| Unit name | In The Wild: Understanding your users |
|---|---|
| Unit code | INOVM0006 |
| Credit points | 10 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Cater |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Centre for Innovation |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Whether it is new software, mobile phone, wearable device for monitoring your health, solar battery for developing countries, refrigerator or service to improve neighbourhood recycling, the user community will expect your product or service to be easy to use. This unit will equip students with a toolkit of methods in order to understand their target users better and test their creative ideas for usability “in the wild”. It aims to give students an understanding of important market place advantage:how to create products and services that perform the way users expect. Students will learn to recognise factors that limit usability, decide where and how testing should occur, set up a test plan to assess goals for their product or service usability, conduct the tests and evaluate the results. We will explore how to study user behaviour through a variety of different methodologies, and look at how others have produced theories to fit behavioural observations. We will also cover tools and techniques for studying people, as well as for analysis of the user testing data captured.
This unit will require the students to explore a new product or service concept in the wild with real world users to test the market with an idea. Students will define target audiences clearly, and understand how to refine a prototype or proof of concept of a product or service through user testing.
On successful completion of this unit students will be able to:
1) Identify appropriate usability testing methodologies and plan user trials using appropriate means – this could include surveys, focus groups, interviews, ethnographic and observational study, as well as quantitative use of metric data.
2) Carry out ethical user trials with minimal bias.
3) Capture and analyse the quantitative and qualitative results.
4) Use the findings to inform future designs, prototypes etc.
5) Reflect critically on their group work and on the process of user trials.
Lectures, workshops and studio based learning.
100% coursework:
Students will be required to deploy explore a new product or service concept with real world users.
● 60% User Trial Presentations: Throughout the teaching block students will be required to present at key milestones in their project their strategy for user engagement and testing and/or report on their findings from the last user interaction. Groups will be assessed on their ability to design, carry out and analyse appropriate user testing for the current implementation stage of the concept so as to gain clear feedback on how to develop for the next iteration.
o ILO 1, 2, 3 & 4
● 40% - A single overall individual reflective 1000 word critique on the process of user testing, trials and evaluation.
o ILO 1, 3, 4 & 5
● Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests, Jared Spool, Jeffrey Rubin and Dana Chisnell, 978047018548, 2008
● The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences, Matt Watkinson, 978-0273775089, 2012
● The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback, Dan Olsen, 978-1118960875, 2015
