Assessment Brief
MODULE: User Experience Design, TFT00036I
ASSESSMENT TITLE: Summative Assessment
ASSESSMENT DATES:
SET: Week 4 Semester 1, Thursday 17th October 2024
HAND-IN: Week 13 Semester 1, Thursday 16th January 2025, 12.00 (midday)
THE TASK
For this assessment, you must develop an interactive media prototype which could be used as a training resource by volunteers at York Archaeology’s Barley Hall attraction.
You must also write a 2,250 word individual Design Report explaining and reflecting on the design and development process you adopted.
This assessment is worth 100% of the total marks for this module.
GUIDANCE
The design brief:
Volunteers at Barley Hall get involved as Room Guides, helping to welcome and guide visitors to the attraction, supporting visitor engagement by offering information and answering questions about the history and archaeology of Barley Hall.
Volunteers deliver this information to both visiting families and adults and learn the content and skills they need for this from written information packs and training slides that can be text heavy and a little dry.
The York Archaeology Volunteer Management Team would like to explore opportunities to create more accessible, enjoyable training resources for volunteers including a media based resource which would allow self-led, bite-sized learning that helps volunteers to bring the history of Barley Hall to life for our visitors. Any resource should account for the diversity of age and backgrounds in the volunteer audience by offering simple, easy to navigate resources suitable for a wide range of technical capabilities and learning styles.
You will have access to existing volunteer training resources (along with potentially other historical and archaeological resources as directed by the Volunteer Management Team) to create an output which focuses on one of the key spaces recommended for volunteering and addresses one of the following areas of interpretation (already explored in the attraction);
• In the Great Hall; the tablewares and table setting and how these would have been used and experienced during a medieval feast at Barley Hall, including where people would have sat, how guests would have been served, and the order of seating
• In the Lesser Chamber; the bed, crib and other furnishings in this room that tell the story of daily life and routine in medieval Barley Hall, including such activities as sleeping, washing, socialising and prayer
Please also note the expectations of the client and student work as documented in the “Community Projects Student Code of Conduct” available on the VLE.
The format:
Your project could take a number of forms, and the museum is interested in creative solutions to the problem. However, it should adhere to a couple of guidelines:
• It should be historically accurate (at least in feel) - it can include imagined characters and settings, but these should be appropriate to the time period.
• It should draw from existing learning material (which will be provided to you) for the content it needs to deliver
• It must consider the volunteer audience (aged 18-80+) in both tone and features and allow for different learning styles
• Be suitable for use on a smart phone and computer to allow for different technological capabilities and preferred usage
• Support self-led, bite-sized learning to allow individual topics to be learnt in small chunks.
• Support continual learning by structuring material to allow volunteers to log/map the information gained and onward goals in an enjoyable way.
• Support volunteers to understand accurate information via clear signposting or feedback of correct information or answers.
• Allow volunteers to find and revisit information they may need again.
• Offer high levels of accessibility
• It should aim to be both informative and engaging
• It should be designed for administration by a small team of 2 staff (e.g 24 hour access to support or chat functions would not be available)
• You must not include any York Archaeology branding on your
interactive media prototype but it should fit with York Archaeology branding styles in feel
• You must not gather any primary data from York Archaeology volunteers or visitors for this assessment.
• You may include assets (e.g. text, images, media) from existing sources in
your prototype as long as they are properly acknowledged in a Copyright Appendix to your report.
• You should carefully consider the use of AI technologies to ensure the ethical and accurate presentation of information or visuals.
• Data provided by York Archaeology should not be provided to or used in any AI systems or tools.
Prototype Medium:
The choice of medium for your Interactive Media Prototype is up to you. You could consider the following options:
● A prototype of your design with Wizard of Oz functionality - evidence of this could be submitted by a video demonstrating the design concept in action.
● A game (e.g. telling a story in a playful way that may aid learning or provide information), submitted as a packaged Unity executable or Processing sketch (in particular see the submission guidelines).
● A video illustrating your design (e.g. showing your design in use, or a narrated screen capture of an Adobe XD, or similar, prototype).
● A visualisation or interactive narrative submitted as a Processing sketch.
● A responsive website designed for desktop or mobile use, submitted as a self- contained file directory.
Regardless of which medium you choose, your Interactive Media Prototype must be submitted in ONE of the following file formats:
● Video (.mov; .mpeg4 or .mp4)
● Unity (zip file containing executable builds for both Windows and Mac platforms and source files)
● Processing (as a zip file containing executable builds for both Windows and Mac platforms and source files)
● Website (folder with local assets, e.g. .jpg, .png, and HTML, CSS and JavaScript. files)
On the Design Report:
This report should include:
● Title: A report title that describes your design.
● Overview: A 150-word summary suitable for an external audience (e.g., suitable for publishing on a portfolio website) that succinctly describes the context (i.e., the Barley Hall attraction), your design process (i.e. what you did), your inspiration, and your design concept.
● Design Approach: A description of the approach and methods you used to
generate your design concept (i.e., desk-based research, information from the museum staff etc.,), your approach to ethical data gathering (e.g. for usability testing), and how this informed your design (e.g. personas, user journey maps etc.).
● Design Statement: A statement describing the challenge or opportunity your design seeks to address. This should refer to your understanding of the wider UK and global museum context, as well as the specifics of the Barley Hall attraction, and any desk-based user research you did. Make sure you state which theme you have chosen to focus on and why you decided on this.
● Design Context: At least three researched and referenced examples
relevant to your design that inspired you (e.g., an international art installation, an immersive museum experience, an online game).
● Development Process: A written and visual description of how you created and iterated your prototype, for instance, from early sketches to first stage paper-based prototype through to final prototype as submitted. This should include details of any usability testing and evaluation that you conducted.
● Critical Reflection: A personal critical reflection on your completed prototype and the process you took to make it. What would you change or rework if you could revise and reiterate the design again?
You must meet the target number of words as stated on this brief. You are allowed a 10% leeway either way (i.e. 225 words over or under is acceptable). The word count must be stated clearly at the end of the report.
Appendices, if appropriate, do not count towards the 2,250 word report word limit.
You should note that over- or under-writing beyond the limits of the leeway may incur mark deductions with respect to the clarity of your work per the assessment and feedback criteria.