ContextualInquiry-Group:BluJay
From CS160 User Interfaces Fa06
Contributors
Interview tasks were divided up among group members. Some were done individually; others in pairs. The rest of analysis and designing process were completed together as a group. =)
Target Users
Describe the rationale behind your choice of target users. For each of the three (3) customers, give some details of their background, their likes/dislikes and priorities. Avoid information that may reveal their identity.
We selected 6 users who use flashcards to study various subjects.
User A
- 3rd year chemistry & pre-med major
- Likes to listen to music while studying
- Very knowledgeable about technology and computers
- Only started making flash cards recently
- Regularly goes to study groups for some of his classes
User B
- Studied organic chemistry as an undergraduate student
- Currently attends theology school and works at a biotech company
- Uses Windows computers and has a laptop
- Has extensive experience teaching science and worked for an online textbook company
- Claims largest problem is that it is too difficult to enter non-text information into the computer and that reformatting kills the alignment
Experience with flashcards
- Likes flashcards because they allow him to write complex equations without worrying about computer formatting
- Easily has two "modes" where he can test himself on definitions or names
- Feels that flash cards help him study with friends because they can hold up the card and give him hints
- Draws chemical structure on one side, and names on the other
- Rarely makes more than 30 of them at a time
- Usually learns best when someone else tests him using the flashcards
- Sometimes practices going through cards by looking at definition and then writing the equation
- Takes a card out of the deck if he gets the card right many times
- Most important feature is he can use them on th go, and minutes before the test
- Prefers blank 3x5 index cards
User C
- 4th year business major
- Very comfortable using popular software such as MS Word/Excel
- Has the habit of carrying her laptop around everyday
- Desires full utilization of time and efficiency in performing all tasks due to busy schedule
- Started to use flash cards in high school for SAT, later for accounting course
- Currently enrolled in 3rd year Chinese language level
Experience with flash cards
- Makes flash cards on expired name cards
- Uses rubber band to bind cards from each chapter
- Uses them when she's walking on campus between classes because that's the only time when a book can not be used
- Prefers the cards sorted in alphabetic order or by topics
- Finds it more effective if a friend is studying with her to test her on these words
User D
- 4th year math major
- Knows how to write, use a hole punch
- Born in Korea, speaks English very well
- Computer literate
- Has a bad memory
Experience with flash cards
- Not a frequent user of flash cards, doesn't use flash cards for math or Korean classes
- Use flash cards for GRE because there's no better way
- Cut 3x5 index into halves for flash cards
- Bind them using a key ring
- Put synonyms on the same card
- Studies by going through the cards in order, but finds the ordering prevents him from adequately testing himself
User E
- 4th year IB major
- Uses flash cards to study for general GRE test
- Spends 10-15 mins / day on flash cards
- Memorizes 10 a day on average
- Has approximately 200 cards
- Keeps 10 different cards in wallet each day
- Prefers flash cards for portability
User F
- 4th year EECS major/Japanese minor
- Interning at Pixar (takes the bus to work)
- Also enrolled in elementary Chinese
- Has made at least 2000-3000 flash cards for foreign language coursework
- Uses flash cards to study Japanese and Chinese
- Writes vocabulary words, but also grammar
- Studies in the room or at the library
Problem and Solution Overview
This overview should be a concise statement of the problem you are tackling and a brief synopsis of your proposed solution.
Problem Overview
Many students use flash cards to help them study subjects in which a large amount of vocabulary or memorization is required (eg. GRE, foreign languages, chemistry, biology, etc.). The problem with having purely paper flash cards is that there is no feedback from the cards themselves. The user has to traverse through all the cards every time; they have the same probability of coming across a word they already know as for a word they don’t know yet. Additionally, there is no way to group similar words together or keep multiple lists of words other than sorting manually. There's no effective or systematic method for testing oneself of familiarity with the cards without the help of a friend or a classmate. Furthermore, it is difficult to organize large amount of cards from a variety of different subjects.
Solution Overview
The Anoto flash card solution integrates the Anoto features with the ordinary flash cards. It will allow users to make and study with flash cards the same way they have done traditionally, while adding software features to enable users to store and organize the flash cards efficiently (eg. by subjects, chapters, etc.). The solution also allows the users to review the cards on computer screen and be tested based on their specified familiarity levels of the card.
Contextual Inquiry - Interview Descriptions
Describe the process you followed when conducting the interviews, and environment where you observed their work. Identify tasks and themes that the customers shared in common in their work practices. Then, note anything unique about each interview and comment on the rationale behind these events.
