Personal Reflection

Note on the Personal Reflection

The aim of a personal reflection is to give the student an opportunity to relate a personal understanding of the course. To highlight not just the described learning outcomes but also draw attention to challenges and areas of difficulty. Think of it as a statement of what you determine to be the key learnings and contribution of the course. It can be critical, highlighting gaps etc. Ultimately it is a personal statement of your own (perhaps new or changed) perspective on the subject, new understandings, difficulties, and insights.

Grading criteria:

The Personal Reflection is authentic, critical, supported by evidence and descriptive, conveying your own personal learning insights.

• A single page, approximately 500 words.
• Is it original? Is it your own work? (this is a basic requirement)
• Are the insights and learning described authentic? Does it honestly communicate your personal learning on taking this class?
• Is it critical? Critique isn't a bad thing. It challenges your own and others, even the subject itself. Consider prior understandings, misunderstanding, new knowledge, or changes in understanding?
• Are statements supported with examples? For example, comments or reflections on the homework tasks, the project, themes and subject matter?
• Core concepts? At the very best the reflection offers a compelling account of the significance of some of the key ideas arising in the course.

Guidelines for Term Paper and Video Presentation

Research Project

Presentation Video + Term Paper (including Reflection)

"Evaluating and enabling the design of a whole product"

The project is focused on carrying out practical field studies of everyday challenges and problems people face in their encounters with technology. These could be digital or physical challenges. Challenges ranging from mobility access in the built environment through to digital access and usability for people with disabilities and diverse needs. Design thinking methods will be applied to the goal of enabling the design of the whole product.

Guideline plan of steps to deliver this linked set of assignments:

1. Devise your own scenario (or select one from the examples below); experiment and play around with the scenario; figure out how to meet the need by using accessibility features/software.
2. Decide on one or more research methods to study step 1.
3. Find literature for the research methods (see step 2).
4. Gather data, analyse the data, and extract insights (using step 1, 2 & 3).
5. Discuss and reflect on the usefulness and limitations of the research methods used (using the output of step 4).
6. Write-up the research and prepare a video presentation of the project and your findings.

This is an opportunity to conduct a deep dive into the first half of the design process, focusing more on field research and ideation, less so on prototyping and implementation.  The project is informed by iterative design systems, for example, applying elements of the GV Sprint Method and the IDEO Design Kit: Travel Pack. These approaches will inform an understanding of how to take part in design-oriented research and fieldwork.

We will address the initial stages of the design thinking process. Discovery, interpretation, and ideation activities place greater emphasis on conducting field research and creating a design brief rather than brainstorming new designs. The design brief as a mid-stage deliverable provides an analysis of AS-IS contexts more so than producing new TO-BE designs or introducing changes. The figure below suggests where a design brief belongs within a design thinking process.

[image adapted from IDEO. (2012). Design thinking for educators.]

Goal: to gain awareness of design affordances; acquire research skills for identifying design problems and needs; apply universal design to the workplace and world at large. Students will connect user-centred design and universal design principles to real world design problems and develop requirements for redesigned spatial/digital systems.
Learning Outcomes: You will become knowledgeable about specific product design research methods. You will learn how to find problems in product/service offerings, gather evidence and create descriptions of areas for improvement and identify shortcomings in extant designs.

Scope: Students will undertake experiential learning by applying mobility aids and sensory simulations to encounter and experiment when using the product or system. 

• Select from the IDEO research methods or other research methods for product design research. 
• Develop a short literature review on your selected method(s). 
• Devise your own protocol to employ your selected methods. 
• Limit outside field research to UCD's physical/digital campus and services. 
• Gather data, analyse it, make findings, and draw conclusions.

Note: 'Try it yourself', i.e. complete tasks under different conditions, e.g. using assistive technology or interacting via a simulator (with assistive settings; keyboard-only; mouse-only; voice control; via a digital assistant such as Siri or Alexa; while using empathy tools such as gloves or being blindfolded; using a wheelchair etc.).

Note: Design research is not linear, it will involve cycles of using/applying and refining your method protocol to gather useful data and findings for both the design brief and to establish a critical analytical understanding of your selected method. 

