CPSC 481 Foundations of HCI James Tam, Instructor

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Notes for Teaching Assistants — Labs 5 

Assignment 2: Discussion of early results

    The purpose of the lab is to not only encourage students to get started on Assignment 2 but also to pool some of the early observations and findings of groups.  If they are reluctant to participate because  fear of "leaking" out ideas that may be used by other groups you can tell them that there is a big different between knowing what the design problems are and being able to write them up.

    It is the job of lab TA's to start the discussion and to keep it going when things begin to wane.  Potential areas of discussion can come right out of the different parts of the assignment:

• Strengths/Weaknesses - what were the major things that stood out for the system being evaluated.
• Suggested Improvements - what are the most important changes that are needed to make the system more *usable*.
• Appendix 1: What insights have groups gained so far with the three direct observation methods (silent observer, think aloud, constructive interaction).

    As a teaching tip I find that it helps to list the observations that come up during the discussion on the board.  That way students are more likely to pay attention to it and to write it down.