Project 3 - Catalyst Redesign: Research and Design

Research and Design Phase

For our design work, we conducted research by interviewing two UC students about their experience using Catalyst, and two non-UC students about their school’s student information systems. We also conducted a survey among UC students to get their thoughts on their Catalyst experiences. Finally, we evaluated the Catalyst My Academics page using several heuristic methods. With this information, we developed a comprehensive list of interface flaws and focused design plans. We planned out an interface, and created sketches of our envisioned interface on paper/drawn on an iPad. Additionally, we finalized our sketches using Figma.

We conducted four interviews, two with UC students and two with non-UC students about their school's student information systems (SIS). We chose to do this in order to better analyze the wants and needs of users whose experience has and has not been impacted by Catalyst. The questions we asked are as follows: 

1. What does your school use as a students information system?

2. How long have you been/were in college? Did your comfortability using your school’s SIS change from year to year? 

3. What are resources that would make viewing, editing, or scheduling your classes more simple?

4. What information would you/did you like to be presented when viewing  your class schedule for an upcoming semester? 

5. Rank these components on a scale of how often you refer to them in a semester, top being most used, bottom being least used.

   1. GPA (1)

   2. Grades (3)

   3. Professor Contact (8)

   4. Schedule (4)

   5. Advisor Contact (7)

   6. Major Curriculum (6)

   7. School Year Calendar (5)

   8. Transcripts (2)

The notes from each individual interview are shown in the document below. Cumulatively, conclusions from the results are as follows:

• Grades were ranked as first for 3 interviews (3rd for the other) in terms of how often they are referred to 

• Everyone mentioned that the application has gotten easier to use with time

• The two users using Catalyst mentioned that having to search classes by code rather than name is frustrating 

• ¾ interviews mentioned how they would like to see what classes are left to take, or a percentage towards completion type of statistic 

• ¾ interviews ranked GPA as first or second in terms of how often they are referred to (other ranked it 7, which is very low in comparison)

• There is a common want to be able to see future / needed classes - seems to be a want to be able to plan ahead and see layout of future as well as current 

• Two interviews mentioned wanting to see Professor ratings when scheduling classes

• Schedule was ranked 3rd or 4th for each interview participant in terms of how often they are referred to

We conducted a survey among UC students to further understand their experience and opinions on Catalyst, focusing mainly on the My Academics page. Our survey was created via an anonymous Google Form, and we received 18 total responses. The questions within the survey are as follows:

1. What is your major?

2. What year do you graduate?

3. How easy do you find Catalyst to use, specifically as it relates to finding information in the "My Academics" section? (on a scale of 1-5, 1 being most difficult)

The following five questions included a list of features under the specified tab in the My Academics section of Catalyst, and asked participants to select one of the following options pertaining to their use of that feature:

What is this feature?

I have never used it before, but I know what it is

Used it Once

Use sometimes

Use Regularly

4. Under the 'Classes and Schedule' Section, select the option the best represents your interaction with this feature: 

5. Under the 'Calendars and Deadlines' Section, select the option the best represents your interaction with this feature: 

6. Under the "Grades/Transcript/Enroll Cert" Section, select the option the best represents your interaction with this feature: 

7. Under the "Graduation/Commencement" Section, select the option that best represents your interaction with this feature 

8. Under the 'Academic Progress' Section, select the option the best represents your interaction with this feature: 

9. What 3 features are you most likely to visit the My Academics page in Catalyst for? 

   1. Viewing/Editing/Creating your schedule

   2. Checking GPA and/or grades

   3. Finding advisor or professor information

   4. Viewing your major's curriculum and/or your academic progress

   5. Downloading transcripts

   6. Applying to graduate

10. What is the worst part about the design of Catalyst? 

The actual survey results and documentation are provided below. Cumulatively, conclusions from the results are as follows:

Catalyst Use (Easy or Hard): 

50% of participants ranked it more difficult than not (2- 3) range, and the other 50% ranked it more easy or easy (4-5). No one ranked it at the most difficult level (5) 

Section Use:

• The term “Use Regularly” was selected most often under the Classes and Schedule section, with the Academic Progress section being runner up.

  • View My Grades within the Grades\Transcripts\Enroll Cert section was also coined as “Use Regularly” by most survey participants 

• The terms “What is this feature?” and “I have never used this before, but I know what it is” were selected most often in the Graduation/Commencement section, as well as the Calendars/Deadlines section

  • The Academic Progress section also had several components marked as these terms

The term “Used it Once” was used most in the Graduation/Commencement section 

3 Features Most Likely to Use: 

• 94.4% of participants said that they would use Catalyst for Viewing/Editing/Creating their schedule 

• 88.9% of participants said they would use Catalyst for Checking GPA and/or grades

• 55.6% of participants said they would use Catalyst for Viewing Major’s Curriculum and/or academic progress

• Finding Advisor and Professor Information and Applying to Graduate were viewed as least likely by participants

Worst Part About Catalyst:

• About 40% of participants mentioned Catalyst crashing / kicking out of system

• Two participants mentioned that it is difficult to navigate / find specific information 

• Multiple participants mentioned issues with usability

  • “too many menus and submenus and not everything is clear on what exactly it does”

  • “archaic and it doesn’t properly adhere to the primary concerns of a given user”

  • “Trying to search for your specific class in the enrollment shopping cart. There’s multiple spots to insert your class code but only one actually moves you forward to the next page.”

