Assessment 1 v3
31260|42017 Fundamentals of Interaction Design
Assessment 1: Journal Assignment (Individual)
The aims of this assessment are:
• To develop your sensitivities and observations about how people use technology in their
everyday activities and how well the technology suits its use;
• To develop your skills in using appropriate design vocabulary to articulate the various
issues around the design and use of technology from the perspective of its usability and
usefulness
• To develop your capacity to describe in detail how (i) the appropriate use/application of
design/usability principles or (ii) the inco
ect or absence of particular design/usability
principles, affect people’s interactions and experiences with technologies
The task
You will write and present 4 journal entries that describe and explain successful and
unsuccessful interactions between people and technology. You must record appropriate details
of the interactions and then use these to develop critical analyses of the strengths and weakness
of the interaction design. A template (with explanation) for the journal entries is provided on
UTSOnline.
Entries #1, #2, and #3 will be assessed by your peers in class guided by your tutor. Your tutor
will explain and discuss the answers and guide the peer marking. Whilst marks and feedback
provided for the first three journal entries will not contribute to your total subject mark, students
are strongly encouraged to participate in these activities as this ensures that you will receive
formative feedback that can help you improve the quality of subsequent journal entries. Journal
entry #4 will be marked by your tutor. Entry #4 will be marked out of 20%. Only students who
have submitted a journal entry will be able to participate in this peer assessment
exercises during tutorials.
A template (with explanation) for completing the journal entries is provided on UTSOnline in the
Journals Assessment folder. An example of a good journal entry is also available. This is an
individual assignment. It is expected that students will devote 10 – 12 hours to this
assignment.
Length of Journal entries
Entries #1, #2, and #3 is a single page journal entry. Entry #4 will be between 3-4 pages. Entry
#4 must also include illustrations that support the written content.
Focus of each journal entry
Entries #1, #2, and #3 will focus on a specific digital technology that we will prescribe. These
entries will also focus on specific design principles (see table below).
• Entry #1: Feedback and Mapping.
• Entry #2: Consistency and Constraints.
• Entry #3: Visibility and Signifier.
Entry #4 must consist of at least 4 design principles that you have been taught. You must
choose your own technology to write about however, you may not use any of the technologies
discussed in entries #1, #2 or #3.
Submission and due dates
You should use the template provided to write your journal assignment but feel free to modify the
template to fit your needs. The template contains explanations and recommendations about how
to complete your journal entries. In particular, we suggest the Describe, Explain and Respond
approach to provide a systematic account of the interactions together with the appropriate
design/usability principles.
31260|42017 Fundamentals of Interaction Design
Create a PDF version of your journal entry and submit it to Turnitin. A Faculty Assignment Cover
Page must be used every time you submit the assignment.
Journal entries #1, #2 and #3 will be returned in class. Marks for Journal entry #4 will be
eturned in Week 6 via Turnitin and Grade Centre.
Summary of Deliverables:
Entry
#
No. of
pages
Design principles
addressed
Technology Due date Marks
1 1 Feedback &
Mapping
Duolingo (iOS or Android) to
undertake the first tutorial in
German as a casual beginner
Before tutorial Week 2,
upload to Turnitin and
hardcopy to class
n/a
2 1 Consistency &
Constraints
Tripview (lite) Before tutorial Week 4,
upload to Turnitin and
hardcopy to class
n/a
3 1 Visibility &
Signifier
Coles or Woolworth self-
checkout
Before tutorial Week 4,
upload to Turnitin and
hardcopy to class
n/a
4 3-4 Your choice of at
least 4 different
design principles
Your choice of technology.
Must be digital technologies,
however, not of the ones
from above
Before tutorial Week 5, upload
to Turnitin. Do not
ing
printed copy to tutorial.
