Design competence in ICT education

The new discrimination law in Norway requires new product s and environments to be developed in such a way that they can be used by as many people as possible. In response to this legisl ation the applied information t echnology curriculum at Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences has been adjusted to incorporate universal design (U D ). This curriculum is the basis for this case study which addresses the possible effects the role of design might have if included as a study module in a technically - oriented bachelor program. The empirical data discussed in this case study have been gathered from three types of sources: final year bachelor project reports , focus group interviews and a question naire . The stud y indicates that there is a growing awareness among students and educators at the College that knowledge engendered from working with design processes can influence the outcome of information technology projects to become more innovative, contextual, conce ptual and holistic. The study suggests that making design an inherent part of the curriculum enables students to create and evaluate a variety of information and communication technology ( ICT ) concepts targeting the general public. Although the students co nsider themselves as a link between engineers and interface designers, their written work shows relatively little focus on the enabling dimension of usability in universal design, which indicates that the y lack universal design compete nce . Among the main i mplications of the study is the need to modify the required learning outcomes of an information technology curriculum so as to include theoretical knowledge and practical competence related to universal design

An automated marking system for graphical user interfaces

This research investigates the feasibility and effectiveness of assessing students programming solutions to Graphical User Interface exercises in an automated fashion. Automated marking systems ease the burden on the staff involved in running a course and allow students to get results and feedback in a timely fashion. Several automated marking systems exist but are currently unable to mark GUIs. The inherent complexity of GUIs and the need for aesthetic analysis has rendered GUIs beyond the scope of most marking systems. The marking approach described in this thesis implements a number of novel concepts. By exploiting language design properties such as the hierarchical relationship between components, it was possible to develop a framework capable of testing and marking students' GUI programs. Introspectively analysing the interface enables the marking system to obtain access to the intrinsic elements contained within the GUI. Once access has been obtained, the tests can be performed on the actual interface components themselves rather than a mere representation. GUI assessment is more than functional testing, aesthetics play a major role in the creation of an interface. Existing aesthetic metrics do not provide the analytical capabilities required due to their failure to include colour. The distractive effects that colours have were quantified and incorporated into the metrics. The results of the dynamic and aesthetic testing show that through the implementation of the novel components detailed, the creation of a GUI marking system is feasible and its marking both consistent and effective. The design enables the system to return results in a timely fashion and the effects that colour has can be seen in the results of basic aesthetic testing

An automated marking system for graphical user interfaces

This research investigates the feasibility and effectiveness of assessing students programming solutions to Graphical User Interface exercises in an automated fashion. Automated marking systems ease the burden on the staff involved in running a course and allow students to get results and feedback in a timely fashion. Several automated marking systems exist but are currently unable to mark GUIs. The inherent complexity of GUIs and the need for aesthetic analysis has rendered GUIs beyond the scope of most marking systems. The marking approach described in this thesis implements a number of novel concepts. By exploiting language design properties such as the hierarchical relationship between components, it was possible to develop a framework capable of testing and marking students' GUI programs. Introspectively analysing the interface enables the marking system to obtain access to the intrinsic elements contained within the GUI. Once access has been obtained, the tests can be performed on the actual interface components themselves rather than a mere representation. GUI assessment is more than functional testing, aesthetics play a major role in the creation of an interface. Existing aesthetic metrics do not provide the analytical capabilities required due to their failure to include colour. The distractive effects that colours have were quantified and incorporated into the metrics. The results of the dynamic and aesthetic testing show that through the implementation of the novel components detailed, the creation of a GUI marking system is feasible and its marking both consistent and effective. The design enables the system to return results in a timely fashion and the effects that colour has can be seen in the results of basic aesthetic testing

M-health user experience framework for the public healthcare sector

The public healthcare sectors within developing nations face a lot of challenges because of constrained resources available to them. The South African public healthcare sector is no different. Although it serves the majority of the South African population, most of the financial resources are directed towards the private sector, which serves very few individuals when compared to the public healthcare sector. Apart from that, other challenges that the National Department of Health has to deal with include the lack of sufficiently trained healthcare employees who can work on the different levels of the public healthcare sector, as well as the burden of diseases such as HIV and Aids, tuberculosis and other chronic diseases. In order to improve service delivery, the National Department of Health is introducing Information and Communications Technology interventions that can increase efficiency and reduce costs, thereby improving the quality of service delivery. This research delivers an m-health application user experience framework to be proposed to the National Department of Health in South Africa, in order to assist in scaling up of m-health applications. The m-health applications that can benefit the South African population if scaled up successfully include those that can be used in remote data collection, treatment and compliance, accessing patients records, remote monitoring, communication and training for healthcare workers and applications that can be used for education and awareness. The study focused on three domains: the Human-Computer Interaction domain, public healthcare domain and Health Informatics domain. The proposed framework was realized by investigating mobile user experience components, mobile health requirements and the South African public healthcare domain components that contribute to the m-health user experience framework. This research was conducted through the interpretivist philosophy. Due to the exploratory nature of the study, an application of qualitative methodology was used. The conceptual theoretical framework was validated through a single case study approach by m-health user experience experts, who reside in South Africa. Data were analysed inductively. An m-health user experience framework was provided at the end of the study. An m-health user experience framework can assist the National Department of Health to look into design issues, address m-health requirements and put the domain needs in place, thus enabling the Department to successfully scale up implementations of m-health applications nationwide