out with unexpected requirements and novel interface

A framework for evaluating the user experience of digital moderation systems in the South African secondary school environment

The continued emphasis on education quality amidst the accelerating pace of technological developments, which create new opportunities, expectations, and challenges in the teaching and learning environment, requires evidence-based, robust, regulatory frameworks for monitoring standards. Innovative and dynamic approaches are required to quality assure assessment processes (moderation). The reviewed literature provided scant evidence of theorization on the concept of digital moderation (eModeration) and little empirical evidence on systems used in secondary schools. This deficiency in the literature in terms of digital moderation is problematic since it leaves educators, managers, and researchers without evidence-based guidance on how eModeration systems should be designed or evaluated. This deficit provides the rationale for an investigation into the components of a framework to evaluate the user experience of an eModeration system. This study draws on the extant eModeration literature and theories of technology acceptance, Information Systems success (IS) models, and constructs from the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) to create a theoretical framework that integrates constructs identified from the different literature streams to evaluate an eModeration system's user experience. A Design Science Research (DSR) approach guided the design, development, and evaluation of an eModeration evaluation framework. A Participatory Action Design Research (PADRE) approach was used to position the user within the iterative DSR cycles as a means of knowledge acquisition. Participatory Design (PD) was positioned as a data collection strategy during requirements gathering and the generation of design ideas for an eModeration prototype system. Qualitative and quantitative data collection was used to record perceptions of individuals interacting with the prototype. The theoretical contribution is the literature-based framework underpinning this study. This theoretical framework was used as input in determining the components of an eModeration evaluation framework, which is the main contribution of this study. This research has practical value in guiding the design of evaluation criteria for the user experience of an eModeration system for implementation in secondary schools.School of ComputingD. Phil. (Information Systems

Using Paper Prototyping as a Rapid Participatory Design Technique in the Design of MCLAT – a Lecture Podcasting Tool

Podcasting has permeated the developed world higher education environments. Despite this, there is inadequate research published to explore podcasting in developing regions, particularly African Higher Education Institutions. In areas with limited electricity, never mind the internet, how can podcasting succeed? This paper describes Participatory Design activities with university lecturers in sub-Saharan Africa to design a podcasting tool. We postulate that by involving them in the design, we can identify specific requirements and they will accept and use the tool. However, academics have heavy work loads and tight schedules. Therefore, we employ the use of a paper prototyping technique during the Participatory Design sessions because it is fast and relatively cheap. We conduct two hour participatory design sessions with academics from two African universities. Results from our formative evaluations reveal interesting results which will be used in the further implementation of the tool