System design & development

I have designed and developed certain systems related to needs assessment and evaluation, designing online learning, serious games, and human computer interaction during my Ph.D. Details of the system can be seen below.

Needs assessment and evaluation

ASK system on How to Conduct an Education Project Evaluation, FA 2016. Link here.

What I learned:

• how to design and develop an ASK system;
• how an ASK system can help learners access information or provide scaffolds that help them solve a problem, perform a task, or have better understanding of certain domain knowledge.

Online learning

Designing Online Learning course: a course on Introduction to Statistics, SP 2017. Link here.

What I learned:

• how to design learning objectives using 3 part principles and Bloom's taxonomy;
• how to create meaningful learning in the online learning environment;
• how to create ABSORB, DO and CONNECT learning activities;
• page design principles.

Games for learning

Stencyl game idea on multiplication, FA 2016. Link here.

Analog game design: a game on European exploration, FA 2016. Link here.

Game prototype: a game on European exploration, FA 2016. Link here.

Lesson plan based on game 80 Days, FA 2016. Link here.

What I learned:

• game design principles;
• serious game design principles;
• to explore potential of each game design and development platform to build games;
• how to create an analog game design;
• how to create a low-fidelity game prototype;
• how to make use of existing games for teaching activities.

Human Computer Interaction

Redesign of machines for purchasing metro fares and passes in D.C: Redesign description. Link here.

Redesign of machines for purchasing metro fares and passes in D.C: Prototype. Link here.

What I learned:

• to implement usability heuristics, ways to reduce cognitive load, value sensistive design, and principles of user interface design in evaluating and redesigning the interface of a system.

My overall reflections

My experience in designing and developing the aforementioned systems as part of assignments classes I have taken during the past three years of my Ph.D. has provided me with knowledge, skills, and tools to design and develop a system which can provide users with meaningful and pleasant interactions. For example, I learned that creating a learning objective is an art. There are rules instructional designers need to follow when writing learning objectives. Being aware of these rules, I am more critical when reading learning objectives and realized that most instructors, especially those who do not have background in instructional design do not follow these rules at all when writing learning objectives. Some even confuse learning objectives with learning activities. I also experienced incidents in which instructors provide us with rich learning content but we as learners felt frustrated during our learning process, either due to the information load or the malfunction of the system. The knowledge from system design and development enable me to know the principles instructors or any designers can apply to generate satisfaction, ease of use, and ease of learning for learers. I also got to know with different design tools like Stencyl, ARIS, Adobe Captivate 360, Balsamiq etc. and learned to apply these tools.

What I still need to improve

In my prior projects, I developed low-fidelity prototypes using PowerPoint. However, there are design softwares out there like Sketch, Atomic etc. for high fidelity prototypes which I have not explored. Working with those softwares holds promise to enrich my technical ability in system design and development.