User Needs And Analysis
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USER NEEDS AND ANALYSIS of Electronic Attendance System
Joseph Ng Chow <[email protected]> Victoria Mui Brian Shim Veronica Wong
David Dearman CSC318—The Design of Interactive Computational Media October 8, 2008
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Executive Summary………………………………………………………...…3 2. Concept o Vision Statement………………………………………………………...4 o Rationale…………………………………………………………………4 o Background and Motivation……………………………………….……5 o Stakeholders……………………………………………………………..5 o Assumptions…………………………………………………………..…6 3. Field studies o Overview………………………………………………………………....6 o Questionnaires………………………………………………………..…7 o Interviews………………………………………………………………...7 o Observations………………………………………………………….…8 4. Analysis o Stakeholder Descriptions………………………………………………9 o Personas……………………………………………………………..…12 o Essential Use Cases……………………………………………….….14 o Task analyses……………………………………………………….…16 5. Scenarios o Scenario 1: The Late Student………………………………………...20 o Scenario 2: The Supply Teacher…………………………………….20 o Scenario 3: The Call Home………………………………………...…21 o Scenario 4: The Armed Intruder…………………………………...…21 6. Design requirements o Functional requirements………………………………………………23 o User requirements……………………………………………………..24 o Usability requirements……………………………………………...…24 o Environmental requirements…………………………………………25 o Technical requirements……………………………………………………….…..25 7. Appendices …………………………………………………..……………….27 o Group Responsibilities Breakdown o Field study protocol……………………………………………………. o Questionnaires…………………………………………………………. o Interview Protocol……………………………………………………… o Natural Observation Protocol…………………………………………. o Consent form…………………………………………………………… o Useful Raw Data……………………………………………………….. o Group Meeting Notes………………………………………………….
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Executive Summary The objective of this study was to derive a more efficient and reliable way of taking the attendance by understanding various schools’ existing system and its challenges. Our research revealed that the current attendance system employed by schools around the GTA were satisfactory, but could be improved. Presently, it poses two key problems; it regularly hinders student learning, and it is a safety concern to have students in the hallways unsupervised either because they were late or because they needed to deliver the attendance. We noticed that it was an inefficient use of human resources in that a secretary was needed to scan in records when it is a task that can be easily automated. After the interviews, we learned that their current way of locating students during emergencies was unorganized. Specifically, communicating between classrooms with school telephones proved limited and dangerous. With these insights we hope to design a system where all the needs of the staff and students are addressed.
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Concept Introduction School systems around the world are often regulated by strict rules and routines in order to ensure that their staff and students have a safe environment to teach and learn in. Each school's attendance system plays a vital role in ensuring school safety. It is the main way in which schools keep track of where their students are at all times. For this reason, secondary school teachers are required to take attendance for every class that they teach, and elementary school teachers are required to take the attendance once in the morning, and once in the afternoon. Administration staffs are then required to gather all of these records and enter them into the system.
Vision In order to alleviate some of the administrative and classroom tasks that office staff and teachers are obliged to do everyday, we are proposing the Electronic Attendance System (EAS). This system will: allow teachers to take attendance in an easy manner through the use of a simple electronic device, remove the need for administration staff to manually enter each classes' attendance into the school system, and make attendance records easily accessible when needed by allowing the quick transfer of information between staff.
Rationale Most schools in Toronto are employing the Trillium attendance system. With the use of this system, teachers records student absences on machine-readable papers that are delivered to the administration office by one or more students. However, many teachers and administration staff feel that the system can be improved by being less prone to errors. For example, schools using the Trillium system require teachers to bubble in the "Absent" column beside the names of absent students on the machine-readable class list. But teachers often fail to fill the bubble in entirely so that the machine fails to recognize the corresponding student’s
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status. Moreover, in the case of an emergency, teachers have to determine which students are missing without access to an updated copy of the attendance on hand once it’s been delivered.
This is one of the many flaws with the current system. As these issues come to our attention, we felt the need to develop a system that is capable of meeting all the needs of the staff and students. That is, a system that is keeps a secure and accurate record of student attendance where student data can be inputted in a fast, easy, and intuitive way. Furthermore, this system should prove useful role in emergency situations such as a school fire or lockdown.
Background and Motivation Our primary motivation behind the EAS project is school safety. School safety has become a universal concern in recent years with the increased number of school shootings and other security issues. For example, earlier this year five schools were forced to lock down when a man with a gun was seen in the neighborhood. In emergency situations similar to this, we learned that students are not allowed to use their cell phones. It is also worth noting that not all students have cell phones. Panicked parents are left without means of contacting their children. We hope to design a system that will help alleviate some of these concerns from parents and school staff.
This is in addition to the amount of time staff spend on repetitive routines that can be carried out by a machine.
Stakeholders With the EAS, most of these tasks will be automated, allowing teachers and administration staff to have more time to address other responsibilities. In addition, students will not have to deliver class attendance and parents will receive earlier notices about the absence of their child; calls will be made at the end of each period as opposed to the end of the day.
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Assumptions Before researching we made the following assumptions:
• The current attendance system requires the teacher to devote a significant amount of class time to duties relating to attendance. • Teachers and administration staff would prefer to use a more convenient way of taking attendance and managing student attendance records. • All schools currently using the Trillium attendance system • EAS will save the valuable time of teachers, administration staff, and students. • Students spend lot of time loitering in the hallways and it will be safer if we can minimize the amount of time that students spend in unsupervised environments. • Teachers and office administration use a telephone or public address (PA) system to communicate with each other.
After acquiring a deeper understanding of our target users through field work, we have either validated or falsified these assumptions. These will be discussed in the sections to follow.
Field Studies The field studies conducted by our group consisted of questionnaires, interviews and observations. To carry out our research we contacted and visited many schools within the Greater Toronto Area.
It proved difficult to gain formal admittance to schools as principals did not wish to disrupt their routine. After contacting over 30 schools through phone calls and emails, we were granted a meeting with 4 schools.
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Questionnaires The questionnaires were designed to gather information about various schools’ present attendance systems and the technical capabilities of their staff. It was a valuable tool in obtaining data when interviews were not possible. Using a written technique allowed our participants to sit down and formulate their thoughts—something that interviews and observations prohibit by nature. The questionnaires were typed out and distributed during school visits.
To summarize, we found that most schools are on the Trillium system which is consistent with our initial assumption. Although we thought wasted time was the major flaw of their existing system (with safety being something we could only enhance), our research indicates that the lack of communication during emergencies in terms of accounting for missing students was a bigger problem that needed to be addressed.
On the technology front, the majority of participants interact with PCs on a daily basis. Those who are less technically sound were familiar with interfaces such as ATMs and microwaves.
Interviews We conducted a structured interview based on our questionnaire with one teacher from four different schools across the GTA. Using a structured interview gave us a uniform way to approach teachers from the different schools. Furthermore, we did not want to bog down teachers with long questions that required in-depth answers. It allowed us to follow up with questions only on the topics that peaked our curiosity. This proved to be an effective supplement to our less detailed questionnaire responses.
Contrary to our initial assumptions, taking the attendance is not a time-consuming task; however, one teacher expressed concerns about the disruptions that are associated with the task. Between calls from the main office if they forget to bring down the attendance and
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sending students for admit slip if they are late, the system cuts into the student’s learning time.
Additionally, in elementary schools, a class list is expected to travel with the class as they move from period-to-period as a way of ensuring students are attending all classes. This burdens the student with responsibilities that are unrelated to their studies.
When prompted about the school’s emergency procedures, we were informed that all schools have an emergency class list located near the exit. The shortcomings, though, included not having an up-to-date record of students who were present that day and the inability to track students who were not immediately in the classroom.
Observations It was inconvenient for us to observe classroom operations, but we had the opportunity to observe a staff of the administration process the attendance forms. Our protocol involved noting the specific tasks and the times that it took to complete them, prompting them with questions whenever we didn’t understand something. The advantage of observations is that it allows us to see patterns and behaviours that the participants themselves weren’t aware of.
Through this technique, we learned that all elementary schools under the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) have their own Safe Arrival Program (SAP) which is used to locate absent students. The details of the SAP program differs from school to school, and often are confidential.
In the school that we visited, the administration staff was required to contact all parents/guardians of absent students within 30 minutes of the time that all machine-readable attendance sheets are to be entered into the system. Specifically, in the morning, all attendance sheets need to be scanned into the system at 10:00am. Similarly, in the afternoon, all attendance sheets need to be scanned into the system at 2:00pm. Within 30 minutes of
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these times, the administration staff are to locate the absent students and take note of their cause of absence. If the student or parent/guardian cannot be reached, the matter escalates and safety precautions are taken to ensure the safety of the student. Again, the natures of these precautions are different at each school and such information were not disclosed to us.
Through this observation, we learned that the administration staff are required to personally call the parent/guardian of the missing children. The administration staff that we observed knew three different languages, but this will most definitely be a problem for those administration staffs who are not fluent in as many languages. Again this task can be automated.
Analysis Stakeholder Descriptions The use of the attendance system is two-fold; the teachers must take the attendance, and the administration must process it. However, as we will discuss in the following descriptions, teachers are our primary stakeholders and the administration staff are our secondary stakeholders.