Interview Overview
We conducted the interviews in typical places of study: in the customers' homes and in study lounges at the undergraduate dorms. Many of the customers studied in places that were generally quiet and calm, which helped them to focus. While creating flash cards, the customers usually had other study material nearby for reference. All of our interview subjects looked through a textbook looking for important concepts and then copied the information from the book to their cards. Some customers studied with only flash cards and did not have anything else, while others had flash cards available for additional study. Given that students usually did not want to be bothered while studying, it was difficult to ask them while they were on the go, studying while in transit or prior to an exam. Depending on the customer, some customers would study with people that they knew, while others would study alone. In the interviewing process, we would study the customer while they were using the flash cards, and observed the customer making or using flash cards to study. During the interview, we would question everything that the customer did, including the obvious. We also asked them what aspects of flashcards were troublesome and what they found about flash cards that made them worthwhile. At the end, we would also ask if they would use a computer-based solution, if it was available.
We found that in making flash cards, everyone used information that was preformatted to an extent: either from a list of vocabulary words to know, or from a table of important information. No one read through paragraph-type information to extract information to put onto flash cards. We also found that while studying, everyone has a defined "stack" that they go through for that session in various different orders. Because of the flexibility of flash cards, the customers used the cards for studying in a variety of settings.
All of the customers we interviewed used a textbook as the primary source of information to transcribe to flash card format. However, many of the customers thought that making flash cards was very time consuming and tedious, and almost all of them would have preferred an alternative to this. They also would have liked some means of keeping track of what they studied and to have a way to assess their progress in studying the cards. The customers all expressed that being able to take the flash cards to different locations and study in non-traditional settings was critical. We also asked them if they had considered using a computer based flash card system that are available online. All of the interview subjects said that they couldn't bother with manually entering difficult equations or characters into the computer and that printing them out probably wouldn't be as good as writing them on paper.
One main difference we found betweens interviewees is the time they allot for studying from flash cards. We found that the users who use flash cards primarily tend to set aside a specific interval of time and study from the flash cards exclusively. They may go through several "cycles" of the study process. However, the users who use flash cards as only one of many sources of studying, tend to use them in settings that have time constraints, such as on-the-go or in between classes.
Current Outline for Studying From Flash Cards
- Make flash cards
- Gather flash cards together
- Find desired information from textbook in tabular/list format
- Transcribe information to individual cards
- Segregate information into a question and answer paradigm
- Choose one aspect of the information to be the prompt and anther aspect to be the solution
- Process cards (hole punch, link, order, etc.)
- Study from flash cards
- Look at cards one at a time
- Possibly put cards you know very well in a separate pile
- Repeat until all cards end up in "know" pile or you run out of time
- Have a friend test you with flash cards
- Often, have friend not just give you the answer if you're wrong, instead makes you work for it
- Repeat studying until you know all terms or until test comes
Task Analysis Questions (5 pts)
Answer the 11 task analysis questions. Use examples from your interviews when applicable.
I. Who is going to use system?
Students
- Language classes
- Biology/Chemistry classes
- GRE / Vocabulary building
Backgrounds
- Students who probably have used simple Office-level applications on the computer
- People used to working with office supplies / school supplies
- People who may have trouble memorizing things
- People who want to get things done quickly and efficiently
II. What tasks do they now perform?
- Read material from textbook or other "hard" source
- Make flash cards by transcribing from the hard source
- Bind cards by rings or rubber bands
- Learn from flash cards by flipping through them one by one
- Separate flash cards by ones they already know
- Review from flash cards while under time constraints (right before the test)
- Ask friend to quiz them
- Store flash cards for later use
III. What tasks are desired?
The general goal of using flash cards is to memorize facts quickly and efficiently
1. Efficiently create flash cards
- To use traditional paper and pen that they feel comfortable with
- To enter non ASCII characters / complex symbols / pictures
- To be able to format things on cards in custom patterns
2. Effectively study flash cards
- To have hard copy available for travel and right before exam
- To find relevant information quickly without having to carry textbooks around
- To have feedback when studying from flash cards
- To study the less familiar cards more frequently
- To easily separate words into different categories (eg. by topics, chapters, alphabets, known/unknown)
- To test oneself effectively without the need for help from friends
3. Enhance studying effectiveness with software features
- Computer knows status of your comfort level with the different cards
- Computer generated quizzes
IV. How are the tasks learned?
- Exposed to the task during early years of education as a method of studying
- Learned from others and from conventional practice to conduct the tasks when flash cards are needed for studying
- Refined one's own system after performing the tasks over time
V. Where are the tasks performed?
Creating cards
- Home / dorm / library
Studying cards
- In class
- During the walk between classes
- At the library
- In random places - dentist office, on the BART, bathroom, other types of waiting room, etc.
