Oops! Let's Finish IT 223 first

I would have added an entry previously, but Blogger saves your information often and automatically, which sometimes actually erases your information. This will no longer be an issue.

The rest of the term proceeded as expected. The midterm was challenging, but not overwhelming. Dr. Winograd was patient and the slides used were clear and concise. Throughout the term, I made it a point to visit before class on Thursday, whether it was going over a previous assignment, the midterm or getting help clarifying concepts with which I struggled. I knew that I only needed a B- to pass the class, but I also knew that the use of statistics would play a prominent role in requirements gathering.

As the class wound down and we approached the final, I felt trepidation as to whether I would get the coveted B- or not. Because of the snowstorm earlier, we would miss a class which made it even more crucial that I understood the material. Fortunately, we were given an extra credit assignment. I struggled with it but felt that I grasped the information well. This assignment was due the day of the final.

Both the final and the midterm were open note, open book – it was just a matter of organization and knowing where to find the needed example quickly.  I focused as much time on quickly locating my notes as I did in understanding the concepts. Surprisingly, I scored 78% on the midterm and 79% on the final. The professor was very good about explaining the midterm in class to make sure everyone understood the problems as well as the thought process to obtain the answers.

I felt that I did well enough for at least a B- overall, but was anxious during the week it took for the grades to be posted. When my grade was posted, I received an A- for the class. I felt that I actually deserved a B or maybe a B+ from my scores, but my effort was A.

I liked the class and I thought Dr. Winograd taught it well. He was fair and explained the concepts well with multiple examples. The only negative I have with the class is that I purchased the book which was not needed. I never once opened it nor was that expected. And of course I was unable to sell it because the current version is a later version, even though the version I bought was the version needed for class. What a racket! 

Next: Seriously, I will finish HCI440

IT 223: Will it get harder?

Class was very similar for each week. They were pretty much straight lectures. Dr. Winograd would explain a concept and then painstakingly show examples that would be easy to follow and understand. I am sure that there were many student who found the pace too slow, but I appreciated the variety of explanations and thorough understanding I received. There have been three assignments that have been given, each worth 100 points. The first assignment took me about an hour and I felt pretty good about the grade I would receive and my understanding of the homework. The second assignment went pretty well until I tried to correlate one answer to another in which the only difference was the way the data was displayed. It had to do with outliers and I was getting three in one answer and two in the other which didn't make sense. 

Grading takes about a week, and when I checked, I was given a grade of 70/100. I was surprised and made an appointment to discuss, as well as determine what I was doing wrong in assignment number two. Dr. Winograd has office hours on Thursdays so I arrived about an hour before class and was able to see him right away. The office space he was using was pretty small (maybe 12' x 12'). We discussed the first assignment and I found out that I used the wrong graph (bar chart) versus the histogram that was called for. I thought that either Excel or SPSS would create the correct graph, but I was mistaken. 

Knowing that this class was my only prerequisite and didn't count towards my final GPA, I still wanted to understand the concepts for my career. I asked him to help me understand assignment two and why my results weren't the same in both answers. The reason was that these outliers were suspected and the formulas that Excel used for Q1, Q3 were different that the formulas we used in class. However, SPSS results did match the formulas we used in class. Odd but true. I spent about an hour on my own checking my calculations over and over which was very frustrating. He spent time actually walking me through the assignment, showing me the areas that I miscalculated and explained why as well. 

Our meeting lasted about 20 minutes, which gave me enough time to use a campus computer, update my homework and submit. I finished in 15 minutes and submitted. I will be surprised if I have less than 90 points.

Next: HCI 440: Our First Team Project Results and the Midterm

HCI 440 Week Two

Turned in my first assignment and I wonder if I spent too much time, or not enough. The assignment, to analyze the design of your alarm clock from a usability perspective, seemed pretty straight-forward. Yet, it took me about 4 hours to complete. Since this was my first grade, and it was a graduate level course, I was concerned about the level or work needed. I didn't want to spend too much time, at the expense of work or my other class. Yet, I certainly didn't want to complete it without the proper understanding of the principle.

Class itself went well and I was introduced to the classmates that would be working with to complete the group projects. Christa, Brian, Keith, Alex and I met briefly at the end of class. We decided that we would meet on Wednesdays from 5 - 5:30 to discuss this week's assignment. We also determined what the titles for each person would be. Initially, Christa volunteered to be the editor, and Keith volunteered to be the project manager. Throughout the class, we all would try different roles, obtaining a more well-rounded experience.