Primary Stakeholders The user group, teachers, would be the ones who will interact with our attendance system the most. All teachers are required to take the attendance at least once for each class that they hold. Although it is a simple task that takes no more than five minutes to complete, it is repetitive and mistakes are easy to make due to the design of the current Trillium system (which tracks student attendance via machine readable sheets).
Under the Trillium system, teachers interact with rows of bubbles beside a student's name. There are three bubbles for 'present', 'late', and 'absent' for five days of the week. Errors can arise from filling the bubbles in incorrectly, misaligning the rows, or filling in the bubbles for
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the wrong date. Theoretically to save time, only late or absent students are recorded but it takes time for the teacher to figure out who's not here. Until a student shows up late, they are marked 'absent' which requires revision allowing for more opportunities to make mistakes. One participant suggested they should record students who are present by responding to the student's voice when their name is called. Although they are honest mistakes, both administration and students have expressed frustrations at times.
Solution and consequence: two buttons for 'present' and 'late'; students with no marker are defaulted as 'absent'. This design eliminates the problems of filling out a bubble incorrectly and the need to adjust a student from 'absent' to 'late' by erasing and re-bubbling.
Secondary Stakeholders Administration staff is the smaller user group and they deal with attendance at most twice a day. In elementary school, calls are made to the parents of the students who are absent in the morning and in the afternoon once all the classes have been accounted for. In high school, calls are made at the end of the day. It is also the responsibility of the administration to remind teachers who fail to deliver the attendance in time. This is a disruption in their work as well as the lesson that's taking place in class.
As a safety concern, administration needs a way to account for students who are not currently in the classroom during emergency procedures. For example, during a lockdown, teachers are instructed to lock the doors, relocate the students away from the doors and windows, and be quiet. Students in the hallway or in the washrooms are directed to seek safety in the nearest classroom. Once the doors are locked and the teachers are away from the entrances, students are left to fend for themselves until they reach the office. In the office, there is no way safe way to determine all the students who are missing. Teachers may inform the administration via telephone, but there are risks (e.g. signs of life inside a classroom if there's an intruder in the building) and restrictions (e.g. available phone lines, secretary to teacher ratio) .
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Solution and consequence: attendance records are transmitted directly to the office when the teacher takes it. It alleviates the problem of the teacher forgetting to deliver the records when it's done. The instantaneous nature of the EAS ensures an up-to-date record of student attendance is available at all times.
During an emergency procedure, the administration and the teachers can communicate silently via the system. The teacher will forward all the students in his classroom to the central database. The system will compare these results to all the students who are at school on that day. The system will also relay the safety of students who were adopted into another classroom back to the teacher who is responsible for them. In other words, the administration will know where all students are, and the teachers will know where all his students are.
Tertiary Stakeholders Parents and students are our tertiary stakeholders. Once the attendance is processed, the results are relayed to the parents who may or may not be aware of their children's whereabouts during school hours. Students who will be absent for a known period of time can have their guardian notify the school to have their absence noted on the system.
In order to evaluate the needs of the students, we need to divide them into elementary and high school students. The current system in elementary school requires one student to carry a daily attendance sheet from period to period to verify that students are attending all classes. Since classes move as a unit, the attendance moves with the class. Records are delivered to the administration office twice in a day-the first period in the morning and the first period in the afternoon.
The current system in high school requires the teacher to have an attendance sheet for each class that they teach. Since the groups of student vary from period to period, the attendance
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moves with the instructor. Records are delivered to the administration office on a period-toperiod basis by a student.
In both cases physical artifacts are being transported and involve students missing a portion of the class either from delivering the attendance or updating their status from 'absent' to 'late' once the attendance has been delivered.
Parents and guardians need to be aware of their children’s whereabouts and behaviour at all times. This is especially vital when a school is threatened, or when missing/being late for classes become a habit for a child.
Solution and consequence: class lists are pulled from the system on a device that is located in each classroom therefore lifting these non-academic responsibilities off the students.
Up-to-date records of students under adult supervision will be available at any given time with an electronic attendance system that operates in real time. It gives parents that extra little peace of mind.
Personas The following personas are based on our ideal and observed targets during the study.
Persona 1 Mary Reynolds (Primary): Grade 3 teacher, age 40. “I want something that helps keep track of my students in emergencies.” Mary is a middle aged woman with a good education, a fair amount of teaching experience and some technical skills with modern technology. Mary is a kind hearted person who takes her responsibilities over her students very seriously. Due to recent events in the news about violent intruders entering schools, she has become increasingly concerned.
With her two
children (one in elementary school and one in high school), she can easily understand how
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parents may feel during an emergency.
Mary wants the school to know her children’s
whereabouts at all times. If they were in trouble, she would want to know about it as soon as possible. However, as a parent and a teacher, she must also extend her dismay towards the time that is taken every day for the attendance and the disruptions that come with it. Education and Experience: -Masters degree in English - 15 years of teaching experience (grade 3 teacher)
Technical Skills: -experienced in email, and navigation around the computer and internet
Goals: Motivation: -see students succeed -horror of the recent school -ensure the safety of students attacks
Family: -married -2 children, ages 12 and 14. Needs: - a means of taking the attendance quickly with less time wasted in the process -simplicity
Persona 2 Michael Tao (Secondary): High school computer science teacher, age 25. “I want something that is fast, reliable and automated. It would be nice to have something that can also accommodate for a person’s multi-lingual ability.”
Michael is an extremely intelligent person. His competence in technology and computing is second to none as he graduated top of his class back in China. Michael only recently moved to Canada in the last few years from his home of Guangzhou, China. Although he was able to attain a job teaching, it sometimes takes him a bit longer to comprehend English. Translating what he understands in English into his instinctive Chinese thought process is usually what takes more time. Education and Experience: Technical Skills: -BSC in computer engineering -very comfortable with computers and technology -skilled in computer programming and electronics
Family: -no children -un-married -parents live in Guangzhou, China
Goals: Motivation: -bring the school systems into -efficiency the 21 century.
Needs: -fast and reliable -support for a multilingual person
Persona 3
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Joanne Varty (Secondary): High school vice-principal, age 63. “I want something that even I can use to help keep my school orderly and organized.” Joanne is the kind of person who likes to keep her school in order. She is getting tired of all the students barging into her office to get a late slip after being sent down by their teacher for tardiness. Due to Joanne’s responsibilities as vice-principal, it is her duty to have a hand in preventing anything that can disrupt the school's routine. Such disruptions in her opinion are robbing students of an ideal learning environment and therefore should be eliminated. These ideals are spurred on by her 30 years of experience teaching before modern media and electronic gadgets began to litter schools. However, not growing up in the technology boom has prevented her having a firmer grasp on modern electronics. Education and Experience: -Masters in philosophy -taught history for 30 years
Technical Skills: -does not own a cell phone -minimal experience with computers
Goals: -minimize teaching and administrative disruptions.
Motivation: Needs: -seeing many students wander -fast and reliable down to the office. -simple to use system
Family: -Married -3 children -2 grandchildren
Essential Use Cases We have two essential use cases: daily use and emergency use. We will further break down the uses by primary and secondary users.
Case 1 - Daily Use: A daily record of who is present and who is absent. If a student is absent, the system needs to determine the reason for his absence.
Case 2 - Emergency Use: Means of communication between the administration and the teaching staff to keep track of where students are in the school building during an emergency situation.
Use cases are abstracted in the sense that user intentions are separated from system responsibilities so that the 'system' can either refer to the current Trillium system or our proposed EAS. The EAS will require the user to do less work in facilitating the system
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procedures whereas many of the ‘system’ responsibilities are carried out by people in the Trillium system.
Case 1a: Daily Use--Taking the Attendance User Intentions
System Responsibilities
Wants to take the attendance for a class Provides a class list Wants to identify which students are present, late, or absent Records present, late and absent students Wants to notify main office of students' whereabouts delivers the attendance records
Case 1b: Daily Use--Processing the Data User Intentions
System Responsibilities
Wants to select absent students from all classes Generates list of absent students Wants to select students who are absent for unknown reasons Checks list of absent students for note of absence Wants to call parents of absent students who are unaccounted with unknown reasons
Provide contact information for those students Leaves a message for parents Wants to standby for notifications of absent students Records note of absence for missing students
Case 2a: Emergency Use--Accounting for Present Students User Intentions
System Responsibilities
Wants to ensure all present students are accounted for Provides class list of a present students Wants to identify all the students that are safe and those that are missing Record safe and missing students Wants to identify all students that are adopted Record names of the adopted students Wants to notify main office of missing students Delivers list of safe, missing and adopted students
Case 2b: Emergency Use--Synchronizing Records
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User Intentions
System Responsibilities
Wants to find all adopted students Generates a list of all adopted students Wants to notify teachers whose students have been adopted that their students are safe Update record on teacher's end Wants to find all students who are unaccounted for Generates a list of missing students (students that were neither marked off by the teacher who is responsible for them nor an adopted teacher).
Task Analysis Daily Attendance: teachers 0. Taking Attendance 1. Get the class list 1.1.
Open up the attendance folder
1.2.