  • “ outdated at times because it is not always easy to navigate if you are just trying to find course options that satisfy a requirement.”

• Multiple participants mentioned issues with design / sizing

  • “Tiny text for some vital sections”

  • “page is much smaller than my screen when I go to different pages on Catalyst. I will have to zoom in on my screen in order to see the page that it is displaying.”

We evaluated the Catalyst My Academics page using several of Nielson's Normal Group Jakob's Ten Usability Heuristics. We utilized a variety of heuristics to further identify issues within the interface that the interviews and surveys may not discover. Out of the ten heuristics, we utilized:

#1: Visibility of System Status 

#5: Error Prevention 

#6: Recognition Rather Than Recall

#7: Flexibility and efficiency of use

#8: Aesthetic and Minimal Design 

The actual heuristic evaluation results are shown in the document below. 

After completing research in the forms of interviews, a survey, and heuristic evaluations as documented above, the following flaws were defined, in the categories of usability and design:

Usability

• Catalyst is cluttered, making the interface difficult to use.

  • Survey participants mentioned that the amount of menus and submenus make the interface unclear and cluttered.

  • Survey participants noted that the interface has multiple places to input information, such as class codes when searching for courses, and it is unclear which place is the most suitable to use.

• Catalyst has poor hierarchical design, making the interface difficult to use.

  • The heuristic evaluation showed that there is little to no hierarchy when viewing subpages and linkage, and it is easy for users to lose track of how they arrived at a page. 

  • Interviewees mentioned that the hierarchy of information is poor within Catalyst, making it difficult to view, edit, or schedule classes.

• Catalyst has complex processes, making the interface difficult to use.

  • The heuristic evaluation dictated that there are several locations in which the user must navigate in a complex way. An example of this is switching between different semester schedules. 

  • The heuristic evaluation indicated that the system will often crash due to a selection of choices that is not suitable for the interface. 

• The application includes an overwhelming amount of information that is not necessary for the common user.

  • Survey participants indicated that there are several features within Catalyst that they had never heard of prior to the survey, or had knowledge of but had never used. 

  • The heuristic evaluation showed that there are options that only apply to graduate medical and law students that undergraduate students have access to. 

• The verbiage and word choice within Catalyst is vague and unclear.

  • The heuristic mentioned that when signing up for classes there may be enrollment errors, but they are very vague and do not indicate a clear path to fix the problem.

  • The heuristic showed that the tab names within Catalyst are unclear what each page does, and there are no tooltips that assist the user in their understanding. The user must click the page to gain understanding.

  • The heuristic indicated that pop-ups are vague and unhelpful.

Design

• The design choices of Catalyst are outdated.

  • Survey participants indicated that the interface visually appears archaic and outdated. 

• The design choices of Catalyst have no aesthetic coherence.

  • Survey participants mentioned the text and element sizes within Catalyst are not suitable for the application.

  • Interviewees mentioned that the application is not aesthetically appealing, and there are issues with spacing.

Finally, after analyzing the flaws within the interface determined from our research methods, the focused list of design plans was defined as follows:

• The Catalyst redesign will remove any unnecessary features a common undergraduate user will not need. 

• The Catalyst redesign will consist of formal, standardized fonts, elements, and features that are consistent throughout the entire application.

• The Catalyst redesign will include simple navigation frameworks to move from one section to the next, with an easy way to move back to the home page as well.

• The Catalyst redesign will highlight the components noted as most used within the survey, such as calendar, GPA, and grades. 

• The Catalyst redesign will include a progress section showing the percentage of classes taken and what classes should be taken next to stay on track, as indicated by the interview results. 

• The Catalyst redesign will include clear instructions and helpful pop-ups to help the user navigate within the system, reducing complexity.

After completing our research, findings, and design plans, we completed multiple interface sketches. One interface sketch was drawn for the landing page for out My Academics redesign. Another interface sketch was drawn for the Academic Progress page, which links out from the home page within our application. Finally, Figma sketches were also completed.  The sketching and feedback is documented below:

Sketch Feedback:

Interface for Landing Page of My Academics:

• Think it looks good

• Likes the color coded classes and schedule immediately visible, along with the GPA and current credit load

• Does not like the change of moving the selection along the top because it makes more sense to have a hamburger menu on the side

• Do not like the boxing of the header, feels incohesive

• Likes having schedule calendar view and grades immediately shown, since that is the information of most immediate interest

• Likes having GPA and other general information laid out in a more readable format than the current display

• Does not like navigation menus because they still have a lot of the same issues as the existing ones, in terms of being redundant/not relevant to most students, and not always clear what falls under what category

Interface for Academic Progress page:

• Does not like the arrows of the drop down method because it takes a long time to get into each one 

• Seems too similar to what we have right now

  • Should organize the information in a way that makes it easier to read

• A visual graph would be nice showing the class and what it counted towards 

• Organization by academic year chronologically makes sense

  • Questioning whether it is necessary to show each calendar in each of the years at the same time

• Consider having options to sort both purely chronologically and by category (major classes, electives, BoKs)