- Immediately prior to exam
VI. What’s the relationship between user & data?
- The user must memorize all the data
- Data (probably) has little personal data
- Public knowledge that isn't shared, but probably can be
- Data is probably only available through the flash cards when accessing on the fly
- They want the data to be presented in way that is conducive to learning the material
- Data is probably available in other forms other than flash cards, but may not be in a good format elsewhere
VII. What other tools does the user have?
- Usually some sort of textbook where the data originated and is presented as facts
- School supplies such as index cards, scissors, hole punch
- A computer, the internet, to look up additional information/definition when needed
- User probably does NOT have a tablet or tablet PC
- Online flash cards offers software features but the content (eg. vocab list) is preset, can not be specified by users
VIII. How do users communicate with each other?
- Compare with each other on the style and techniques of flash card making for the same subject
- Borrow one another's flash cards for studying
- Help each other by testing one another on the content of the cards
IX. How often are the tasks performed?
Making flash cards
- Depending on the subject of interest, some users make cards once a week, other make them on daily basis
Studying flash cards
- Most people look over their flash cards on daily basis. Often time cards are reviewed whenever they have short periods of spare time -- several times a day
X. What are the time constraints on the tasks?
- Want these tasks to be quick and easy
- Make flash cards ~less than an hour
- Studying from flash cards should be quick
- May be studying minutes or seconds before a test begins
- Already a good interface for quickly going through lots of information
XI. What happens when things go wrong?
Can't make flash cards
- Run out of index cards -> use paper
- "Coping strategy" involving using book, paper, etc.
Can't study from flash cards
- Destroyed / Lose them -> make more or make do without
Analysis of Tasks (10 pts)
Choose 6 tasks (2 easy, 2 moderate, 2 difficult tasks) and describe them. These should be real world tasks that have details (e.g., note-taking in a lecture).
Easy tasks
Make flash cards:
The users create flash cards by referencing textbooks or other sources of information, then transcribe the desired information onto flash cards. Usually, one side has a key topic or keyword, and the opposite side of the flash cards contains further information about the item on the front.
Importing flash card data:
To use the computer-based system, the user needs to upload the data from the pen onto the computer. In addition, the user may have to create a folder to organize the flash card data on the computer.
Moderate tasks
Define the order in which the cards will appear:
While some users of flash cards do not study their cards in a specific order, there are users who may need to put more important cards first in the order that they study their cards. Likewise, computer-based flash cards may need to be arranged in a particular order for the user to study.
Change the rating option of a specific card:
We want the user to be able to specify their comfort level with a specific flash card. They will need to decide how well they know it based on their confidence in answering the question and also their performance in answering it correctly whenever it turns up. This is analogous to putting the flashcard in a separate pile of flashcards that they no longer need to study. With our system, the program can vary the frequency with which it shows any specific card based on the comfort level the user has with that card. The user can change the rating of any specific card two main ways. The first way to change the rating is to be either in “study” or “quiz” mode. Then the user is viewing the cards in detail, one card at a time. On the main screen they will be able to change rating by clicking one of several choices. The other way to change the rating of a card is through the browse mode. In this mode, the user will be able to select one or more cards, and change the rating option for all of them at the same time.
Difficult tasks
Assign / add cards to folders:
Our program will support organizing cards into different folders. This way you can have separation of cards. One application is to separate cards by chapter from a textbook. Sometimes the user may feel the need to reorganize the cards and thus move them around between different folders. The easiest way to do this is through the browse mode.
Complete the quiz on selected flash cards:
Users of traditional paper flash cards often quiz themselves mentally using their flash cards, but usually they do not or cannot keep track of their progress as they ask a friend to quiz them or quiz themselves. After quizzing themselves, it is time-consuming to determine which cards have been remembered and which ones need further studying. By using computer-generated quizzes, the user can then gauge his/her progress across a specific set of cards. In addition, the computer can let the user know which cards need to be studied more and which cards have already been memorized.
Interface Design (20 pts)
Give a rationale for your design ideas. This section should clearly indicate the functionality of our artifact and what the user interface will be like (described and sketched -- references the figures in your text). You should then describe three scenarios of how someone would use it to accomplish three of the tasks above. Scenarios include the steps customers will go through to accomplish the task. You should include "storyboards" of the sequences described in your three scenarios. The solution section should be the bulk of the write-up and take several pages.