Find the attendance sheet corresponding to the class that they are teaching.
2. Call out a student’s name 2.1
Listen for the student’s response
2.2
Mark off the student: Bubble in or recognize that the student is present
2.3
Mark off the student: Bubble in that the student is absent
3. Wait until it is time to deliver the attendance 3.1
Open up the attendance folder
3.2
Mark off the student: Bubble in that the student is late
4. Get a student to deliver the attendance to the administration to the administration office 5. Send the student to the administration office to get a late slip in order to correct his/her attendance record
Daily Attendance: administration 0. Processing the attendance records 1. Make sure all attendance records have been received 1.1
Sort the attendance into some appropriate order
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1.2
Remind teachers to submit their attendance records if theirs is missing from the current set
2. Put the machine-readable attendance sheets through an appropriate scanning device 3. Start up the Trillium software to generate the results of the gathered machinereadable attendance sheets 3.1
Generate the list of absent students
4. Make phone calls to the parents/guardians of absent students 4.1
Update the note of absence for that student
4.2
Leave a message on the parent/guardian’s voicemail if a voicemail box is activated
5. Update the attendance records with note of lateness Note: Please see the next two pages for the corresponding task analysis trees. The plans associated with each task analysis can also be found on the next two pages.
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2 Call out a student’s name
2.1 Listen for the student’s response
Find the attendance sheet corresponding to the class that they are teaching
1.2
Plan 1: 1.1 – 1.2
Get the class list
1.1 Open up attendance folder
1
Send the student to the administration office to get a late slip in order to correct his/her attendance record
Get a student to deliver the attendance to the administration office
2.2 Mark off the student: Bubble in or recognize that the student is present
2.3 Mark off the student: Bubble in that the student is absent
Plan 2: Do 2.1 Do 2.2 or 2.3 depending on the student’s attendance. Repeat Plan 2 until the class list is exhausted.
3.2 Mark off the student: Bubble in that the student is late
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5
4
Plan 0: Do 1-2-3-4. If student arrives late, then do 5.
Plan 3: If a student arrives late, do 3.1-3.2
Wait until it is time to deliver the attendance
3.1 Open up the attendance folder
3
Daily Attendance: Taking Attendance
0
1.1 Sort the attendance sheets into some appropriate order
1 Make sure all attendance records have been received
1.2 Remind teachers to submit their attendance records if theirs is missing from the current set
Plan 1: Do 1.1. If some attendance sheets are missing, do 1.2.
Put the machine-readable attendance sheets through an appropriate scanning device
2
Generate the list of absent students
3.1
Plan 3: Do 3.1.
3 Start up the Trillium software to generate the results of the gathered machine-readable attendance sheets
0 Daily Attendance: Processing the Attendance Records
Update the note of absence for that student
4.1
5 Update the attendance records with note of lateness
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4.2 Leave a message on the parent/guardian’s voicemail if a voicemail box is activated
Plan 4: If a parent/guardian is successfully contacted, do 4.1. Otherwise, do 4.2.
Make phone calls to the parents/guardians of absent students
4
Plan 0: When it is time to process the attendance records, do 1-2-3-4. If a student arrives late, do 5.
Scenarios Scenario 1: The Late Student It is a Thursday morning at Morningwood High School. It is 9 a.m. and the bell rings for classes to begin. Meanwhile, Joseph rushes to school after accidentally sleeping in. He runs down the hall and opens the door to his first class, computer science with Mr. Michael Tao. Unfortunately, the clock reads 9:30 a.m.; he is late. Mr. Tao stops his lesson on algorithm complexity to confront Joseph. Arriving late for class after the attendance is done without a note warrants a trip back to the office to get a late slip. As a result, Joseph is sent down to the office to gain admittance. The secretary at the desk, Victoria, sends Joseph to the viceprincipal. Joseph waits in line to see him. Eventually, it is his turn and he approaches the viceprincipal's desk. After a brief explanation, Joseph is given a late slip and his status is updated on the school system. Joseph leaves the main office and heads back to class. After showing Mr. Tao his late slip, Joseph sits down in his seat to begin his studies. Mr. Tao glances at the clock on the wall. It is 9:47.
Scenario 2: The Supply Teacher It is a snowy morning at Morningwood High School. All students of Mr. Michael Tao's software engineering class are awaiting their teacher. Five minutes into class with no teacher, the door opens and a woman walks in. The woman speaks, “Hello, my name is Mrs. Erica Cheran and I will be your supply teacher for today. Unfortunately, your regular teacher is having car troubles and will not be able to be here until later on.” After this explanation, she begins reading off names from the class list. The morning roll call was uneventful except for one student playing hooky. Unknown to the supply teacher, one of the missing student's friends acknowledged that he was present when Erica called the absent student's name. As a result, a student was marked present when he was actually skipping class.
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Scenario 3: The Call Home It is 3:30 p.m. and the end of classes at Morningwood High School. Calvin rushes home from school with a very worried look on his face. He opens his front door and throws his school things on the kitchen table. Calvin sits and waits by the phone. Minutes later, the phone rings and Calvin immediately picks it up. Unaware to Calvin, his mother is home and also picks up the phone.
“This is Morningwood High school...” Calvin hangs up the phone. Calvin's mother Veronica, on the other hand, continues to listen to the message. It is an automated message from her son's school. She listens intently to the rest of the message. “This is Morningwood High School. Your child, Calvin, missed periods one and three today. Shocked, she hangs up the phone.
Please talk to your child about this.”
Slowly, she walks into the kitchen to talk to her son. She
asks who was on the phone. He lies and tells her it was a wrong number. It seems that Calvin will not be going out to the movies this weekend.
Scenario 4: The Armed Intruder It is a Monday morning at Greenwood Public School. The sun is shining and all the school children are busy learning. In the main office, secretaries, principal and vice-principal alike are going on about their regular administrative duties. Joanne is one such individual and is dealing with the inaccuracies that appeared in the daily attendance records. Every so often, she glances up to look at the clock in her room. When she takes a second to look at the surveillance video of the school's exits, she notices something out of the ordinary. She sees an unidentifiable man enter the school concealing something in his jacket. With the possibility of it being a weapon, she announces over the intercom, “Attention, code red lock down.
I
repeat, code red lock down. This is not a drill.” Immediately, one of the school secretaries, Margaret, locks the main office door, turns off the lights and closes the blinds on all windows.
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Meanwhile, the other secretary, Victoria, calls the local authorities.
The sounds of doors
closing begin to be heard all throughout the halls of the school. Different groups of people are isolated within the school.
Perspective 1: The Classroom “Attention, code red lock down. I repeat, code red lock down. This is not a drill.” Mary Reynolds, a grade 3 teacher, hears the announcement and acts. After locking the door, turning off the lights and covering the windows, Mary quiets her class and urges them to sit quietly on the ground, and away from the door and windows. After a quick head count, she realizes there is one child missing. However, she cannot tell who it is. She goes through the list of children again, having to double checking as she goes along. Then she realizes that little Angus is out of the room in the bathroom. Mary grabs the phone and frantically calls nearby classrooms to see if little Angus ran into one of their classrooms. Unfortunately, every teacher tells her that all their students are accounted for and that they would not know what Angus looks like anyway.
After Mary hangs up the phone on her last call, she hears banging on the door. Everyone in the room gasps as the intruder tries to force the door open. After a few seconds of struggle with the door, the intruder gives up and moves on. That was a close call on Mary’s part. It seems that because she was unaware of the whereabouts of one of her students, the intruder almost broke in after overhearing her voice on the phone.
Perspective 2: The missing child “Attention, code red lock down. I repeat, code red lock down. This is not a drill.” The lights in the bathroom suddenly dim. Angus, busy washing his hands, becomes dazed with the shock of darkness and the announcement. Consumed by fear, Angus begins to panic. His loud cries turn to sobs as no one comes to his aid. With all the noise, someone unwanted may have heard it also.
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Perspective 3: Outside School Grounds “This is Greenwood Public School. A potential armed intruder has entered the school. We have implemented code red procedures, but we require immediate assistance.”
An operator at the local police station receives the message and forwards it to the chief of the department, Carl. Carl sends the order for all nearby units to proceed to the school. Minutes later, Greenwood is isolated by police. The contingent of police is led by Sergeant Leonard Tse. Orders are issued to all able bodies. The most important task is to obtain an accurate list of the student body and staff. The list of missing students and staff is requested by Sergeant Tse. Unfortunately, the current up-to-date list of students and staff is unavailable. It takes time to request information from classrooms via the room phones. Sergeant Tse has the tough decision to either wait for an up-to-date list or to go in with the attendance taken earlier that morning.
Perspective 4: The Main Office 10 Minutes After the Initial Announcement “Tell me your class number and any students that may be missing.”
All the secretaries, vice-principal and even the principal, Roy Johnson, are taking calls from teachers to record their present students. Calls are backed up awaiting someone to attend to them in the main office.
“This is the special forces outside. We are going to make our move in five minutes. Let all teachers know that they are not to open their doors. Don’t even open it for a voice announcing they are with the police.”
