Intro
As an Information Systems graduate student, I have learned the technically aspects of computers and sought to take Fundamentals of Human Center Computing as a way to broaden my knowledge of how those systems impact users.
Human Center Computing is an interdisciplinary study. To fully understand the fundamentals I had to learn about design processes, interactivity, behavioral science, accessibility, and current technical trends (Branham, Dr. Stacy. Lecture 2/5).
“A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.” ~Kahlil Gibran
This course has allowed me to not only deepen my knowledge but I’ve so been able to apply it to my professional life. Currently, I work for Pearson as a Quality Assurance Lead. Pearson’s products reach millions of learners and it’s my role to ensure that we produce quality products that are accessible to all learners. Below I highlight some principle I have learned and how I can apply them to my current role.
Properties of Good Design
As a QA Lead, I receive user interface designs that I use to understand users’ workflow and create test cases. To ensure good design principles I will reference knowledge learned in Making and Breaking the Grid by Timothy Samara.
For Example, Pearson.com already provides a great example of using a grid layout that it is easy to view and navigate information. See Figure 1 below, the 6 large pictures aligned to a grid. There are also smaller options on the bottom row that breaks the column gird so that the user knows that they are less important and offer supplemental information.
Figure 1. Screen shot of Pearson.com(*Note click images to enlarge)
Another property of good design as Don Norman points out in his book, The Design of Everyday Things, is that information must be presented to the users in a functional and intuitive way.
Figure 2, is a screen shot from another Pearson website, MyLab. It follows a grid and the three column structure separates the information but does not provide any insight or hierarchy to what is important.
I would suggest rearranging the grid where the most frequently used information is always presented to the user on a side bar and less important information is place at the bottom. See Figure 3.
Figure 2. Screen shot of My Lab
Figure 3. Purposed Updated Layout
Affective and Persuasive Design
In Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness, by Thaler and Susten, they proved that you can encourage students to make healthier decision about eating by redesigning the cafeteria. The re-arrangements were so powerful that there was a 25% decrease or increase of certain food items based on placement ( Thaler and Sustem 1). These principles and the role of a choice architecture can also be applied to Pearson’s products to encourage students and keep engagement.
Nudging was successfully implemented in Pearson’s Wall Street English Online Booking Application. If a student is faced with many options they will change their mind constantly and reschedule a class over and over again. To drive the student’s away from the options of canceling/rescheduling their current class, a popup is presented to drive the users action to book another type of class. See Figure 4. This popup is displayed to students after booking a class, it gives the users a few action items to move them forward in their studies instead of being over whelmed by making decisions and reconsidering their previous decision.
Figure 4. Popup to drive user action as apart of an online booking application for Wall Street English
Accessibility
Today, May 21st, is Global Accessibility Awareness ! Pearson has encouraged it’s employees to also learn about accessibility and how we can implement it into our daily tasks. I’ve signed up to take courses offered today by Pearson for the special occasion. I will also continue to follow up with subject matter experts and engage in online communities to refresh my skills and and continue my education in accessibility.
I have also spent a lot of time doing my own research on how my knowledge in this class aligns to what Pearson expects out of accessibility.
Pearson has the following accessibility guidelines.
- Alternatives: Provide alternatives for sounds and images that provide information. (5 guidelines)
- Coding: Write UI code according to standards so that varying operating systems, browsers, access methods* and assistive technologies* will be supported. (22 guidelines)
- Color: Choose text colors that pass standards for good readability. Design with color blind users in mind. (3 guidelines)
- Executive: Consider accessibility when choosing technologies and publishing options. Document your product’s accessibility. (4 guidelines)
- System Functionality: Allow learners or instructors:
- To control time limits, motion, and audio to avoid distraction & to adjust for differing needs. (7 guidelines)
- To make their own content accessible while authoring in Pearson systems.(1 guideline)
More information can be found on their website http://wps.pearsoned.com/accessibility/.
Be a futuristic thinker
Reading Mark Weiser’s vision of the future inspired me to think that how human center computing is more than just adjusting the current technology to our current needs (Weiser 97-104). It’s important to imagine and research how technology and tools we develop impact the future.
Summary
The biggest value I have gained from this class is the insight that a system’s impact on the users is bigger than just one user and one experience . The impact is physical, behavioral, social and at times even religious.
Reference:
Branham, Dr. Stacy. “Fundamentals of HCC:.” HCC629 Class. UMBC, Baltimore. 2/5. PowerPoint Lecture.
Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2008. Print.
Samara, Timothy. Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop. Gloucester, MA: Rockport, 2005. Print.
Thaler, Richard H., and Cass R. Sunstein. Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 2008. Print.
Weiser, Mark. “The Computer for the 21st Century.” Sci Am Scientific American 265.3 (1991): 94-104. Web.