EDUCAUSE | Presented at EDUCAUSE Annual Conferences and User Expectations

Solutions to "Digital Discontent"

drupal — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 13:04:34 -0600

Students' preferences and demands challenge existing IT and other campus services. Sometimes a gap exists between what today's students expect and what universities are likely to deliver. Finding imaginative solutions for this "digital disconnect" can improve the teaching and learning environment. This session will address themes including informal learning spaces, classroom instruction, online resources, and promoting services.

Web Usability 101: Watch (and Discuss) a Live Test

drupal — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:42:36 -0500

Working in pairs, participants will be led through an informal usability test based in part on Steve Krug's excellent script in "Don't Make Me Think" (www.sensible.com). One participant (the "user") will leave the room while the other participant (the "owner") is interviewed about the site's overall goals and key user tasks (apply for admission, find a news release, find out who teaches Chemistry 101, and so forth).

When the user returns, he or she will be asked to "think out loud" while using the site and attempting the tasks defined by the owner, who will be able to watch and listen but not comment. After a discussion with both participants about the experience, the roles will then be reversed. In addition to live user feedback about their sites, participants (and observers) will learn a simple but effective method for improving their sites--and their own Web development skills.

Tell Us What You Want: Lessons in Student-Centered Service Design

drupal — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:56:49 -0500

If your organization was run by students, what would it look like? Students are our raison d'etre, as well as the heaviest users of our services, and can be a wealth of information. Come and learn about formalized student outreach efforts and the resulting partnerships, benefits, and outcomes.

Listening to the Client: Connecting IT and the Academy

drupal — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 12:34:29 -0600

IT services are evolving toward higher levels of connection with the academy. To validate progress and contribute to strategic planning, MIT and Stanford completed collaborative client satisfaction surveys. The results and analysis exploded "myths" of what mattered, created new campus dialogue, and reset strategy. We will present the survey, the process, and specific tactical and strategic actions.

Setting the Groundwork for a Content Management System: Keeping the User's Needs in Focus

drupal — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 12:34:33 -0600

"Redesigning" a university's Web site is more than just colors and graphics. The true challenges are "restructuring" information and "reengineering" methods by which we communicate and process business transactions. This session will review Seton Hall University's preparation for and implementation of a content management system, while keeping the user's needs as the prime focus.

A User-Centered Approach to Student Information Systems Design

drupal — Mon, 30 Oct 2000 16:56:59 -0600

In writing applications to supplement PeopleSoft functionality at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, we were reminded that a user-centered iterative approach was the only way to ensure success. But what strategies can system designers employ to truly work from a user perspective? This paper will discuss our approach and its results. Electronic collaboration between the Graduate School and 120 academic departments virtually stopped with the new student information system. We needed solutions that suited over 200 users and a new approach that centered on the user and encouraged change as needs changed and as our understanding of processes improved.

User Empowered Process for Information Technology Planning and Implementation

drupal — Tue, 19 Oct 1999 12:35:20 -0500

The teaching/learning process must drive technology planning. Over the past several years an effort at Cal Poly has been under way to ensure that the culture of participatory and strategic governance promotes this principle, with both the users and the providers being of the same understanding and participating as part of the same team. The key to a successful effort is informed, engaged, and supportive institutional leadership. This paper explains how this process has evolved, describing a process of continually advancing a user-defined strategic goals document with general categories of Access, Integration, Skills, Simplicity, and Process.