A Method for Program Design
IT, Høgskolen i Østfold
IT, Høgskolen i Østfold
The list of verbs from the scenarios is organised and tabulated. Identical operations are identified as the list is compiled. We want to focus on all the participants which are described in the scenario. The number of participants, and their roles, will vary from program to program. In a typical pedagogical program the participants will be either, student, teacher and program or simply student and program. Each of these roles are responsible for some actions.
The distribution of responsibilities reflects the roles we have given to the user as we discussed under the metaphor phase.
| Student | Program | Teacher |
|---|---|---|
|
selects a colour moves a card writes a comment |
shows the progress updates the table |
sets up an assignment |
This is usually the leading role. We expect most of the actions to be found in this column.
It is important to find clear and unambiguous formulations. The realisation of our pedagogical ideas will be reflected in this list. It should ring a bell if the list mainly consists of entries which starts with "Select...". This tells us that the program will not invite to much activities and initiative from the student.
This list of actions or responsibilities does not add much to the program description in a technical sense. The important thing is to clarify what the program should do, as opposed to the other roles.
If we say that the program shall "Show the words to choose from", we have clarified that it is not the users responsibilities to remember or figure out this words. That is an important decision in the design.
The length of the list of the teachers responsibilities will vary from one program to an other. In some programs we will not make the program dependent of the teacher at all. In other cases the teachers role may be advantageous but not necessary. A typical teachers role is to prepare material or to be available for consultations in the knowledge domain that the program is designed and used for.
It is also a general and rather interesting experience that responsibilities that originally is given to the teacher, during the design process ends up in the students column.
There is a potential danger that the teachers role is described as that of a user manual. An incomplete or bad design can not be rescued by a living users manual.
In general it is difficult and hazardous to anticipate a very integrated teachers role. The program will be used under circumstances that the designer cannot foresee. This circumstances may not be optimal for the purpose, but the program should do the best of it.