The principal receives this call from the outside. Unfortunately, there is no way to relay that information to all the classrooms in five minutes without alerting the intruder. If there was only a way to let the classrooms know all at once without announcing it.
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Design Requirements Functional Requirements: Description:
•
The device must provide accurate and up-to date attendance listings.
•
The device must be able to silently communicate between rooms and to emergency services (e.g. Police, Fire services).
•
The device must provide up-to-date information on the school’s status (normal, lockdown).
•
The device must reduce the chance of user error and make it easier to correct any mistakes.
•
The device must contain all the necessary features while remaining affordable for many schools.
•
The system must be modular and additions to the system should be made easily.
Reasoning:
•
This would reduce wasted time and provide an accurate report to track of students during a high stress situation. (e.g. lockdown).
Method of Evaluation:
•
Testing will be done in parallel to the current system in real world situations like everyday attendance and lockdown drills.
User Requirements: Description:
Reasoning:
•
Teachers and administrative staff, who handle the attendance, must have some knowledge with electronic devices.
•
The user must not have any serious disabilities.
•
It would not be feasible to make a device to accommodate for all types of devices.
Usability Requirements:
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Description:
Reasoning:
Method of Evaluation:
•
The device must require little or no training to use device.
•
The device must have a simple and intuitive interface for people with little technical knowledge.
•
The number of button presses to complete the task must be kept low.
•
Most people would prefer that the interface resembles some device that they currently use. This would reduce the time taken to get accustomed to the device.
•
The system must be efficient and quick to use as teachers would like to minimize time used in taking attendance.
•
Prototype testing, will determine what each user liked/ disliked about the interface.
Environmental Requirements: Description:
Reasoning:
Method of Evaluation:
•
The device must be useable indoors.
•
The device must be easy to setup and maintain.
•
The device must be able to withstand daily usage without needing maintenance for a long time
•
The attendance is taken indoors or in a classroom environment.
•
It is not feasible for a school to allow for long down times to install the system.
•
Constant replacement due to wear and tear costs time and money.
•
Feasibility study to determine how easily the system can be installed and a cost evaluation on maintenance of system over time period.
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Technical Requirements: Description:
Reasoning:
Method of Evaluation:
•
The device must have wireless connectivity to the main server.
•
The wireless connection must be encrypted to ensure the data is secure.
•
The device must have a method of input: Buttons, touch screen or some combination.
•
The device must have a fairly large screen to maintain font readability while displaying lists.
•
The device must have a speaker and microphone for voice communication between other rooms.
•
The device must also support text message communication between other rooms.
•
The device must be light and simple to mount on a wall, without the need for complex support.
•
The device must have a battery and portable in the event of an emergency.
•
The panels need to be used fairly often so it is vital that the device does not cause eye strain to the user.
•
In the case of a fire drill, the panel needs to have enough battery life to take attendance outdoors. The device also needs to be light weight so that it is easy to carry.
•
The wireless connectivity would allow for easy and cheap installation into the classrooms.
•
Text message communication is necessary since voice communication may not always be possible (e.g. lockdown) or convenient.
•
Testing during real world situations.
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APPENDICES
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Group Responsibilities Breakdown Name
Tasks and Time Taken
Victoria Mui - Designed and distributed survey (3 hour) - Data collection (interviews etc...) (6 hours) - Editing (4 hours) - Organizing appendices (1 hour) - Contacted potential users (schools) (5 hours) - Scheduled prototype testing with schools (2 hours) - Concept mapping and introduction (3 hours) - Created task analysis tree visualization (1 hours) Brian Shim
Veronica Wong
Joseph Ng Chow
- design basic section outline for write-up (1 hour) - Personas section (3 hours) - Situations section (4 hours) - Data collection (interviews etc...) (6 hours) - Distributed survey (1 hour) - Made survey available online (1 hour) - Editing (4 hours) - Contacted potential users (schools) (3 hours)
Total Estimated Time Spent
25 hours
23 hours
- Data collection (interviews etc...) (6 hours) - Designed and distributed survey (3 hours) - Editing (4 hours) - Led the meeting when distributing tasks (1 hour) - Stakeholder descriptions (3 hours) - Raw task analysis tree (vision) (4 hours) - Essential use cases (2 hours)
23 hours
- Design Requirements (5 hours) - Data collection (interviews etc...) (6 hours) - Editing (4 hours) - Distributed survey (1 hour) - Contacted potential users (schools) (1 hour) - Research potential system designs (3 hours) - Minute taker at meetings (2 hours)
22 hours
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Field Study Protocol 1. Project Title: Interviews and Observations of teachers and administration 2. Investigators: Joseph Ng Chow <[email protected]> Victoria Mui Brian Shim Veronica Wong
3. Purpose: The purpose of our research is to understand the duties of teachers and administration staff in the TDSB to help us derive requirements for the design of novel interactive computational media that are intended to be useful to the aforementioned teachers and administration staff. A brief description of our design concept is: an electronic attendance system that will collaborate data between administration and teaching staff. 4. Process to be followed: We will brief the participants about the purpose of the study, explain the consent form to them, and ensure that they sign the consent form. We will then engage the participants in . We will also with their permission make observations as follows: <description of observation procedures to be used and the workplace or living space or environment in which the study will be conducted>. 5. Participant selection: Participants will be chosen from teachers and administration. They will be identified via school visits and selected according to schedule availability. In general, they will be characterized by responsibilities. 6. Relationships: Our relationship to the participants may be described as follows: no relationship 7. Risk and benefit: There will be minimal risk to the participants, for example that they feel that they have wasted their time. The only benefit will be to contribute to the education of the investigators. Participants are free to withdraw before or at any time during the study without the need to give any explanation. 8. Consent details: We will brief the participants about the purpose of the study, and explain the attached consent form to them, and ensure that they consent to participate and sign the consent form. 9. Compensation: Participants will receive no compensation. 10. Information sought: The information to be sought is described in the attached questionnaire, interview and observation protocols. 11. Confidentiality: Information will be kept confidential by the investigators. Names or other identifying or identified information will not be kept with the data. The only other use will be
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to include excerpts or copies in the assignment submitted, but names and other identifying or identified information will not be submitted.
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Questionnaires/Interview Protocol Interview Protocol: - Follow the questionnaire to ensure that you touch on all the required topics - If a response intrigues you, request more information
Teachers: Electronic Attendance System: Research Questionnaire In which age group do you belong? 20-30 years old 70
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
over
How long have you been teaching?
What grade and/or subject do you teach? Grade: Subject:
Regarding Attendance Briefly describe your school’s current attendance system.
How do you update attendance records with regards to late students?
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How often do you take the attendance each day?
How much time is required to take the attendance for each class? 0-5 minutes
5-10 minutes
more than 10 minutes
At what time is the attendance taken down to the administration office? __ 5 minutes after the start of class __ 10 minutes after the start of class __ 15 minutes after the start of class __ at the end of class __ when the administration staff asks for it How did the attendance delivered to the administration office?
In the case of an emergency, how do you make sure all your students are accounted for?
Is your classroom located within the school building or in a portable?
Regarding Technology How often do you interact with a computer?
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1 (rarely)
2
3
4
5 (very often)
Which of the following interfaces are you more familiar with (check all that apply)? __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) a mobile phone a personal computer a Global Positioning System (GPS) a microwave an MP3 player a gaming console
Additional Comments
Thank you very much for your time!
Administration Staff: Electronic Attendance System: Research Questionnaire In which age group do you belong? 20-30 years old 70
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
over
How long have you been in administration?
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Regarding Attendance Briefly describe your school’s current attendance system.
Given student attendance, what administrative tasks do you carry out?
For each day, how much time is allotted towards organizing attendance records? 0-5 minutes
5-10 minutes
more than 10 minutes
On average, by what time do you receive all the attendance in the building? __ __ __ __
5 minutes from when it’s required 10 minutes from when it’s required 20 minutes from when it’s required 30 minutes from when it’s required
In the case of an emergency, how does the current system account for all the students?
Regarding Technology How often do you interact with a computer? 1 (rarely)
2
3
4
5 (very often)
Which of the following interfaces are you more familiar with (check all that apply)? __ an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) __ a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
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__ __ __ __ __ __
a mobile phone a personal computer a Global Positioning System (GPS) a microwave an MP3 player a gaming console
Additional Comments
Thank you very much for your time!
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Natural Observation Protocol Take note of: -
All the specific task that the participants performs.
-
The time that each task required
-
Mark down procedures that you don’t understand. It is at your discretion whether to ask the questions then or save them for the end.
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Consent Form I hereby consent to participate in a research study conducted by Victoria Mui, Joseph Ng Chow, Brian Shim, and Veronica Wong. I understand that the purpose of this study is to better understand the current school attendance system. I further understand that: • The procedures that are used include interviews, questionnaires, and physical artifact analyses. • I will receive no compensation for my participation. • I am free to withdraw before, or at any time during the study without the need to give any explanation. • All materials and results will be kept confidential. In particular, my name and any identifying or identified information will not be associated with the data.
