GUI Module 5 Case
ITM433- Computer-Human Interaction
Dr. Professor

As a student at Gangham University I have taken a number of classes. I have had overall good experiences taking classes online. This program is definitely a convenience to many people in my same situation which is wonderful. Returning to school after so long has been challenging. In addition to having to get back in the swing of doing homework and fitting in school with work and a family I have also had to learn computer systems necessary to take the classes and complete the work. Luckily Most of the programs I have worked have been user friendly and straight forward. I have found out from my research that I have been lucky inn this aspect. I have read about other students experiences with some programs we use and the difficulties they have.
I think faculty does a good job of making each class user friendly. The fact that GUI uses the same five-module learning structure is also beneficial to students. This system would meet the learnability and memorability components in a usability test. Students become used to the same system and it stays consistent throughout their schooling which is a bonus. The security of the site is also well maintained. To operate through the system, going from class to library for example, there has to be sign on for each site. This is important for security reasons but can be a little redundant at times. I think if there was a way to secure this site and keep continual uninterrupted access to all domains on the site it would be more productive for the students.
GUI faculty should request ongoing feedback regarding their site. The feedback should come from students, faculty and anyone involved in maintaining the site. Ongoing user feedback is helpful in keeping the site current to the users. Feedback should be given in a way that the people can be held accountable for what they say, in the hopes that it will be more on the constructive side rather than just negative petty type of complaints. This way the usability testing can be used to refine the site making changes that would be more beneficial for the users.

Like other sites that are designed it is important to know what the goals of the users will be when accessing the site. The purpose of the site should be clear and concise to the user. Often GUI courses give a thorough explanation, so much so they even list the faults or mistakes of the site. I have had experiences with other classes where links provided were no longer accessible. This wasn’t a problem that happened because access timed out. This also was not an issue of the instructor giving access to the wrong site. This is inconvenient when it does occur because there are times when the link is for something that is required reading or a necessary resource to get the modules work done. The times this has happened to myself the instructor put into the notes that the link may have some technological issues. The question is why would they still use the link if it does not work? Regardless of the inconvenience it causes the students I believe that this glitch could be taken care of easily. The faculty could upload the information, or just the important piece of the information necessary to complete the work. If this is set up as a document instead of a link then perhaps that would take care of the issue.
I think it is important to look into potential upgrades to the system. The overall functionality of the system works great from a user’s perspective. Times and technology change at a fast rate. The students accessibility to the links provided is important to their productivity. Any improvements that can be made into making the site more productive would also save time for the faculty as well as the students. To begin an attempt at an upgrade it would be necessary to approach the upgrade as a new site at first. Determining the sites goals and purpose as well as potential problems would be the main concern in the upgrade process. Ongoing usability tests through the design of the new site would be important in its success. Usability tests would be given to the faculty, the users and the designers maintaining the site. These tests are important in determining what would work best overall different levels of the sites use. The site would also benefit from continuous maintenance of programming. If there was maintenance on a regular basis then there would be less frustration when links were not available. GUI faculty does a great job of being informative, offering resources necessary to complete the tasks asked of them and offering feedback on important issues just as fast as regular classes would. The great thing about GUI faculty is that any additional help or attention that is needed is provided through the run web site for the module you are working on.

References:
Rhodes, J. (2005) Investing in usability: testing versus training. Retrieved on 07/26/2011 from http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/investing_in_usability_testing_versus_training
University of Maryland. (1998). Guide to usability for software engineers. Retrieved on 07/27/2011 from http://otal.umd.edu/guse/
Usability.gov. Retrieved on 07/24/2011 from http://www.usability.gov/