Scenario

Devise a scenario studying how people attain goals/needs. 
You as an individual will personally research the experience of attaining defined user needs. You will personally perform accessibility completion of a goal. You will propose and analyse task/activity pathways, using environments accessibility supports as if for a person with an impairment. Any one of the following examples are suitable and you may propose your own scenarios:

• using available directional information to navigate the campus.
• assessing the ease of operation of access points to and through campus buildings.
• detailed evaluation of defined activity interactions such as point of sale, printing, ticketing, etc.
finding a resource in the digital library
• discovering and navigating the digital campus
• keeping up to date with campus status information
• keeping up to date with UCD advisory information
• printing an assignment at home
• submitting an assignment online
• digital access to learning materials, lectures, etc.
• opening a file and commanding a screen reader to narrate the content of the file.
• writing and sending an email using accessibility commands.
• searching for and opening and narrating a selected web page.
• Word - use device/computer accessibility commands to open a word file and narrate the content.
• PowerPoint - use device/computer accessibility commands to open a PowerPoint file and narrate the content.
• other application - use device/computer commands to open an application file and narrate the content.
• Word, PowerPoint, other application - use device/computer accessibility commands to edit a file (e.g., add/modify new content).
• navigating around a computer file system via accessibility commands.
• using accessibility commands to open a file and commanding it to be saved in another location.

Video Presentation

Create a short video explaining your project. Upload to your favourite video sharing platform (e.g., Vimeo, YouTube) and share the link URL as indicated in Brightspace.

(focus on design insights). You can be as creative as you like with the video. It could take the form of: narrated slides, a single-take talking head to camera, a complex expressive multi-shot production or some other format you choose.

Consider mentioning the following areas:

• Problem definition.
• Indication of evidence gathered.
• Statements of design needs identified.
• Relate to the design thinking process, use of an iterative, structured design process. 

Images used, whether self-generated or 3rd party copyright, should have source acknowledgements in addition to explanatory/descriptive captions.

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Term Paper

Scope: A scholarly research report focusing the application of the research method(s) you used for the design brief study.

Include a brief literature review, example protocols for how you chose to apply the method(s) You could discuss issues such as about the quality of field data gathered, how useful or easy was it to analyse, arriving at findings intended for design innovations.

Deliverables: Write an 8-page research paper. This page count includes the References section. Graphs, images, tables are not included in the 8 pages and so are indicated by caption and cross-reference text only e.g., <<Table 1 goes here >> or << Figure 1 goes here>>. Copies of the actual tables, figures, images will go into the appendix after the 8 pages. There is no page limit on the appendix.

The references section must contain at least 10 scholarly references in addition to (Battarbee et al., 2014) and (IDEO.org, 2015). Note: Graphs, images, tables must be placed in the appendix after the References section.

References

• Battarbee, K., Suri, J. F., and Howard, S. G. (2014). Empathy on the edge: scaling and sustaining a human-centered approach in the evolving practice of design.
• IDEO.org (2015). The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design. IDEO Canada.

[note] Use Word's 'Caption' function to identify data boxes, tables, figures, photos etc in the appendix.
[note] Data can be included in full in a section in the appendix at the end of the document - not included in the page count.
[note] Lengthy research protocol steps, transcripts, recordings etc,  can be indicated or included more fully in a the appendix at the end of the document - the appendix not included in the page count.

Template: You must use the specified scientific conference template for the paper. Choose between either the LaTeX or Word template, based on the format required for the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS). Copies are available on (Google Drive link). Papers should be submitted as a ".pdf" file. Note: By using the template, you will automatically and naturally be producing a document that complies with the required format (page layout, fonts and font sizes, line spacing, heading styles, reference style etc.).

Most important! Please ensure direct quotes are presented within quotation marks followed by the appropriate source/identification or citation. Please ensure identifiable images are used with individuals consent with appropriate source/identification or citation and/or are anonymised/obscured if necessary.

Example outline of a typical journal style paper - choose section titles as needed.

Title
The title and abstract should both capture the essence of the study.

Abstract 

Introduction / Literature (positioning)
Give a brief introduction to the literature and positioning for the study. Literature review for method(s) being used. Literature (if any) on the research context (AS-IS).

Apply and Evaluate Research Methods to Context
How you applied the research method(s). Outline of research protocol, approach, site, subjects etc.

Data / Evidence
A summary or concise presentation of data / evidence.

Analysis / Discussion
Analyse the data/findings. Analysis and discussion to establish the significance of what was discovered. Your interpretation of the data / evidence. Propose alternatives (TO-BE). Comment on the efficacy of the research method(s) used.