Participant: Name (Please Print) _____________________________________________________________ Signature ______________________________ Place and Date _________________________
Investigator(s): Name (Please Print) _____________________________________________________________ Signature ______________________________
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Useful Raw Data
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Group Meeting Notes
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Joseph Ng Chow <[email protected]> Victoria Mui
David Dearman CSC318—The Design of Interactive Computational Media October 8, 2008
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1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Executive Summary………………………………………………………...…3 2. Concept o Vision Statement………………………………………………………...4 o Rationale…………………………………………………………………4 o Background and Motivation……………………………………….……5 o Stakeholders……………………………………………………………..5 o Assumptions…………………………………………………………..…6 3. Field studies o Overview………………………………………………………………....6 o Questionnaires………………………………………………………..…7 o Interviews………………………………………………………………...7 o Observations………………………………………………………….…8 4. Analysis o Stakeholder Descriptions………………………………………………9 o Personas……………………………………………………………..…12 o Essential Use Cases……………………………………………….….14 o Task analyses……………………………………………………….…16 5. Scenarios o Scenario 1: The Late Student………………………………………...20 o Scenario 2: The Supply Teacher…………………………………….20 o Scenario 3: The Call Home………………………………………...…21 o Scenario 4: The Armed Intruder…………………………………...…21 6. Design requirements o Functional requirements………………………………………………23 o User requirements……………………………………………………..24 o Usability requirements……………………………………………...…24 o Environmental requirements…………………………………………25 o Technical requirements……………………………………………………….…..25 7. Appendices …………………………………………………..……………….27 o Group Responsibilities Breakdown o Field study protocol……………………………………………………. o Questionnaires…………………………………………………………. o Interview Protocol……………………………………………………… o Natural Observation Protocol…………………………………………. o Consent form…………………………………………………………… o Useful Raw Data……………………………………………………….. o Group Meeting Notes………………………………………………….
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Executive Summary The objective of this study was to derive a more efficient and reliable way of taking the attendance by understanding various schools’ existing system and its challenges. Our research revealed that the current attendance system employed by schools around the GTA were satisfactory, but could be improved. Presently, it poses two key problems; it regularly hinders student learning, and it is a safety concern to have students in the hallways unsupervised either because they were late or because they needed to deliver the attendance. We noticed that it was an inefficient use of human resources in that a secretary was needed to scan in records when it is a task that can be easily automated. After the interviews, we learned that their current way of locating students during emergencies was unorganized. Specifically, communicating between classrooms with school telephones proved limited and dangerous. With these insights we hope to design a system where all the needs of the staff and students are addressed.
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Concept Introduction School systems around the world are often regulated by strict rules and routines in order to ensure that their staff and students have a safe environment to teach and learn in. Each school's attendance system plays a vital role in ensuring school safety. It is the main way in which schools keep track of where their students are at all times. For this reason, secondary school teachers are required to take attendance for every class that they teach, and elementary school teachers are required to take the attendance once in the morning, and once in the afternoon. Administration staffs are then required to gather all of these records and enter them into the system.
Vision In order to alleviate some of the administrative and classroom tasks that office staff and teachers are obliged to do everyday, we are proposing the Electronic Attendance System (EAS). This system will: allow teachers to take attendance in an easy manner through the use of a simple electronic device, remove the need for administration staff to manually enter each classes' attendance into the school system, and make attendance records easily accessible when needed by allowing the quick transfer of information between staff.
Rationale Most schools in Toronto are employing the Trillium attendance system. With the use of this system, teachers records student absences on machine-readable papers that are delivered to the administration office by one or more students. However, many teachers and administration staff feel that the system can be improved by being less prone to errors. For example, schools using the Trillium system require teachers to bubble in the "Absent" column beside the names of absent students on the machine-readable class list. But teachers often fail to fill the bubble in entirely so that the machine fails to recognize the corresponding student’s
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status. Moreover, in the case of an emergency, teachers have to determine which students are missing without access to an updated copy of the attendance on hand once it’s been delivered.
This is one of the many flaws with the current system. As these issues come to our attention, we felt the need to develop a system that is capable of meeting all the needs of the staff and students. That is, a system that is keeps a secure and accurate record of student attendance where student data can be inputted in a fast, easy, and intuitive way. Furthermore, this system should prove useful role in emergency situations such as a school fire or lockdown.
Background and Motivation Our primary motivation behind the EAS project is school safety. School safety has become a universal concern in recent years with the increased number of school shootings and other security issues. For example, earlier this year five schools were forced to lock down when a man with a gun was seen in the neighborhood. In emergency situations similar to this, we learned that students are not allowed to use their cell phones. It is also worth noting that not all students have cell phones. Panicked parents are left without means of contacting their children. We hope to design a system that will help alleviate some of these concerns from parents and school staff.
This is in addition to the amount of time staff spend on repetitive routines that can be carried out by a machine.
Stakeholders With the EAS, most of these tasks will be automated, allowing teachers and administration staff to have more time to address other responsibilities. In addition, students will not have to deliver class attendance and parents will receive earlier notices about the absence of their child; calls will be made at the end of each period as opposed to the end of the day.
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Assumptions Before researching we made the following assumptions:
• The current attendance system requires the teacher to devote a significant amount of class time to duties relating to attendance. • Teachers and administration staff would prefer to use a more convenient way of taking attendance and managing student attendance records. • All schools currently using the Trillium attendance system • EAS will save the valuable time of teachers, administration staff, and students. • Students spend lot of time loitering in the hallways and it will be safer if we can minimize the amount of time that students spend in unsupervised environments. • Teachers and office administration use a telephone or public address (PA) system to communicate with each other.
After acquiring a deeper understanding of our target users through field work, we have either validated or falsified these assumptions. These will be discussed in the sections to follow.
Field Studies The field studies conducted by our group consisted of questionnaires, interviews and observations. To carry out our research we contacted and visited many schools within the Greater Toronto Area.
It proved difficult to gain formal admittance to schools as principals did not wish to disrupt their routine. After contacting over 30 schools through phone calls and emails, we were granted a meeting with 4 schools.
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Questionnaires The questionnaires were designed to gather information about various schools’ present attendance systems and the technical capabilities of their staff. It was a valuable tool in obtaining data when interviews were not possible. Using a written technique allowed our participants to sit down and formulate their thoughts—something that interviews and observations prohibit by nature. The questionnaires were typed out and distributed during school visits.
To summarize, we found that most schools are on the Trillium system which is consistent with our initial assumption. Although we thought wasted time was the major flaw of their existing system (with safety being something we could only enhance), our research indicates that the lack of communication during emergencies in terms of accounting for missing students was a bigger problem that needed to be addressed.
On the technology front, the majority of participants interact with PCs on a daily basis. Those who are less technically sound were familiar with interfaces such as ATMs and microwaves.
Interviews We conducted a structured interview based on our questionnaire with one teacher from four different schools across the GTA. Using a structured interview gave us a uniform way to approach teachers from the different schools. Furthermore, we did not want to bog down teachers with long questions that required in-depth answers. It allowed us to follow up with questions only on the topics that peaked our curiosity. This proved to be an effective supplement to our less detailed questionnaire responses.
Contrary to our initial assumptions, taking the attendance is not a time-consuming task; however, one teacher expressed concerns about the disruptions that are associated with the task. Between calls from the main office if they forget to bring down the attendance and
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sending students for admit slip if they are late, the system cuts into the student’s learning time.
Additionally, in elementary schools, a class list is expected to travel with the class as they move from period-to-period as a way of ensuring students are attending all classes. This burdens the student with responsibilities that are unrelated to their studies.
When prompted about the school’s emergency procedures, we were informed that all schools have an emergency class list located near the exit. The shortcomings, though, included not having an up-to-date record of students who were present that day and the inability to track students who were not immediately in the classroom.
Observations It was inconvenient for us to observe classroom operations, but we had the opportunity to observe a staff of the administration process the attendance forms. Our protocol involved noting the specific tasks and the times that it took to complete them, prompting them with questions whenever we didn’t understand something. The advantage of observations is that it allows us to see patterns and behaviours that the participants themselves weren’t aware of.
Through this technique, we learned that all elementary schools under the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) have their own Safe Arrival Program (SAP) which is used to locate absent students. The details of the SAP program differs from school to school, and often are confidential.
In the school that we visited, the administration staff was required to contact all parents/guardians of absent students within 30 minutes of the time that all machine-readable attendance sheets are to be entered into the system. Specifically, in the morning, all attendance sheets need to be scanned into the system at 10:00am. Similarly, in the afternoon, all attendance sheets need to be scanned into the system at 2:00pm. Within 30 minutes of
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these times, the administration staff are to locate the absent students and take note of their cause of absence. If the student or parent/guardian cannot be reached, the matter escalates and safety precautions are taken to ensure the safety of the student. Again, the natures of these precautions are different at each school and such information were not disclosed to us.
Through this observation, we learned that the administration staff are required to personally call the parent/guardian of the missing children. The administration staff that we observed knew three different languages, but this will most definitely be a problem for those administration staffs who are not fluent in as many languages. Again this task can be automated.
Analysis Stakeholder Descriptions The use of the attendance system is two-fold; the teachers must take the attendance, and the administration must process it. However, as we will discuss in the following descriptions, teachers are our primary stakeholders and the administration staff are our secondary stakeholders.