Overview of interface
We designed the interface to somewhat reflect a photo viewing program. Our program has many parallels with photo viewing programs because they both deal with large numbers of graphical data, which the user may want to access by traversal, access randomly, or have an overview. Thus, our program has a few different “views” that the user can see. The first view is a “browse” view where the user can see all the flash cards that belong to a certain folder. The user can create many folders to sort flash cards effectively.
From the browse view, if the user double clicks on a specific flash card, they are taken to a view that models the “filmstrip” option in Windows XP’s Explorer. Here the user has options regarding the individual card and can traverse through the folder. This view is effective for studying flash cards.
Also from the browse view, the user can select cards to be quizzed on. In the quiz view, the user will see one side of the flash card and have to determine the other side of the flash card through a multiple choice interface. The user can test him or herself with all the cards selected and view an overview of the test upon completion.
Rationale
We chose to allow users to create different folders to categorize flash cards because this reflects the users’ current practices. Of the people we interviewed, almost all of them kept their flash cards as separate piles that belonged together. The concept of folders on a computer system is a well understood metaphor, and furthermore they are relatively easy to make and keep track of.
We chose make the program similar to a photo viewing program also because of the users’ current practices. From a task perspective, users current have some method of traversal through their flash cards one at a time, they sometimes look at all their cards laid out, and they would like to have their friends test them on their flash cards. Thus these are the three main functions we will provide in our system. When deciding this, we noticed that many of the features such as browse and traversal are already available in many photo viewing programs, so we think it is a good idea to take notes from an existing interface that people may be familiar with.
Another aspect of our program that models another existing interface is the method of moving and copying flash cards. As described in the “scenario” section, the users can move flash cards between folders via a pulldown menu and “move” button. This type of interface resembles moving e-mails between different folders. Most web-based e-mail services involve checking the desired e-mails, finding the correct folder and hitting a button. Since many people have used web based e-mail services before, we feel that this is a good model to for manipulating folder organization.
Regarding moving around between functions within the program, we are considering adding tabs to the top of the program to show the current view. However, as many of the button clicks to move between views don’t involve the tabs, it may be confusing to have the tabs change focus as the user makes different actions. We postulate that having good titles at the tops of the pages will be enough indication as to which view the user is in, and that it is probably sufficient to navigate by in-page links.
Scenario 1: Changing the Rating Option
Suppose our user, Jimmy, has studied with his flash cards in between classes today, and he has become more familiar with a couple of the words. He comes home to study, but he would like to update his familiarity level on the program regarding the few words he studied. Jimmy starts up the program. The view he is shown may or may not be the one he wants. We assume it is not. It may look something like fig1. Jimmy has made many folders on the left reflecting the different classes he has made flash cards for. He wants to update one of the words for Chem3A. Regardless of which page he is on, Jimmy can click the folder labeled Chem3A on the left hand side and it will take him to the “browse” view shown in fig2. From here, Jimmy can toggle the checkboxes for the word or words he wants to update and change his comfort level using a pulldown menu. Alternatively, if Jimmy was in the “filmstrip” view, he would also be able to change his comfort level with a specific flash card by toggling a set of radio buttons.
Scenario 2: Organizing Folders
Jimmy now realizes that he made a mistake and there are some GRE flash cards in his chemistry folder! If he tries to study from this list, there will be random vocabulary words, not molecules! So to put the erroneous flash cards in the correct folder, Jimmy should head on over to the Chem3A folder. Just like before, you can do this by clicking on that folder from the left hand side. This will take you to the browse view (fig2). Now Jimmy can check the cards he wants to move, choose the folder he wants to move them to by selecting from a pull down menu of all available folders and clicking the “Move To” button.
Scenario 3: Taking the Quiz
After studying through his flash cards, Jimmy would like to test himself on how well he knows them. So he clicks on the subject/folder that he wants to be tested on, which takes him to the normal browse view as any other task (fig1 -> fig2). Now he can either select the part or all of cards in the folder to be in the quiz range, and then click “quiz” button to begin (fig2). The quiz is in the form of multiple-choice questions. In each question, the front of a flash card is shown along with the backs of four different flash cards. Jimmy’s task is to recognize the correct back that corresponds to the front shown on the top (fig3). Once Jimmy clicks on the choice that he believes is correct, the correct answer is highlighted to give him feedback on whether or not he got the question right (fig4). Now Jimmy can click on the “next” button to see the next question. The process repeats until all questions have been answered. Upon completion of the quiz, a summary of Jimmy’s quiz is displayed including the result of each question and his overall performance (fig5); each question can be reviewed by clicking on the problem. After Jimmy’s done, he can return to the browse view by clicking on “done”.