Conclusions
Summarise the findings concisely, often in a page. This is a overall synthesis distilling your analysis and its relevance to theory and the literature. May include a very short note on weakness of the research.

References
The bibliography/reference section is crucial to get right as it is the index to prior research and literature that you have cited in the paper.

(all the above sections are included in the page count guidelines/limit)
(the appendices below are not included in the page count guidelines/limit)

Appendix I

1-page Personal Learning Reflection included as an appendix.

Other appendices as needed
Use appendices for figures and tables mentioned by reference in the body of the paper. Us extra appendices to provide additional detail if necessary. Usually data samples, or intermediate representations, for example a sample of the data analysis process, coding frames, stages in the coding and summary or intermediate categories from data.

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Grading of the Term Paper
Grading of research papers will consider the following criteria:

1. The research project (motivation and goals) is clearly explained.
2. Critical positioning in literature.
3. Empirical work, data and evidence presented.
4. Contributions are clear.
5. Overall quality of the document as a finished product.

And so; questions the examiner will ask when reading the paper will be:

• Is the research project (motivation and goals) clearly explained?
• How is it positioned in the literature?
• Is empirical work, data and evidence presented?
• Are the findings, conclusions, contributions clear?
• Overall quality, how does the document look and read?

A brief explanation of letter grade descriptors is provided below.

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Modular (letter) grades for reports and written work.

A+/A

• The report is suitable for submitting to conference, journal, or executive with little revision.
• There is a compelling logic to the report that reveals clear insight and understanding of the issues.
• Analytical techniques used are appropriate and correctly deployed.
• The analysis is convincing, complete and enables creative insight.
• The report is written in a clear, lucid, thoughtful and integrated manner-with complete grammatical accuracy and appropriate transitions.
• The report is complete and covers all important topics.
• Appropriate significance is attached to the information presented.
• Research gathered is summarised in some way, research and analytical methods described and discussed, evidence linked to argument and conclusions.

A-/B+

• The report may be suitable for submitting to conference, journal, or executive if sections are revised and improved.
• There is a clear logic to the report that reveals insight.
• Analytical techniques used are appropriate and correctly deployed.
• The analysis is convincing, complete and enables clear insight.
• The report is written in a clear, lucid, and thoughtful manner-with a high degree of grammatical accuracy.
• The report is complete and covers all important topics.
• Appropriate significance is attached to the information presented.

B/B-

• The report may be suitable as a discussion draft for further development or refinement.
• There is a clear logic to the report.
• Analytical techniques are deployed appropriately.
• The analysis is clear and the authors draw clear, but not comprehensive conclusions for their analyses.
• The report is written in a clear, lucid and thoughtful manner, with a good degree of grammatical accuracy.
• The report is substantially complete, but an important aspect of the topic is not addressed.
• The report may have used or presented some information in a way that was inappropriate. 

C

• The report may be suitable as a preliminary draft but needs substantial revision in a number of areas to develop further.
• The basic structure of the report is well organised but may need rebalancing.
• The content of the report may be partial, incomplete or unfinished with important aspects not addressed.
• The report used information that was substantially irrelevant, inappropriate or inappropriately deployed.
• The report’s analysis is incomplete and authors fail to draw relevant conclusions.
• The report may contain many errors in expression, grammar, spelling.

D/E

• The report may appear to be preliminary, speculative, and/or substantially incomplete.
• Whatever information provided is used inappropriately.
• The structure of the report may be inappropriate or need substantial reorganisation and/or rebalancing.
• There may be little analysis, evidence may not be founded, the findings may be inconclusive.
• The report appears to frequently use information that is substantially irrelevant, inappropriate or inappropriately deployed.
• The report may be poorly written, organised and presented.
• Frequent errors of grammatical expression.

Photography/Video Consent - Recording in progress

Photography/Video Consent

We may seek your consent for the use of photographs and/or video recordings, including images of you, for the purpose of research illustration, creating teaching resources and promoting the course. This consent applies to images, videos, and audio recording.

By taking part you give permission to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be  shared and published. Recordings for publication (e.g. via print, podcast and/or video streaming) are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Creative Commons license Attribution, Non Commercial, Share Alike). The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0

These recordings can be shared in print and digital media formats, for print publications, websites, e-marketing of the university, posters, banners, advertising the university in films, and for social media campaigns. Any content on websites will be accessible globally. This means that in some countries outside Europe, where websites might be accessed, the level of protection of your privacy rights might be less than in the EEA.