Primary Stakeholders The user group, teachers, would be the ones who will interact with our attendance system the most. All teachers are required to take the attendance at least once for each class that they hold. Although it is a simple task that takes no more than five minutes to complete, it is repetitive and mistakes are easy to make due to the design of the current Trillium system (which tracks student attendance via machine readable sheets).
Under the Trillium system, teachers interact with rows of bubbles beside a student's name. There are three bubbles for 'present', 'late', and 'absent' for five days of the week. Errors can arise from filling the bubbles in incorrectly, misaligning the rows, or filling in the bubbles for
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the wrong date. Theoretically to save time, only late or absent students are recorded but it takes time for the teacher to figure out who's not here. Until a student shows up late, they are marked 'absent' which requires revision allowing for more opportunities to make mistakes. One participant suggested they should record students who are present by responding to the student's voice when their name is called. Although they are honest mistakes, both administration and students have expressed frustrations at times.
Solution and consequence: two buttons for 'present' and 'late'; students with no marker are defaulted as 'absent'. This design eliminates the problems of filling out a bubble incorrectly and the need to adjust a student from 'absent' to 'late' by erasing and re-bubbling.
Secondary Stakeholders Administration staff is the smaller user group and they deal with attendance at most twice a day. In elementary school, calls are made to the parents of the students who are absent in the morning and in the afternoon once all the classes have been accounted for. In high school, calls are made at the end of the day. It is also the responsibility of the administration to remind teachers who fail to deliver the attendance in time. This is a disruption in their work as well as the lesson that's taking place in class.
As a safety concern, administration needs a way to account for students who are not currently in the classroom during emergency procedures. For example, during a lockdown, teachers are instructed to lock the doors, relocate the students away from the doors and windows, and be quiet. Students in the hallway or in the washrooms are directed to seek safety in the nearest classroom. Once the doors are locked and the teachers are away from the entrances, students are left to fend for themselves until they reach the office. In the office, there is no way safe way to determine all the students who are missing. Teachers may inform the administration via telephone, but there are risks (e.g. signs of life inside a classroom if there's an intruder in the building) and restrictions (e.g. available phone lines, secretary to teacher ratio) .
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Solution and consequence: attendance records are transmitted directly to the office when the teacher takes it. It alleviates the problem of the teacher forgetting to deliver the records when it's done. The instantaneous nature of the EAS ensures an up-to-date record of student attendance is available at all times.
During an emergency procedure, the administration and the teachers can communicate silently via the system. The teacher will forward all the students in his classroom to the central database. The system will compare these results to all the students who are at school on that day. The system will also relay the safety of students who were adopted into another classroom back to the teacher who is responsible for them. In other words, the administration will know where all students are, and the teachers will know where all his students are.
Tertiary Stakeholders Parents and students are our tertiary stakeholders. Once the attendance is processed, the results are relayed to the parents who may or may not be aware of their children's whereabouts during school hours. Students who will be absent for a known period of time can have their guardian notify the school to have their absence noted on the system.
In order to evaluate the needs of the students, we need to divide them into elementary and high school students. The current system in elementary school requires one student to carry a daily attendance sheet from period to period to verify that students are attending all classes. Since classes move as a unit, the attendance moves with the class. Records are delivered to the administration office twice in a day-the first period in the morning and the first period in the afternoon.
The current system in high school requires the teacher to have an attendance sheet for each class that they teach. Since the groups of student vary from period to period, the attendance
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moves with the instructor. Records are delivered to the administration office on a period-toperiod basis by a student.
In both cases physical artifacts are being transported and involve students missing a portion of the class either from delivering the attendance or updating their status from 'absent' to 'late' once the attendance has been delivered.
Parents and guardians need to be aware of their children’s whereabouts and behaviour at all times. This is especially vital when a school is threatened, or when missing/being late for classes become a habit for a child.
Solution and consequence: class lists are pulled from the system on a device that is located in each classroom therefore lifting these non-academic responsibilities off the students.
Up-to-date records of students under adult supervision will be available at any given time with an electronic attendance system that operates in real time. It gives parents that extra little peace of mind.
Personas The following personas are based on our ideal and observed targets during the study.
Persona 1 Mary Reynolds (Primary): Grade 3 teacher, age 40. “I want something that helps keep track of my students in emergencies.” Mary is a middle aged woman with a good education, a fair amount of teaching experience and some technical skills with modern technology. Mary is a kind hearted person who takes her responsibilities over her students very seriously. Due to recent events in the news about violent intruders entering schools, she has become increasingly concerned.
With her two
children (one in elementary school and one in high school), she can easily understand how
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parents may feel during an emergency.
Mary wants the school to know her children’s
whereabouts at all times. If they were in trouble, she would want to know about it as soon as possible. However, as a parent and a teacher, she must also extend her dismay towards the time that is taken every day for the attendance and the disruptions that come with it. Education and Experience: -Masters degree in English - 15 years of teaching experience (grade 3 teacher)
Technical Skills: -experienced in email, and navigation around the computer and internet
Goals: Motivation: -see students succeed -horror of the recent school -ensure the safety of students attacks
Family: -married -2 children, ages 12 and 14. Needs: - a means of taking the attendance quickly with less time wasted in the process -simplicity
Persona 2 Michael Tao (Secondary): High school computer science teacher, age 25. “I want something that is fast, reliable and automated. It would be nice to have something that can also accommodate for a person’s multi-lingual ability.”
Michael is an extremely intelligent person. His competence in technology and computing is second to none as he graduated top of his class back in China. Michael only recently moved to Canada in the last few years from his home of Guangzhou, China. Although he was able to attain a job teaching, it sometimes takes him a bit longer to comprehend English. Translating what he understands in English into his instinctive Chinese thought process is usually what takes more time. Education and Experience: Technical Skills: -BSC in computer engineering -very comfortable with computers and technology -skilled in computer programming and electronics
Family: -no children -un-married -parents live in Guangzhou, China
Goals: Motivation: -bring the school systems into -efficiency the 21 century.
Needs: -fast and reliable -support for a multilingual person
Persona 3
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Joanne Varty (Secondary): High school vice-principal, age 63. “I want something that even I can use to help keep my school orderly and organized.” Joanne is the kind of person who likes to keep her school in order. She is getting tired of all the students barging into her office to get a late slip after being sent down by their teacher for tardiness. Due to Joanne’s responsibilities as vice-principal, it is her duty to have a hand in preventing anything that can disrupt the school's routine. Such disruptions in her opinion are robbing students of an ideal learning environment and therefore should be eliminated. These ideals are spurred on by her 30 years of experience teaching before modern media and electronic gadgets began to litter schools. However, not growing up in the technology boom has prevented her having a firmer grasp on modern electronics. Education and Experience: -Masters in philosophy -taught history for 30 years
Technical Skills: -does not own a cell phone -minimal experience with computers
Goals: -minimize teaching and administrative disruptions.
Motivation: Needs: -seeing many students wander -fast and reliable down to the office. -simple to use system
Family: -Married -3 children -2 grandchildren
Essential Use Cases We have two essential use cases: daily use and emergency use. We will further break down the uses by primary and secondary users.
Case 1 - Daily Use: A daily record of who is present and who is absent. If a student is absent, the system needs to determine the reason for his absence.
Case 2 - Emergency Use: Means of communication between the administration and the teaching staff to keep track of where students are in the school building during an emergency situation.
Use cases are abstracted in the sense that user intentions are separated from system responsibilities so that the 'system' can either refer to the current Trillium system or our proposed EAS. The EAS will require the user to do less work in facilitating the system
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procedures whereas many of the ‘system’ responsibilities are carried out by people in the Trillium system.
Case 1a: Daily Use--Taking the Attendance User Intentions
System Responsibilities
Wants to take the attendance for a class Provides a class list Wants to identify which students are present, late, or absent Records present, late and absent students Wants to notify main office of students' whereabouts delivers the attendance records
Case 1b: Daily Use--Processing the Data User Intentions
System Responsibilities
Wants to select absent students from all classes Generates list of absent students Wants to select students who are absent for unknown reasons Checks list of absent students for note of absence Wants to call parents of absent students who are unaccounted with unknown reasons
Provide contact information for those students Leaves a message for parents Wants to standby for notifications of absent students Records note of absence for missing students
Case 2a: Emergency Use--Accounting for Present Students User Intentions
System Responsibilities
Wants to ensure all present students are accounted for Provides class list of a present students Wants to identify all the students that are safe and those that are missing Record safe and missing students Wants to identify all students that are adopted Record names of the adopted students Wants to notify main office of missing students Delivers list of safe, missing and adopted students
Case 2b: Emergency Use--Synchronizing Records
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User Intentions
System Responsibilities
Wants to find all adopted students Generates a list of all adopted students Wants to notify teachers whose students have been adopted that their students are safe Update record on teacher's end Wants to find all students who are unaccounted for Generates a list of missing students (students that were neither marked off by the teacher who is responsible for them nor an adopted teacher).
Task Analysis Daily Attendance: teachers 0. Taking Attendance 1. Get the class list 1.1.
Open up the attendance folder
1.2.
Find the attendance sheet corresponding to the class that they are teaching.
