Tom
Cutshall
Desk Crits Given and Received: EDIT 6200
Spring 2003
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Crits Given
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Crits Received |
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2003 11:18:44 -0500
From: <cutshall@arches.uga.edu>
To: "Kevin Johnson" <kevinj@arches.uga.edu>
Cc: <cutshall@arches.uga.edu>
Subject: Re: Desk Crit Exchange
Greetings Kevin!
Thanks for the useful desk crit. I agree I had too many objectives.
I have merged and focused on the most important. Thanks also for making
the crit template. I used it below to provide you a desk crit.
Thanks!
Tom
--------- Receiver's Desk Crit ------------
<Please review the sender's project using the form below and select
"Reply".>
Reviewers Name: Tom Cutshall
Reviewer's Course: 6200
Product Reviewed: Streaming Media Tutorials
Designer's Name: Kevin Johnson
Designer's Course: 6200
Project Address: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~kevinj/6200/
~ Constructive Feedback ~
Q: What are the strengths of the product? <50 words or more>
A: It is motivational and a good use of anchoring to use streaming media
to teach about streaming media. Learners see immediately how interactive
it can be and are motivated to learn how to create streaming media
themselves. You give a warm and useful introduction to the guide and its
resources. The video presentation is clear and users can repeat and
control the presentation. It was good that the top right box had just
three focused objectives/links. Good use of graphics and color to make
an interesting design.
Q: What are the weaknesses or areas that could be improved? <50 words
or more>
A: Just some minor revisions that I would suggest:
I liked the three pane approach but found the scrolling information at
the top a distraction which led to information overload not knowing
where to look. While the scrolling information was useful I would put
it in the top right box.
When I viewed this from home using my 56k modem the video was slower
than the audio. I would have liked the option to turn off the video and
just have audio.
Perhaps you need to revise your Project abstract. When I read "This
tutorial is being designed to help the faculty... clarify the conceptual
and technical steps of streaming media. Professional resources, tools,
and methods will be featured in this tutorial. Upon completion of this
tutorial, instructors... should be able to utilize this tool as a
resource for entry level streaming media learners." The abstract sounded
like the product would teach learners how to do streaming media but this
is not reflected in your Objectives & Tasks. When you say "this tool
as
a resource" do you mean streaming media or your instructional product?
Viewing the bottom frame web site in a two inch tall window may be a bit
frustrating to users. Consider adding instructions or something users
can click on to open the bottom web page in a new full page window.
Consider the addition of some form of assessment such as learner self
assessment (a multiple choice quiz constructed using Course builder) or
interaction building some conponet of the streaming media.
Q: What suggestions can you offer to address the weaknesses and/or make
the
product even better than before? <50 words or more>
A: See above
Additional comments: <Optional>
You have done a great job on the prototype. I look forward to using the
resource with your content.
Desk Crit #2
Product Reviewed: Trail Blazer
Date Reviewed: April 29, 2003
Designer's Name: Greg Khang Sing
Designer's Course: 6200
Project Address: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~gregsing/trail/
~ Constructive Feedback ~
What are the strengths of the product?
You start with a cute and entertaining animated frog that attracts attention and invites the user to interact. The colorful scenic backdrop also attracts attention. Good use of metaphor with the trail and the trail sign with information. Creative drawing of the trail sign.
Neat use of Flash to create smooth drop down and fold up menus. Good use of rollovers and collapsible +/- lists for the user to understand where they are. Well organized and uncluttered.
What are the weaknesses or areas that could be improved? What suggestions
can you offer to address the weaknesses and/or make the product even better
than before?
I wonder if rather than telling the user to click on the video tab you could just open with a trail sign that has a link to the Introductory Video or even the opening picture with the controls beneath.
Somehow it seems more intuitive to me to go from the introduction video straight to the menu rather than going back to the opening screen. I would put a link to the menu from the video introduction screen so the user goes forward into the product rather than backwards into it.
I assume that the user would know what LAC and ROS stand for. If not then you may need to spell out or have rollover text defining them. Same for the abbreviated application names.
Since you have two trail signs with similarly labeled tabs that have different contents I would recommend some way (perhaps stating on the trail signs or the tabs or above the tabs) that one set of menus is for Concepts and one is for Applications.
I assume that the content the menu links to is separate, since I was not getting content (only page not found) once I got to a specific category.
Overall though a good use of metaphor and good way to organize a lot of information in a easy to navigate, smooth, uncluttered fashion. Well done!
Reviewers Name: Tom Cutshall
Reviewer's Course: 6200
Product Reviewed: Maze game
Date Reviewed: April 29, 2003
Designer's Name: Sangmin Lee
Designer's Course: 6200
Project Address: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~smlee/edit6200/game/index.html
~ Constructive Feedback ~
What are the strengths of the product?
Colorful and inviting maze area. Good use of color and contrast. You have a cute and entertaining animated frog that attracts attention and invites the user to interact. Good artwork. Smooth operation of the mouse and pop up question box.
What are the weaknesses or areas that could be improved? What suggestions
can you offer to address the weaknesses and/or make the product even better
than before?
I would recommend providing the user some guidance as to how to make the frog move. I clicked on him, used all my arrow buttons, but couldn't give him to move. I eventually figured out I needed to click where he was going to move. I would suggest adding some opening instructions such as "click where you want the frog to go".
