User+Study

 ** User Study **  a) Statement of user study goals. What are the major questions you want answered regarding how users use the technology in question? About what they may want to see as an alternative?  One of the central themes of this user study goal is to understand the difficulties that UTM students face with regards to Blackboard, such as late updates, etc. Similarly, this analysis will also explore if students are satisfied with the functions and features of this website as well as its overall efficiency. I believe, that by understanding the needs of students, further direction can be taken to address these problems and perhaps recommend and implement beneficial changes. The study will also allow students to give their feedback, while also focusing on recommendations users would like to see in the design of the site.

One topic that needs to be addressed is the subject of efficiency – it is essential that students are given a learning tool that they can access 24/7, as most students work on different schedules as a result of late classes or even a job. It is also important that students are relieved of any extra frustrations as this can hinder their learning experience as well as their performance in a course. Attention to the physical appearance of the site is also another issue worth exploring, as by giving the user the ability to transform their ‘plain’ page into their own; this can perhaps increase the quality of work of the student. Ideas of merging the Blackboard site to other learning sites such as Slate and Wikispaces will also enable the students to access course material on one page, making the site the ultimate learning tool. b) Provide notes on research methods considered to answer the questions noted above. Why these methods? Why not others?  Only one method of research will be implemented, due to the limited amount of time designated. Surveys will be distributed among the students attending the University of Toronto at Mississauga to explore issues such as user experiences and user satisfaction. These surveys will be emailed to various students, instead of distributing physical copies. This will be done as a result of the commencement of final examination period, as students will be busy preparing for their finals and many of them would not be at school.

Emailing surveys is also a faster, cheaper and more efficient means of gathering information since students can choose when they want to fill out the survey at a time that is convenient to them. The survey will focus on obtaining both quantitative and qualitative answers as this can be important to illustrate correlations and percentages as well as detailed feedback. c) Are there any ethical issues that you may encounter? How will you address these?  Some ethical issues that maybe encountered are centred on privacy concerns as age or year of study at the University. To address these problems those who are willing to take these surveys will be addressed as a number to hide their true identities. However, there shouldn’t be any other ethical issues as the survey does not entirely focus on personal information but rather the student’s experiences and satisfaction while using Blackboard. d) Provide a copy of actual questions asked and procedures applied.   See link to survey  e) An executive summary of your findings. See link to executive summary f) Analysis and Interpretation of the collected data to identify patterns or themes.