2. Call out a student’s name 2.1
Listen for the student’s response
2.2
Mark off the student: Bubble in or recognize that the student is present
2.3
Mark off the student: Bubble in that the student is absent
3. Wait until it is time to deliver the attendance 3.1
Open up the attendance folder
3.2
Mark off the student: Bubble in that the student is late
4. Get a student to deliver the attendance to the administration to the administration office 5. Send the student to the administration office to get a late slip in order to correct his/her attendance record
Daily Attendance: administration 0. Processing the attendance records 1. Make sure all attendance records have been received 1.1
Sort the attendance into some appropriate order
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1.2
Remind teachers to submit their attendance records if theirs is missing from the current set
2. Put the machine-readable attendance sheets through an appropriate scanning device 3. Start up the Trillium software to generate the results of the gathered machinereadable attendance sheets 3.1
Generate the list of absent students
4. Make phone calls to the parents/guardians of absent students 4.1
Update the note of absence for that student
4.2
Leave a message on the parent/guardian’s voicemail if a voicemail box is activated
5. Update the attendance records with note of lateness Note: Please see the next two pages for the corresponding task analysis trees. The plans associated with each task analysis can also be found on the next two pages.
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2 Call out a student’s name
2.1 Listen for the student’s response
Find the attendance sheet corresponding to the class that they are teaching
1.2
Plan 1: 1.1 – 1.2
Get the class list
1.1 Open up attendance folder
1
Send the student to the administration office to get a late slip in order to correct his/her attendance record
Get a student to deliver the attendance to the administration office
2.2 Mark off the student: Bubble in or recognize that the student is present
2.3 Mark off the student: Bubble in that the student is absent
Plan 2: Do 2.1 Do 2.2 or 2.3 depending on the student’s attendance. Repeat Plan 2 until the class list is exhausted.
3.2 Mark off the student: Bubble in that the student is late
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5
4
Plan 0: Do 1-2-3-4. If student arrives late, then do 5.
Plan 3: If a student arrives late, do 3.1-3.2
Wait until it is time to deliver the attendance
3.1 Open up the attendance folder
3
Daily Attendance: Taking Attendance
0
1.1 Sort the attendance sheets into some appropriate order
1 Make sure all attendance records have been received
1.2 Remind teachers to submit their attendance records if theirs is missing from the current set
Plan 1: Do 1.1. If some attendance sheets are missing, do 1.2.
Put the machine-readable attendance sheets through an appropriate scanning device
2
Generate the list of absent students
3.1
Plan 3: Do 3.1.
3 Start up the Trillium software to generate the results of the gathered machine-readable attendance sheets
0 Daily Attendance: Processing the Attendance Records
Update the note of absence for that student
4.1
5 Update the attendance records with note of lateness
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4.2 Leave a message on the parent/guardian’s voicemail if a voicemail box is activated
Plan 4: If a parent/guardian is successfully contacted, do 4.1. Otherwise, do 4.2.
Make phone calls to the parents/guardians of absent students
4
Plan 0: When it is time to process the attendance records, do 1-2-3-4. If a student arrives late, do 5.
Scenarios Scenario 1: The Late Student It is a Thursday morning at Morningwood High School. It is 9 a.m. and the bell rings for classes to begin. Meanwhile, Joseph rushes to school after accidentally sleeping in. He runs down the hall and opens the door to his first class, computer science with Mr. Michael Tao. Unfortunately, the clock reads 9:30 a.m.; he is late. Mr. Tao stops his lesson on algorithm complexity to confront Joseph. Arriving late for class after the attendance is done without a note warrants a trip back to the office to get a late slip. As a result, Joseph is sent down to the office to gain admittance. The secretary at the desk, Victoria, sends Joseph to the viceprincipal. Joseph waits in line to see him. Eventually, it is his turn and he approaches the viceprincipal's desk. After a brief explanation, Joseph is given a late slip and his status is updated on the school system. Joseph leaves the main office and heads back to class. After showing Mr. Tao his late slip, Joseph sits down in his seat to begin his studies. Mr. Tao glances at the clock on the wall. It is 9:47.
Scenario 2: The Supply Teacher It is a snowy morning at Morningwood High School. All students of Mr. Michael Tao's software engineering class are awaiting their teacher. Five minutes into class with no teacher, the door opens and a woman walks in. The woman speaks, “Hello, my name is Mrs. Erica Cheran and I will be your supply teacher for today. Unfortunately, your regular teacher is having car troubles and will not be able to be here until later on.” After this explanation, she begins reading off names from the class list. The morning roll call was uneventful except for one student playing hooky. Unknown to the supply teacher, one of the missing student's friends acknowledged that he was present when Erica called the absent student's name. As a result, a student was marked present when he was actually skipping class.
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Scenario 3: The Call Home It is 3:30 p.m. and the end of classes at Morningwood High School. Calvin rushes home from school with a very worried look on his face. He opens his front door and throws his school things on the kitchen table. Calvin sits and waits by the phone. Minutes later, the phone rings and Calvin immediately picks it up. Unaware to Calvin, his mother is home and also picks up the phone.
“This is Morningwood High school...” Calvin hangs up the phone. Calvin's mother Veronica, on the other hand, continues to listen to the message. It is an automated message from her son's school. She listens intently to the rest of the message. “This is Morningwood High School. Your child, Calvin, missed periods one and three today. Shocked, she hangs up the phone.
Please talk to your child about this.”
Slowly, she walks into the kitchen to talk to her son. She
asks who was on the phone. He lies and tells her it was a wrong number. It seems that Calvin will not be going out to the movies this weekend.
Scenario 4: The Armed Intruder It is a Monday morning at Greenwood Public School. The sun is shining and all the school children are busy learning. In the main office, secretaries, principal and vice-principal alike are going on about their regular administrative duties. Joanne is one such individual and is dealing with the inaccuracies that appeared in the daily attendance records. Every so often, she glances up to look at the clock in her room. When she takes a second to look at the surveillance video of the school's exits, she notices something out of the ordinary. She sees an unidentifiable man enter the school concealing something in his jacket. With the possibility of it being a weapon, she announces over the intercom, “Attention, code red lock down.
I
repeat, code red lock down. This is not a drill.” Immediately, one of the school secretaries, Margaret, locks the main office door, turns off the lights and closes the blinds on all windows.
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Meanwhile, the other secretary, Victoria, calls the local authorities.
The sounds of doors
closing begin to be heard all throughout the halls of the school. Different groups of people are isolated within the school.
Perspective 1: The Classroom “Attention, code red lock down. I repeat, code red lock down. This is not a drill.” Mary Reynolds, a grade 3 teacher, hears the announcement and acts. After locking the door, turning off the lights and covering the windows, Mary quiets her class and urges them to sit quietly on the ground, and away from the door and windows. After a quick head count, she realizes there is one child missing. However, she cannot tell who it is. She goes through the list of children again, having to double checking as she goes along. Then she realizes that little Angus is out of the room in the bathroom. Mary grabs the phone and frantically calls nearby classrooms to see if little Angus ran into one of their classrooms. Unfortunately, every teacher tells her that all their students are accounted for and that they would not know what Angus looks like anyway.
After Mary hangs up the phone on her last call, she hears banging on the door. Everyone in the room gasps as the intruder tries to force the door open. After a few seconds of struggle with the door, the intruder gives up and moves on. That was a close call on Mary’s part. It seems that because she was unaware of the whereabouts of one of her students, the intruder almost broke in after overhearing her voice on the phone.
Perspective 2: The missing child “Attention, code red lock down. I repeat, code red lock down. This is not a drill.” The lights in the bathroom suddenly dim. Angus, busy washing his hands, becomes dazed with the shock of darkness and the announcement. Consumed by fear, Angus begins to panic. His loud cries turn to sobs as no one comes to his aid. With all the noise, someone unwanted may have heard it also.
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Perspective 3: Outside School Grounds “This is Greenwood Public School. A potential armed intruder has entered the school. We have implemented code red procedures, but we require immediate assistance.”
An operator at the local police station receives the message and forwards it to the chief of the department, Carl. Carl sends the order for all nearby units to proceed to the school. Minutes later, Greenwood is isolated by police. The contingent of police is led by Sergeant Leonard Tse. Orders are issued to all able bodies. The most important task is to obtain an accurate list of the student body and staff. The list of missing students and staff is requested by Sergeant Tse. Unfortunately, the current up-to-date list of students and staff is unavailable. It takes time to request information from classrooms via the room phones. Sergeant Tse has the tough decision to either wait for an up-to-date list or to go in with the attendance taken earlier that morning.
Perspective 4: The Main Office 10 Minutes After the Initial Announcement “Tell me your class number and any students that may be missing.”
All the secretaries, vice-principal and even the principal, Roy Johnson, are taking calls from teachers to record their present students. Calls are backed up awaiting someone to attend to them in the main office.
“This is the special forces outside. We are going to make our move in five minutes. Let all teachers know that they are not to open their doors. Don’t even open it for a voice announcing they are with the police.”
The principal receives this call from the outside. Unfortunately, there is no way to relay that information to all the classrooms in five minutes without alerting the intruder. If there was only a way to let the classrooms know all at once without announcing it.
