Comments for Human-Computer Interaction @ IU

Comment on Oncourse Sketch by dkarmazi

dkarmazi — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:13:30 +0000

This idea seems to solve almost all of the most urgent problems with navigation, tabs, and process of their customizing on the Oncourse. So I only have very narrow comments considering this solution. Do we need the left toolbar with Grades, Resources, Chat room, and etc. right on the start page? The start page displays the list of the courses, and I assume that no course is chosen by this moment. What is going to be returned if I click on the resources, for instance, right on the start page? Should the left toolbar be displayed after the course is chosen?

Besides that, this solution seems very logical and consistent; here are the strongest points I want to highlight:
• The sense of control and feasibility, so I know where I am, where should I go and I also know where the lecture, lab, or discussion tabs are.
• Flexibility (it can work with any number of courses)
• The ability to customize the workspace
• Consistency with the previous design of the Oncourse, so it shouldn’t take people too much efforts to get used to the new design

Comment on oncourse sketch by rfguerre

rfguerre — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:44:40 +0000

I think that having the tabs idea is great. It makes it even better to make them customizable. I also like the idea to be able to organize them as you want and label them as you want.
Would you want to display the current semester as default? I like the semester tabs, but when you click on a semester, you will have to customize each semester??
Is there a home page? or just the first tab would be the home page?

In general I like it, I just have questions about the site.

Comment on Oncourse “sketch” by skepa

skepa — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:41:18 +0000

I think this has potential to be a good idea, but could you draw it? I think trying to keep a similar interface is a good idea so it doesn’t scare users. However, I think your concept should be changed a little bit more because right now it would still make the user have to click too many times to get where they are going.

Comment on Sketch Design by cjcotton

cjcotton — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:39:24 +0000

I like the design (the sketch is amazing!) and think it has a lot of good aspects! The box idea is great and how it displays critical information is useful. Plus making the left side to where you can see past classes so it’s organized more successfully is also a good idea!

However, the only concern I have, is if this design really reduces the amount of time it takes for a student to move around. I feel you’d probably have to do the same amount of clicks to get from point A to point B.

On the other side of that, it is organized, I feel , in a easier to understand fashion. So this may increase the ease in which someone learns it. I know on Oncourse I still hesitate because the interface doesn’t make sense. I have to think about where I’m going and which of the labels it falls under. Not to mention that things are not always where you’d think they’d be. So if it was a little bit more organized/easy to understand that would infinitely help. Good job Ricky! n__n

Comment on “Sketch” an Idea by jmhoff (Joe)

jmhoff (Joe) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:38:44 +0000

great idea that would also work well with a lot of the other ideas our group has come up with. the only thing i would consider when implementing this this idea is the putting of too much in formation underneath the drop down for the case of people who have extremely small screens and cursor rollover. Also, if oncourse really was interested in improving the site to a students modern standards they could use this option but also have to keep it easy to be accessed by mobile phones. just a thought. ncie job.

Comment on Oncourse “sketch” by rfguerre

rfguerre — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:38:23 +0000

Adam,

I like the idea of having the + next to one of each tabs. I think this will make it easier for the user to customize their tabs. I also think that having the option to close or exit a tab with an x is a great idea. I think the simplicity of the design is good, since some users like some changes, but not too much.

Good job.

Comment on A drap and drop oncourse by dkarmazi

dkarmazi — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:35:05 +0000

Customizing is always good. It is the only possible kind of solution that would make the overwhelming majority of the users satisfied with the navigation, appearance, and design of the Oncourse.

However, one of my fears is the technological side of this solution. There are going to be enormous number of customized workspaces, and information for each of them would have to be stored somewhere. I guess such storage will dramatically decrease the performance of the Oncourse (it is already performing poor these days). So the further development needed to figure out whether the old way Oncourse and the new one are going to be performing the same way or not. Though, I bet everybody with no exception would really like to have such customized workspace, and I hope we’ll get it someday.

Comment on Oncourse Sketch by rfguerre

rfguerre — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:34:13 +0000

Kevin,

I like the design on the site. I like the idea of the boxes. I am trying to figure where you came up with that.
For the bottom part, I like it, but I feel that it could have a better place for it and be more hidden rather than have it display at all times. They could pop up or display with an Edit bottom.
I also like the mac like interaction. I love the fact that the mac can do that and I wish more websites would have that interaction.

I like the rest of it. good job. I give you a B+

Comment on Oncourse Alternative by jmhoff (Joe)

jmhoff (Joe) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:34:12 +0000

big props on the condensing of the old classes ( i have never gone back to look at an old class site), and the windows like implementation that would give the site the cleaner look. The bookmarks for direct access to particular pages would be a big plus for me since there are a handful of pages that I use pretty much everytime I log onto oncourse. I would be interested in possibly having a few ideas to utilize the right side of the page if the user does wish to delete the intial user tutorial. overall on the spot

Comment on Syllabus and Navigation by jmhoff (Joe)

jmhoff (Joe) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:24:05 +0000

I agree that this is def something that should be considered and addressed. The job of oncourse is to provide a quick and efficient medium for professors and students to communicate and share scholarly materials. This is for sure a hindrance to the “quick and efficient part”. I like the idea of the text to html editor that this site uses and would be a wise consideration for an improvement/enhancement to oncourse.