AbstractsPsychology

Woven-app for bringing students together

by Antonia Stensborg




Institution: Roskilde University
Department:
Year: 2015
Keywords: Informatics; Project
Posted: 02/05/2017
Record ID: 2116613
Full text PDF: http://rudar.ruc.dk/handle/1800/24935


Abstract

This project is the collaborative work of three Informatics students. The idea for the project was motivated by a 2013 research by the University of Southern Denmark, which revealed that about 20% of students at some point feel lonely in their study life, due to the lack of study groups and social interactions. We therefore set out to design a platform that will facilitate students getting together to either study together, eat together or exercise together. We have hence created a high fidelity prototype of a mobile app, which we have named ‘Woven’. We have used the User Centred Design (UCD) approach in the design process of creating Woven. Through this concept, we have involved users, in this case students of RUC, in every stage of the design. We set out to find out together with users how we can go about creating such a platform. We began by gathering requirements and developing mock-up prototypes. Through semi-structured interviews, we have found out what users require from the app and the features they would like to have on the app. We have also used interviews and Think aloud sessions to test various stages of the design. Through iterative stages, we have made several incremental changes to the design before arriving at our final prototype. In the course of the project we found out the limitations of using mock-ups to test complex designs such as ours. We also encountered situations where our usability testing method has not worked fully to our advantage, and also instances where user feedback contradicted our theoretical knowledge. Our conclusion of this project is that we have created ‘Woven’, an app that students can use to either create or join events to study together, eat together and exercise together. Through such an app students can connect with others outside their immediate circle thus giving them a sense of belonging. Advisors/Committee Members: Slot, Bent K (advisor).