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Design Requirements Functional Requirements: Description:
•
The device must provide accurate and up-to date attendance listings.
•
The device must be able to silently communicate between rooms and to emergency services (e.g. Police, Fire services).
•
The device must provide up-to-date information on the school’s status (normal, lockdown).
•
The device must reduce the chance of user error and make it easier to correct any mistakes.
•
The device must contain all the necessary features while remaining affordable for many schools.
•
The system must be modular and additions to the system should be made easily.
Reasoning:
•
This would reduce wasted time and provide an accurate report to track of students during a high stress situation. (e.g. lockdown).
Method of Evaluation:
•
Testing will be done in parallel to the current system in real world situations like everyday attendance and lockdown drills.
User Requirements: Description:
Reasoning:
•
Teachers and administrative staff, who handle the attendance, must have some knowledge with electronic devices.
•
The user must not have any serious disabilities.
•
It would not be feasible to make a device to accommodate for all types of devices.
Usability Requirements:
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Description:
Reasoning:
Method of Evaluation:
•
The device must require little or no training to use device.
•
The device must have a simple and intuitive interface for people with little technical knowledge.
•
The number of button presses to complete the task must be kept low.
•
Most people would prefer that the interface resembles some device that they currently use. This would reduce the time taken to get accustomed to the device.
•
The system must be efficient and quick to use as teachers would like to minimize time used in taking attendance.
•
Prototype testing, will determine what each user liked/ disliked about the interface.
Environmental Requirements: Description:
Reasoning:
Method of Evaluation:
•
The device must be useable indoors.
•
The device must be easy to setup and maintain.
•
The device must be able to withstand daily usage without needing maintenance for a long time
•
The attendance is taken indoors or in a classroom environment.
•
It is not feasible for a school to allow for long down times to install the system.
•
Constant replacement due to wear and tear costs time and money.
•
Feasibility study to determine how easily the system can be installed and a cost evaluation on maintenance of system over time period.
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Technical Requirements: Description:
Reasoning:
Method of Evaluation:
•
The device must have wireless connectivity to the main server.
•
The wireless connection must be encrypted to ensure the data is secure.
•
The device must have a method of input: Buttons, touch screen or some combination.
•
The device must have a fairly large screen to maintain font readability while displaying lists.
•
The device must have a speaker and microphone for voice communication between other rooms.
•
The device must also support text message communication between other rooms.
•
The device must be light and simple to mount on a wall, without the need for complex support.
•
The device must have a battery and portable in the event of an emergency.
•
The panels need to be used fairly often so it is vital that the device does not cause eye strain to the user.
•
In the case of a fire drill, the panel needs to have enough battery life to take attendance outdoors. The device also needs to be light weight so that it is easy to carry.
•
The wireless connectivity would allow for easy and cheap installation into the classrooms.
•
Text message communication is necessary since voice communication may not always be possible (e.g. lockdown) or convenient.
•
Testing during real world situations.
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APPENDICES
Page 27
Group Responsibilities Breakdown Name
Tasks and Time Taken
Victoria Mui - Designed and distributed survey (3 hour) - Data collection (interviews etc...) (6 hours) - Editing (4 hours) - Organizing appendices (1 hour) - Contacted potential users (schools) (5 hours) - Scheduled prototype testing with schools (2 hours) - Concept mapping and introduction (3 hours) - Created task analysis tree visualization (1 hours) Brian Shim
Veronica Wong
Joseph Ng Chow
- design basic section outline for write-up (1 hour) - Personas section (3 hours) - Situations section (4 hours) - Data collection (interviews etc...) (6 hours) - Distributed survey (1 hour) - Made survey available online (1 hour) - Editing (4 hours) - Contacted potential users (schools) (3 hours)
Total Estimated Time Spent
25 hours
23 hours
- Data collection (interviews etc...) (6 hours) - Designed and distributed survey (3 hours) - Editing (4 hours) - Led the meeting when distributing tasks (1 hour) - Stakeholder descriptions (3 hours) - Raw task analysis tree (vision) (4 hours) - Essential use cases (2 hours)
23 hours
- Design Requirements (5 hours) - Data collection (interviews etc...) (6 hours) - Editing (4 hours) - Distributed survey (1 hour) - Contacted potential users (schools) (1 hour) - Research potential system designs (3 hours) - Minute taker at meetings (2 hours)
22 hours
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Field Study Protocol 1. Project Title: Interviews and Observations of teachers and administration 2. Investigators: Joseph Ng Chow <[email protected]> Victoria Mui
3. Purpose: The purpose of our research is to understand the duties of teachers and administration staff in the TDSB to help us derive requirements for the design of novel interactive computational media that are intended to be useful to the aforementioned teachers and administration staff. A brief description of our design concept is: an electronic attendance system that will collaborate data between administration and teaching staff. 4. Process to be followed: We will brief the participants about the purpose of the study, explain the consent form to them, and ensure that they sign the consent form. We will then engage the participants in . We will also with their permission make observations as follows: <description of observation procedures to be used and the workplace or living space or environment in which the study will be conducted>. 5. Participant selection: Participants will be chosen from teachers and administration. They will be identified via school visits and selected according to schedule availability. In general, they will be characterized by responsibilities. 6. Relationships: Our relationship to the participants may be described as follows: no relationship 7. Risk and benefit: There will be minimal risk to the participants, for example that they feel that they have wasted their time. The only benefit will be to contribute to the education of the investigators. Participants are free to withdraw before or at any time during the study without the need to give any explanation. 8. Consent details: We will brief the participants about the purpose of the study, and explain the attached consent form to them, and ensure that they consent to participate and sign the consent form. 9. Compensation: Participants will receive no compensation. 10. Information sought: The information to be sought is described in the attached questionnaire, interview and observation protocols. 11. Confidentiality: Information will be kept confidential by the investigators. Names or other identifying or identified information will not be kept with the data. The only other use will be
Page 29
to include excerpts or copies in the assignment submitted, but names and other identifying or identified information will not be submitted.
Page 30
Questionnaires/Interview Protocol Interview Protocol: - Follow the questionnaire to ensure that you touch on all the required topics - If a response intrigues you, request more information
Teachers: Electronic Attendance System: Research Questionnaire In which age group do you belong? 20-30 years old 70
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
over
How long have you been teaching?
What grade and/or subject do you teach? Grade: Subject:
Regarding Attendance Briefly describe your school’s current attendance system.
How do you update attendance records with regards to late students?
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How often do you take the attendance each day?
How much time is required to take the attendance for each class? 0-5 minutes
5-10 minutes
more than 10 minutes
At what time is the attendance taken down to the administration office? __ 5 minutes after the start of class __ 10 minutes after the start of class __ 15 minutes after the start of class __ at the end of class __ when the administration staff asks for it How did the attendance delivered to the administration office?
In the case of an emergency, how do you make sure all your students are accounted for?
Is your classroom located within the school building or in a portable?
Regarding Technology How often do you interact with a computer?
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1 (rarely)
2
3
4
5 (very often)
Which of the following interfaces are you more familiar with (check all that apply)? __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) a mobile phone a personal computer a Global Positioning System (GPS) a microwave an MP3 player a gaming console
Additional Comments
Thank you very much for your time!
Administration Staff: Electronic Attendance System: Research Questionnaire In which age group do you belong? 20-30 years old 70
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
over
How long have you been in administration?
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Regarding Attendance Briefly describe your school’s current attendance system.
Given student attendance, what administrative tasks do you carry out?
For each day, how much time is allotted towards organizing attendance records? 0-5 minutes
5-10 minutes
more than 10 minutes
On average, by what time do you receive all the attendance in the building? __ __ __ __
5 minutes from when it’s required 10 minutes from when it’s required 20 minutes from when it’s required 30 minutes from when it’s required
In the case of an emergency, how does the current system account for all the students?
Regarding Technology How often do you interact with a computer? 1 (rarely)
2
3
4
5 (very often)
Which of the following interfaces are you more familiar with (check all that apply)? __ an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) __ a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
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__ __ __ __ __ __
a mobile phone a personal computer a Global Positioning System (GPS) a microwave an MP3 player a gaming console
Additional Comments
Thank you very much for your time!
Page 35
Natural Observation Protocol Take note of: -
All the specific task that the participants performs.
-
The time that each task required
-
Mark down procedures that you don’t understand. It is at your discretion whether to ask the questions then or save them for the end.
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Consent Form I hereby consent to participate in a research study conducted by Victoria Mui, Joseph Ng Chow, Brian Shim, and Veronica Wong. I understand that the purpose of this study is to better understand the current school attendance system. I further understand that: • The procedures that are used include interviews, questionnaires, and physical artifact analyses. • I will receive no compensation for my participation. • I am free to withdraw before, or at any time during the study without the need to give any explanation. • All materials and results will be kept confidential. In particular, my name and any identifying or identified information will not be associated with the data.
Participant: Name (Please Print) _____________________________________________________________ Signature ______________________________ Place and Date _________________________
Investigator(s): Name (Please Print) _____________________________________________________________ Signature ______________________________
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Useful Raw Data
Page 38
Group Meeting Notes
Page 39
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