Observations:

Imagined languages:

• Due to the large overlap between this class and HCI, a lot of mutual observation of each other and meta-observation.
• Erica writes down that I am taking a video of her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mYvlDS5vfU&feature=youtu.be

Syntax class:

• Discussing a problem from another class on the board. Illustrating “lim sup” as a bowl of limb soup.
• Student 1 to Student 2 (referring to a print of an engraving on the wall): “If I told you this picture looked like you, would you be offended?” Ensuing discussion regarding gender of subject of said picture. Consensus reached that the only male in the room thought it looked female, while all three females thought it looked male. Initial question pointedly ignored by Student 2. Hasty clarification that Student 1 was not implying that the picture did look like Student 2. Emphatic declaration that said picture does not resemble said student at all.
• Another student arrives and stares listlessly at book.

Brainstorm

1. something to help you find the nearest bathroom/water fountain
2. probability of falling asleep in the next class (brainstormed with Krithin Sitaram)
3. optimal seat finding — climbing over other people is annoying and hard
4. better pockets to avoid having to search for phone, which is super-awkward when sitting down
5. another way to avoid making people climb at each other: make center seats of classroom more comfortable?
6. something to tell you how long you have until the next class
7. something to help you out with the primary pre-class activity, which seems to be gossiping about other students — oh wait, that already exists and it’s called Facebook
8. something to avoid that “oh crap, did I have something due?!” moment
9. something to start conversations with other students, to avoid the listless staring at book syndrome
10. something to remind you of the names of students you *know* you’ve been introduced to, to facilitate #9!
11. something to remind you why you’re taking this class in the first place, which would in turn motivate you to pay attention
12. a sudden jolt of adrenaline — fear? terror? excitement? — doesn’t matter, anything to keep you alert and paying attention!
13. you arrive and realize you don’t have your book — do you have enough time to run back to your room?
14. hardest problem from your most recent problem set to think about while waiting
15. an app that warns you when you’re about to say something socially inappropriate or awkward

I chose to combine 10, 8, and 6 into one “quick info about the class” app, that shows you how long you have until class starts, and then pulls Facebook profile pics of classmates and upcoming assignments from Blackboard. It’s quick, simple, and solves some real problems.

The prototype!

The starting screen.

“upcoming” tab, listing upcoming assignments and readings.

after user taps on “moby dick” item, it slides to reveal more options.

One of these options is a link to the wikipedia page, for the truly lazy!

Or if you want, you can go back to the main “classmates” tab and commiserate.

User 1: Erica.

• found and tapped “upcoming” tab quickly
• found “W” button confusing 

User 2: Brenda.

•  found “upcoming” tab quickly
•  it was hard to get users to just tap and not manipulate the prototype themselves!
  
•  “no no no! just tap it and I’ll make things happen!” (Brenda reads through the 250-page assignment with horror.)
•  Brenda also quite kindly (and unprompted) tries out all the functions, including the chat function, just to let me use all my index cards.

User 3: John.

• does not own smartphone
• waiting for Semantics class
• confused by initial interface; “what do I do?”
• eventually figured out which tab to press (“upcoming”)

Insights from testing…

About paper prototyping:

• Simple actually does mean SIMPLE! Having complicated prototypes meant my users spent most of their time reading and playing with things, rather than using it to complete tasks. 
• even if I can’t give them information about the task itself, the idea of paper prototypes is foreign to users, so it’s necessary to give them a quick run-down of how those work.

About the prototype:

• W does not universally mean “Wikipedia”, as I thought it did.
  
• Similarly, labeling something “pdf” does not actually mean “pdf of the assignment” to people.
• “Upcoming” is not a good catch-all term for “assignments + readings + exams”.
• I had considered making the clock element tappable (and link to a schedule), but no one even considered tapping it, so that would have been an unnecessary feature.