Analysis of Approach (5 pts)
Design Overview and Rationale
Students to seem enjoy a love-hate relationship with flash cards. They greatly value the relative ease of producing flash cards and the robustness of them as a study tool. These cards can be produced by a time consuming process of transcribing the most useful information from a content source, such as a textbook, to the cards. When the student has finished producing the flash cards, they now have a very dense medium of information from which to study. The most important content from the textbook and course is presented in an organized fashion. This dense information is much more portable than the textbook and also sets a clear goal for the flash card user. It is an unrealistic expectation that they will remember everything in the textbook, however, by choosing a number of things to put on the flash cards, the user has identified a clear set of memory goals with which they can then focus on without the distractions of the extraneous information present in a dilute source. These flash cards are also much more portable than any other information source. Whether the data originated from a website, a dictionary, textbook, or course notes, these cards are far easier to carry around and use in a variety of situations.
One aspect of flash card usage that users normally do not appreciate is the actual production of the cards. Some users do feel that the transcription process is part of the studying and helps them with the memorization of the material, however, they feel that making the flash cards takes a long time. Furthermore, they feel that they depend heavily on friends to test them on the flash cards as they get closer to the exam. Users also complained that they have organizational difficulties in finding specific cards and keeping the problem material segregated from the cards which they are strongly comfortable with.
Our proposal uses a digital pen to bridge the gap between the paper medium which is the foundation for flash cards, and computers which are exceptional for organization and quizzing. In our interface, the pen and paper use is preserved, which guarantees the user the opportunity to focus their attention on the material while making the flash cards instead of dealing with a computer interface that would slow down the process and divert the user’s attention from the material. Using the Anoto pen is an unobtrusive interface for the user that will not jeopardize their studying and will not create a hassle of entering the information by means of scanning the cards at a later time. Once the information is digitized, the computer is capable of organizing and presenting the cards in many ways that can maximize the subject’s learning. The computer software with guidance from the user can choose random cards to present and help organizing the cards, to present the ones that are the hardest for the subject most often. Also, for very large collections of flash cards the software will help segregate the different topics so that it is easy for the user to switch between topics. It will also have several quiz modes which will take the place of a friend to present different flashcards and then force the user to make an effort to guess the solution and provide feedback. There are several different ideas that could possibly satisfy this hinting criteria including, matching and gradual stroke replay.
The alternative technology option to this interface would be to draw the flashcards out on a tablet and then print them, or to use a regular pen and then scan the flashcards. Both of these would lessen the gap between paper and computer interfaces, however they both have a strong hassle factor. Using a tablet PC carries the burden of trying to print out the flash cards later. Furthermore, because of the double-sided nature of flash cards, it is not intuitive how to use a 2-D Tablet PC to input this type of information. Writing the flash cards with traditional pen and paper have the advantage of being something which they are fully accustomed to, however inputting the data to the computer is a huge hassle. Trying to scan all the flash cards, both the fronts and backs, and registering the sides to one another would be a major task and would not be effective use of study time.
Explain how your application takes advantage of the affordances of the Anoto system. If there are other technologies such as TabletPCs, PDAs, SmartBoards, etc. that could be used to perform the tasks your application addresses, you should explain why using the Anoto system is a better approach. List the pros and cons of your approach.
Bowen Li - Oct 10, 2006 10:49:34 pm
Staff feedback from Contextual Inquiry
- user background -> "what does the user use computers for?"
- on "interview overview" -> "more individual detail; it's ok to be specific"
- target user group -> "this may still be too broad"
- tasks desired: format things on cards in custom patterns -> "did this come out in the inquiry?"
- tasks desired: computer knows your comfort level -> "should go into more detail about his in inquiry description"
- tasks -> "any specific thoughts you notice depending on subject? how does bio/chem compare to languages?"
- "sketches of overall interface?"
- on folders -> "maybe also consider 'slide decks' in presentation feature" (not sure what this means?)
- on move to -> "maybe consider multi. select and drag & drop? (not in place of menu operations, but supplemental)"
- quiz -> "who makes up the multiple choice options? something to consider for UI design but also for testing!"
- analysis -> "what are the disadvantages of using anoto?"
