11.1: Thesis 1: Major Project Thesis Materials

This week I spent a lot of time building my clickable prototype. I discovered that as I was building it, I was finding flaws in my own design and it really got me thinking about what to keep and what to leave behind. I think that the most important goals of my learning platform are to help middle school students feel connected to teachers and peers and to create a system where they get the benefits of a classroom (everything they need is in one place and they are contained to that space for the entire class period). Ease of access and functionality will allow students to focus on their studies instead of stressing over what app to be in and where they can find their assignments or how to submit them for what class. These are common everyday stressors for the average middle school student. While I want the platform to contain things like email, app library, and announcements, these pages are not important to the overall concept.
I went ahead and tested my platform with the tasks that I had initially planned out, even though I may be leaving behind the design of one or two of the tasks. I found that many of the students who used the clickable prototype had a hard time visualizing the platform in its wireframe state. I think that before I do another user test I will apply more elements from my visual system to help them feel more comfortable using it. Some of my testers were also quite timid, being 6th graders. They didn't give much feedback without prompting and direct questions. I decided to also have a parent test the platform to get some adult feedback. In the process, I also got some inside into how this website would be helpful for learning support and learning disabled students who join the class for inclusion.
I created a chart for user feedback, but here is a rundown of the user comments. I will be applying changes this coming week.

• The user was very timid and confused by the prototype look and feel of the app.
• Got confused when adding a new user to connect within the text feature
• User completed tasks on paper.
• Thought the layout of the classroom made sense and was easy to navigate. Liked the options to look for missing work.
• Need to add back buttons.
• OctoEd as the home button is confusing.
• Don't black out the button for the screen I am in.
• Will there be an option to get into the course to see all the lessons and assignments like on canvas?
• Black Button is hard to read and confusing.
• The classroom is so much easier to use.
• I like that it is all in one stop and everything is available without going into another app.
• Need Home button.
• Great for inclusion students, not just regular ed because it is easy to understand and navigate.
• Actually pretty cool and easy to use.
• The hardest screen was the chat and figuring out how to add a friend.
• It was hard to know what buttons to push.