I would also provide some guidance to the user as to the objective or goal or finish line they should move the frog toward such as something marked finish. Or instruct the user that they are to explore to find some specific item.
I would suggest a smaller question box (less width) or moving the question box up higher. On my 17" monitor with 800X600 settings I had to scroll to the right to see the full box.
But overall a very interesting, colorful and fun to interact with creation.
Well done!
Reviewers Name: Tom Cutshall
Reviewer's Course: 6200
Product Reviewed: TELL Scholarship Program
Date Reviewed: May 2, 2003
Designer's Name: Reena Lederman Gerard
Designer's Course: 6200
Project Address: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~reena/pages/teachers2/pages/menu.htm
~ Constructive Feedback ~
What are the strengths of the product?
The color and contrast on your pages are great. Neat arc on the homepage. Your page invites viewers to explore. Sharp looking circle navigation at the top with good rollovers. A sharp looking, clean, professional site.
What are the weaknesses or areas that could be improved? What suggestions
can you offer to address the weaknesses and/or make the product even better
than before?
While I like the rollover effect of the circle navigation, I sometimes did not know where I was in the navigation. The top of the page did not have a title and there was no fixed change of color in the navigation. I would suggest that when a user clicks on a circle the page they land on has that circle stay gold to denote where they are at.
But again I found the site to be sharp and professional. I am sure it will
be useful to the learners. Well done!
Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2003 14:11:23 -0500
From: "Kevin Johnson" <kevinj@arches.uga.edu>
To: <cutshall@arches.uga.edu>
Subject: Desk Crit Exchange
Greetings Tom!
I was just reviewing your project and thought I would complete a desk
crit. I'll try using my "Desk Crit Exchange" template and you let
me
know what you think of it. My hope is that this simple template will
spark further discussions about our projects.
See you Thursday,
Kevin
--------- Sender's Desk Crit ---------------
Reviewers Name: Kevin R. Johnson
Reviewer's Course: 6200
Product Reviewed: PsycINFO Tutorial
Designer's Name: Tom Cutshall
Designer's Course: 6200
Project Address:
http://www.arches.uga.edu/~cutshall/edit6200/project.html
~ Constructive Feedback ~
Q: What are the strengths of the product? <50 words or more>
A: Tom, sounds like you have a very clear project. Your client,
audience, and goals were easy to understand. It also appears that you
have a manageable scenario to operate within. I took a look at your
screen design and the layout seems pretty good and fairly consistent
with the other Library pages. It looks like you could use some streaming
Camtasia files to provide your animated screen shots. These are easy to
produce and I could help you with this if needed.
Q: What are the weaknesses or areas that could be improved? <50 words or
more>
A: My first and major concern about your project is that you may have
too many objectives to effectively manage. However, it may be that each
of these is a small and manageable task only requiring a simple
explanation. When working on my project, Dr. Harriman suggested that I
select three main objectives, with 2-3 subtasks, and then consider the
rest to be "additional information" instead of specific objectives
to be
met and evaluated.
Q: What suggestions can you offer to address the weaknesses and/or make
the
product even better than before? <50 words or more>
A: When working on my project, Dr. Harriman suggested that I select
three main objectives, with 2-3 subtasks, and then consider the rest to
be "additional information" instead of specific objectives to be met
and
evaluated. This lets me concentrate on ensuring that 3 objectives are
met and measured well while allowing me the freedom to present
additional content.
Additional comments: <Optional>
I have seen your past work and have been very impressed. I feel
confident that you will create a solid project. I would like to hear
more about your learners and any input they have provided. Please feel
free to contact me. Since I am usually overwhelmed by student emails, I
suggest calling me any time Mon-Thur 8-5 at 425-3041 in the New Media
Institute. Good job!
Kevin R. Johnson
Instructor
NMIX 4200/6200 Webcasting
New Media Institute
University of Georgia
http://www.nmi.uga.edu/johnson/4200
kevinj@uga.edu
(706) 425-3041
Reviewers Name: Greg Khang Sing
Reviewer's Course: 6190 & 6200
Product Reviewed: Using PsycINFO to Find Articles
Date Reviewed: April 28, 2003
Designer's Name: Tom Cutshall
Designer's Course: 6200
Project Address: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~cutshall/edit6200/psycinfo/
~ Constructive Feedback ~
What are the strengths of the product?
Wow I am impressed with your project-Great and useful.
I must say that the design (layout, font types and colors, colors and etc)
of this Website looks professional and is suitable for info/library sort of
database.
The website is neat and the navigation menu on the right hides the sub menu
(shows on the need to know basis) but at the same time still shows pertinent
info.
I also like the info presented which is clear with highlights (appropriate use of contrast)! I also like the fact that you have built in a quiz in the end to test the user (very thoughtful).
What are the weaknesses or areas that could be improved? What suggestions can you offer to address the weaknesses and/or make the product even better than before?
My suggestions to you would be as follow:
Build in a "back to top" at the bottom for user to go to the top so that they do not have to scroll back to the top to access the next item on the menu on the left or have a menu built in at the bottom so that users have 2 options of accessing info.
When you click to other websites, perhaps you could open in another window. This applies to the try the "live search" section as well-imagine the user has to click many back buttons to where they left off from your website.
Additional comments: Overall, your web site is great and very useful/helpful for those intending to use this database!
Last updated 05/02/2003