Here are our slides :
In this assignment, in order to improve on the current lecture experience, we did ethonography, cultural probe and laddering to find out the various problems as well as needs of the students. The areas contributing to user experience in a lecture hall can be quite vast, ranging from the architural design, to the ergonomics of layout or even cultural aspects such as teaching methods. Therefore, there is a need for us to use various method to find out the needs, wants and expectations of students.
FOr ethnography, we focus our observations on the ergonomics of LT design, students' behaviors and habits as well as lecturer's performance. However, we feel this this form of field observation can be overly subjective from our own pespective. Hence, we decided to gather opinions from our friends as well.
But there is a tendency that people usually do not mean what they say due to peer pressure, fear or some other reasons. Hence, to get a more realistic out look on user's view, we tried cultural probe on them. By doing cultural probe, it will enhance user's own privacy space , inducing them to express their thoughts more freely. The cultural probe which I asked users to
do is diary studies where by each of them jot down the bits an pieces of their lecture experience. Subsequently, I conducted Laddering on the same respondents to get an in-depths understanding of the view points written in diary.
SOME Problems observed/faced (others pls refer to slides):
1) Narrow spaces between seating rows is one of the main cause of empty seats left in the middle of the row.
2) Students refusing to sit at the front which prohibits interaction between lecturer and student.
Large lecture hall lead to sparsely sitted lecture hall. This lead to lack of a conducive interactive environment as the emptiness of the lecture hall also affects the mood of the students.
3) visibility is unclear from the back as well as from the first 2 rows.
4) Table
- Too small - Flipping table might be troublesome for people who are careless -> things fumbling to the ground
5) Noise created by unattentive students, latecomers (through the squeaking sound of the door), poor microphone
6) FEAR of asking questions by students.
7) Boring presentation style by lecturers lead to sleeping students or even students skipping lessons.
8)Notes which are general in details might attract students to pay attention in class and take down notes at first. However, if the notes are too brief, students who are slow might not understand and lead to disinterest in the lesson.
9) concepts of all topics not linked up -> materials taught in bits and pieces
10) Certain lecture hall are too secluded - not accessible - a vicious cycle of punctuality problem
11) We know Singapore is warm. But certain LT are really too cold which lead to loss of concentration during lesson
12)Not enough electric plugs, which are VERY important for a laptop based education system
Some Solutions to the problems :
Some Solutions to the problems :
SOME SOLUTIONS :
Our solutions are segregated into technological and cultural solutions. We believe that it is a mixture of both element which will create a wholesome lecture experience
- Seats and Capacity problem
A table bench sitting format with chairs on track rollers can possible help to solve problem of empty seats in the middle of the row
Prototype of IDEAL seat design
Prototype of table
2) We believe that building entrance at the centre-sides of the hall will help in diverting student flow to the front of the LT. From our observation and laddering, we discovered that a reason students do not go to the front is because they are eitherlazy to walk all the way to the front, or they cant see from the back if there are seats available at the front. Hence, these prohibit them from walking down further front.
3) To solve problem of interactivity -
A wireless/bluetooth system which allow students to log in via handphone/laptop & send real-time questions to the lecturer at the front is good for those who are afraid to speak out their queries during lesson
Some cultural solutions :
- Play more audio or videos to liven up the lessons. Especially when played at the start of the lesson, it can act as a buffer time for late comers -> reduce likelihood of disruption of lessons
-present lecture as a solution to a meaningful problem to invite contemplation
- Lastly, we believe that the presentation style of the lecturer is VERY important in building on to the lesson experience. Lecturers should try to speak clearly in a lively manner and not monotonously mumblingto himself. Solution : Send lecturers for public speaking lessons!!
Ultimately, most of the design ideas we came up with are ideas we WISH to have. But in reality, thereare many limiting factores such as cost, budget and personality of the lecturer.Hence, our ideas cannot be applied to all lecture experience design.
Lastly, we believe that the main attraction in creating a positive lecture experience is still the student himself/herself. If the student is not interested in learning,we believe that the experience of learning will not be pleasant no mattar what. This is because the mindset of the students is the ultimate controlling factor for his/her emotions, expectations andattitudes towards the lesson and hence quality of experience. If the student is not keen to learn at all, no mattar how interestingthe lecturer is or how comfortable the chairs are will not attract him/her into enjoying the learning process.
No comments:
Post a Comment