My Thesis Blog Thesis Topic: Middle School Virtual Learning Goal: help middle school children adapt, navigate, and learn in the online learning environment. Audience: Middle School Students & Teachers Invision Link: OctoEd website mobile version Invision Link: OctoEd Virtual Learning Platform Explain how you put the draft presentation together. Can you think of any improvements you still want to do? I began putting the draft presentation together, by introducing my thesis topic and then showing my work in the order that I completed it throughout the semester, with user testing at the end. I need to add narration and explanations of each item. I think the layout of some pages also needs some work to create a better flow and more consistency. I also wasn't sure if I should have the raw files for each screen as its own page or I should put multiple per page. I think you get a better view if it is full screen, but there are more than 30 screens, so the presentation gets pretty long! Is there anything left to finish? If so what, and what is your plan to finish? It is very much a draft at this point and is missing a lot of the narration of each step. I also still need to add the visual standards guide and process journal. I want to go back in and narrate my process, decisions, and outcomes. I would also like to add comments about the next steps. I will be adding the visual standards guide as well, with refinements that I have been making since its last submission. Describe the most useful and interesting things you have learned in this module I think the most interesting thing that I learned this semester is that I wish I had kept my files a little better organized. It was difficult to find items that were completed in past modules because even though they were organized in that module, I couldn't always remember what module to find them in. As my thesis project becomes more refined and more items are getting closer to completion, I think it would be better to be working out of master files, instead of organizing work by module.
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Thesis Topic: Middle School Virtual Learning Goal: help middle school children adapt, navigate, and learn in the online learning environment. Audience: Middle School Students & Teachers Invision Link: OctoEd website mobile version Invision Link: OctoEd Virtual Learning Platform Debrief us on what happened in user testing, including how it might affect your project, and what you plan to do about it. Examine your materials matrix, timeline, and strategies, and then tell us how you plan to adjust your strategies, designs, or deliverables Website: users found the website easy to navigate, pleasing to look at and easy to read. They both wanted to see more and to get an opportunity to view examples of the learning platform as well as a run-through (coming when I produce the video after the platform is complete). Both were also interested in seeing the desktop version as they would be more likely to visit the website on their computer. Remediation:
User testing had some hiccups this week. I had a family of 3 middles schoolers and 2 parents that I was visiting in PA this week to test both my learning platform and website, however I had to find replacements. One of my young users was hospitalized so I was unable to visit as the family was busy dealing with that and getting her better. I plan on still getting their input once she is home and healthy. I was able to contact two teacher friends and 2 middle school age kids last minute to run though the prototypes for me following my directions, and then answers questions about their experience and to provide feedback/suggestions. Next time I will get the prototypes done sooner so I have more time to deal with unexpected hiccups! I will also line up more users. How might you use your thesis project to tell stories, run experiments, facilitate interactions, entertain people, cajole responses, and link media? Creating scenarios for the user to run through makes it interesting to showcase what the platform can do. I think I could use that storytelling element t and anecdotes from real classroom experiences to show how OctoEd will solve though classroom hiccups. Describe the most useful and interesting things you have learned this module. I think hearing how the users reacted to the social media outlet within the learning platform was exciting and helpful to know that I am on the right track. I also learned that things do always go as planned and to have a backup! Thesis Topic: Middle School Virtual Learning Goal: help middle school children adapt, navigate, and learn in the online learning environment. Audience: Middle School Students & Teachers This week I really dug into the different controls and pop-ups that will help the student navigate through the Virtual Learning Platform. As I move through each screen I have realized that there are more buttons and controls needed and space needs to be made, so there has been a lot of tweaking and fine-tuning. As I work through this process I am moving into the prototype so I can see how each screen operates and get it ready to present to my user testing group early next week. I will be continuing to work on the various pages and elements thought the coming week. In thinking about how my thesis project could help middle school students across the country to better adapt to attending school virtually or within a hybrid classroom. I would love to continue to develop the platform and eventually present it to schools for distribution. The most useful and interesting thing I have learned this week is that the more in-depth I get into building this learning platform, the more I realize it entails. There are a lot of fine details that can make or break the effectiveness of the system! This week I spent some more time studying different virtual learning platforms and social media platforms to see how I can combine the best features and elements to create a space that would cater to the needs and interests of the middle school student. I began designing the social media portion of my learning platform, referred to as Connect. I shifted my screen size again because I realized that there were too many restraints working in the iPad size and I wanted to get in all the elements before adjusting to the iPad. I am designing based on Chrome Book measurements as that is what most school students have. I also made adjustments and refinements to the other areas of the platform based on feedback. Thesis Topic: Middle School Virtual Learning Goal: help middle school children adapt, navigate, and learn in the online learning environment. Audience: Middle School Students & Teachers
Initial Thoughts: As I was updating my virtual learning platform with new icons and some structural and visual elements that have evolved since last semester, I began to re-evaluate some of the pages and elements of the learning platform. The following pages are the updated LMS pages with explanations of each page and pro/con lists. Notes: • Need better grid throughout • Navigation needs improvement (new options at the end) • Communication/Connect: design with inspiration from social media platforms • Should there be a mobile app for communication purposes? Or should it be a part of the LMS? Options to message or post to discussion boards. • Icons need a better color system. Reflection Prompts:
Thesis Topic: Middle School Virtual Learning Goal: help middle school children adapt, navigate, and learn in the on-line learning environment. Audience: Middle School Students & Teachers This week I worked on refining and completing the website for OctoEd where teachers, administrators and even parents can get information about the LMS and order a free trial. After I made adjustments to the desktop website, I made 3 other versions using a responsive layout. I created two for the iPad: one horizontal, and one vertical. I think created a responsive version for a smart phone. This week I also continued working on the Thesis Process Book and added to the visual system guides. I still want to add descriptive text along with the imagery.
This week I spent a great deal of time working on the website. I added the footer and a hamburger menu. I am not sure if it works better on the left side or the right. Although I am leaning towards the left. I am just not sure if it takes away from the OctoEd logo if they are on the same side. In addition, I added a virtual assistant chatbox, I edited the Get Started page to have 2 boxes instead of one, I created a sign-in page, and I created a video page. I also started thinking about the video and what it will consist of. It will have a walk-through of the LMS, so I don't think I can create it until the learning platform is completed.
This week I continued to modify my Thesis Journal. I made revisions based off of instructor feedback and added mood boards. I still need to write descriptions, re-work DS CHART AND Materials Matrix, and continue to add elements. This week, I also decided to take a different direction with the website layout and am much happier with the results. I created 4 screens for feedback. For Website user testing I plan on using the method of Usability Testing: evaluative method to observe a users task based experience I can use this method to determine frustration points and ease of use. If the users are asked to think out loud as they complete each task I can get a better understanding of how they view usability and ease of use. I will perform this via Zoom with classroom teachers. This week I began experimenting with adding illustration to the visual system. I drew some basic doodle/sketchy school supplies and placed them within the circles. I trued a few variations and experimented putting the illustrations and new graphic elements into the system. I then did some future exploration of my icon system. I tried using all black within the circles and all white. I am still working out layouts for the website and will update that this week. Lastly, I became formatting my thesis process journal. I developed a layout and grid and began building the pages and placing the required sections and elements. It still needs some work with layout and how the elements will fill the pages. I will also update the DS chart and Materials Matrix to match the visual System more cohesively and to match the formatting of the book. |
Andrea Tscheschlog
MFA Graphic Design Student at Academy of Art University of San Francisco (on-line) Archives
May 2022
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