Design Challenge - Prototyping and Testing

Summary

Materials

• Day 9 PowerPoint deck
• Design Challenge Guide Handout (shared with students on Day 8)
• Design Challenge Reflection Handout
• Design Challenge Reflection Handout (in Word)

Instructional Activities and Classroom Assessments

1. Prototyping (25-30 minutes)
2. Testing (10 minutes)
3. Reflect and Refine (5 minutes)
4. Homework

Learning Objectives

• CRD-1.C Demonstrate effective interpersonal skills during collaboration.
• CRD-2.E Develop a program using a development process.
• CRD-2.F Design a program and its user interface.

Essential Knowledge

• CRD-1.C.1 Effective collaborative teams practice interpersonal skills, including but not limited to:
  • Communication
  • Consensus building
  • Conflict resolution
  • Negotiation
• CRD-2.E.1 A development process can be ordered and intentional, or exploratory in nature.
• CRD-2.E.2 There are multiple development processes. The following phases are commonly used when developing a program:
  • Investigating and reflecting
  • Designing
  • Prototyping
  • Testing
• CRD-2.E.3 A development process that is iterative requires refinement and revision based on feedback, testing, or reflection throughout the process. This may require revisiting earlier phases of the process.
• CRD-2.E.4 A development process that is incremental is one that breaks the problem into smaller pieces and makes sure each piece works before adding it to the whole.
• CRD-2.F.1 The design of a program incorporates investigation to determine its requirements.
• CRD-2.F.2 Investigation in a development process is useful for understanding and identifying the program constraints, as well as the concerns and interests of the people who will use the program.
• CRD-2.F.3 Some ways investigation can be performed are as follows:
  • Collecting data through surveys
  • User testing
  • Interviews
  • Direct observations
• CRD-2.F.4 Program requirements describe how a program functions and may include a description of user interactions that a program must provide.
• CRD-2.F.5 A program's specification defines the requirements for the program.
• CRD-2.F.6 In a development process, the design phase outlines how to accomplish a given program specification.
• CRD-2.F.7 The design phase of a program may include:
  • Brainstorming
  • Planning and storyboarding
  • Organizing the program into modules and functional components
  • Creation of diagrams that represent the layouts of the user interface
  • Development of a testing strategy for the program

Details

1. Prototyping (25-30 minutes)

• Ask students to share what they learned by watching the two videos about prototyping.
• Students will create a paper prototype of the app, program, or device.
• Students will use the size of paper that corresponds with the size of the device students are designing for.
• Concepts to consider:
  • What will your app look like?
  • How will your users interact with it?
  • Imagine every step your user will take to use the program.

2. Testing (10 minutes)

• Teams pair up with another team.
• The first team shares their prototype, letting the other team interact with it.
• One team member answers questions and helps with the trial; the other team member takes notes about questions, observations, etc.
• Teams switch roles after five minutes and repeat the process with the other team's prototype.

3. Reflect and Refine (5 minutes)

• Teams will discuss their findings with each other.
• Students will make refinements to their prototypes.
• Students will need to determine if they need to complete their refinements for homework.

4. Homework

• Students will complete any necessary refinements for their prototype.
• Turn in the Design Challenge Guide worksheet.
• Answer the Design Challenge Reflection questions.