20%
Assessment Criteria and Marking:
Journal entry #4 will be assessed based on the following criteria:
1. Thoroughness of the description of use
2. Inclusion and appropriate use of images and/or illustrations depicting the interactions with clear labels and
annotations
3. Co
ect identification of design principles in action, and accurate explanations of how they affected the
interactions
4. Depth and quality of the critique
To receive a HD (20%) you must present a very well written, thorough, clear and insightful critique that
meets all the criteria at an outstanding standard
To receive a D (17%) you must present a well written, clear and thorough entry that meets all the criteria
at a very good standard
You will receive a C (15%) if you present an entry that is reasonably well written and the content meets
most of the criteria at a good standard
You will receive a P (12%) if you present an entry that is difficult to understand but meets most the
criteria at a satisfactory standard
You will receive a Borderline (10%) if you present an entry with content that just barely meets the criteria
satisfactorily
You will receive a F (5%) if you attempt and deliver an entry but the content does not meet any of the
criteria satisfactorily
Academic Misconduct:
The University’s rules regarding academic misconduct can be found at:
http:
www.gsu.uts.edu.au
ules/16-2.html. The academic standards outlined in the subject
outline apply to this assignment
Journal Entry - content structure
Fundamentals of Interaction Design
Journal Entry content structure guide
Describe your contexts of use and activity: where you are, how you are feeling, is it crowded? Were
you distracted? Etc.
As you begin to use the technology to complete the stated goal, use the following formula to write your
journal entry. For each step of your interaction, begin by:
1. Describing what step of the interaction you are refe
ing to, i.e. what you are doing, and
how you are interacting with the technology. Be precise, detailed and don’t rush. Then…
2. Identify how the target design principle or principles are supporting your interactions
successfully, allowing you to understand how to continue to interact with the technology.
Here, you need to identify the target design principle or principles, clearly stating how
and where you have identified it. If the target principle has not been used, keep moving
to the next step of the interaction, starting with ‘describing’.
3. Explain how the target principle has been used to affect your interaction. How was the
principle used to support your interaction successfully? How was this design principle
implemented in the design? If the target design principle should have been used but was
not used in this step of the interaction, then provide clear suggestion(s)/solution(s) on
how you can implement the target design principle to improve the interaction.
Identify
Explain
Improve
If you believe that the target
design principle has not been
used to successfully support your
interaction at this step, then
move on to the next interaction
and describe that interaction
Describe
If you believe that the target design
principle (i) should have been used
or (ii) have been used wrongly, thus
impacting on your interaction
negatively, then suggest how you
can improve the interaction by
applying the target principle
appropriately.
Fundamentals of Interaction Design
Journal Entry #4
Name & ID:
Tutorial room location:
Tutor:
Principles:
Technology:
Goal:
Context of use:
Fundamentals of Interaction Design
Journal Entry #1
Principles: Feedback & Mapping Technology: Duolingo
Goal: Learn German by completing Lesson 1 of the German program
Name & ID: Ashlyn Lee XXXXXXXXXXTutorial room location: CB XXXXXXXXXX
Tutor: Ashlyn Lee Date: 15/03/18
Context of use: Where you are, how you are feeling, is it crowded? Were you distracted? Etc.
I am at home alone. It is quiet outside and I am feeling hungry so have a plate of food next to me
as I set up and use Duolingo for my first German lesson.
Upon downloading the application, I select “Get Started” and choose “German” as my language of
choice. After I make my selection, the screen turns white and shows me three grey dots in the middle
of the screen that change opacity in sequence indicating that the page is loading. This is an example
of visual feedback. This simple loading screen tells me that I have made a valid selection and Duolingo
is processing my request. Unfortunately, I think I miss-hit the option to learn German and am not
sure if I selected the right language. With no text telling me what language is loading, I just wait and
hope I can confirm or change it later. I would improve this screen by including some text at the top to
indicate what language is being loaded, e.g. “German lessons loading”.
When selecting my daily goal of 10 minutes a day and hitting the green “get started” button at the
ottom of the screen, the green button turns grey and the same three loading dots appear. This is
another example of visual feedback, confirming my actions and informing me my selection is being
processed.
As a beginner, once on the first “Learn” page, I click to start with the basics and the first lesson loads.
Duolingo shows me four boxes with a cartoon picture of a person in each. It asks me to select
“woman” so I tap on the cartoon woman with the word “Frau” underneath it. As I select this option,
the box is highlighted in blue, “Frau” is spoken aloud, and the previously greyed out ‘check’ button at
the bottom of the screen turns green. This is an example of visual and audio feedback, confirming