At the Wednesday meeting, we divided the tasks as follows:
Project Overview: All or us contributed.
Personas: Keith created one and I created one.
Competitive Analysis: Christa and Alex teamed-up on that.
Requirements Gathering Methodology Brian choose interviews, and I choose surveys.
Requirements Gathering Findings: Brain and I would update this when we finished gathering the requirements.
Appendix: Christa would complete this section.

We decided to use Google Docs as a central repository, allowing everyone to have access to the files, regardless of where they were.

From Thursday until late Saturday, we slowly chipped away at the assignment. Brian conducted the interviews and receive confirming results. I set up a survey on www.surveymonkey.com. It was fairly simple and easy to implement. By Saturday, we had our data and took the next day to organize, causing extra work for Christa as we made changes after she thought the documents were finalized. However, she uploaded the assignment with 30 minutes to spare.

Next: IT 223:Will it get harder?

Class #2: Statistics

IT-223 Data Analysis (Statistics), this was a class I was not looking forward to. Not that I don't like math, but I struggled with calculus in college. Tried taking it twice with different instructors, but couldn't finish it. And that was back when I was in "school mode" with no other distractions like family or work.

The instructor, Dr. Yoseph Winograd, has a self-effacing sense of humor (about his age, weight, etc). He spoke with an accent, but was easily understood. His syllabus was organized well, which was expected from someone who taught math-related courses. 

This class is my only CDM prerequisite needed, since I didn't need the other four, and is at the undergraduate level. Others may complain that this is too slow, and I can see that, but I am more concerned about retaining information for my career than about getting an "A" and then forgetting most of it.  

Dr. Winograd explained that the textbook would help, but was not required. In fact, he said we could return them because we wouldn't need them. I have chosen to keep mine because I have a feeling I will be referring to it throughout my career. He also stated that we didn't need to be in class, but 10% of our grade was class attendance, meaning there is no way to get an "A" without showing up each week. My thought is that you are paying about $2k for the class, why not get your money worth anyhow? Yet, there were about 5 students that left after the break. 

Class started on time and ended 10 minutes early with no homework assigned. We covered basic communication methods, where to find necessary software used in the class, remote desktop log-in, etc.  

I am looking forward to this class as much as my HCI 440 - Usability Engineering class, but for different reasons: it is an individual effort class, vs. the group effort class, and it won't be as difficult as originally anticipated.

Next - My group is determined for HCI 440... stay tuned.

First Week of School is Complete

I just finished my first week of school. As I arrived early on Monday to locate my class at DePaul Central, get my ID and CTA pass, and get acclimated, I found out the computer systems used in creating IDs was down. Which meant I couldn't get my CTA pass (no ID and no school ID number = no CTA pass). This was after spending about 35 minutes in the winding line, waiting for my bus pass. Disappointed, but not a big deal. I decided to come back the next day once the system was back up. When I did return, the process of getting my ID was about 10 minutes, including standing in line. Then I went downstairs and the line for the CTA passes was about 15 people long - quite a difference from the previous day.

At 5:30, I took the elevator up to my class for HCI 440 (Usability Engineering), a graduate level class in my major. David Burns was the instructor and there were about 20 students in class and more online. Class ran right on time from 5:45 until 9:00 exactly. The breaks were exactly on time. I appreciated the way David stayed on schedule. His teaching style seemed to run at the perfect speed for me, at least for this first class. There will be more reading than I anticipated, but I realize that it will lay the foundation for the rest of my time at DePaul, as well as my career. Looking at the syllabus, I am really looking forward to working in a small group with others, many of which will be on the same path as myself. I am pretty sure that I am the oldest in class, but some students will have more HCI experience than myself.One assignment is to find a person who works at a company that embraces HCI principals and interview them. I hope to learn more about the industry, as well as the type of environment, hours, teams that can be expected in such companies. My first assignment is to analyze the design of my alarm clock from a usability perspective. I am concerned that I may spend too much time or not enough. I want to find a happy medium so that I am not overwhelmed later as the material becomes more advanced.

Next - Class #2: Statistics (not looking forward to it) ... stay tuned