The portal nobody could use
A college buys a new student portal. It looks good. But it takes a full minute to load. It has nine steps to book a room. A blind student cannot read it. It does not work with the old timetable. And nobody knows who to call.
The college paid a lot. The system still fails its users.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can say whether a digital system meets the needs of its users, and name the fault if it does not.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Functionality | the things a system can do |
| Pain point | a part of a system that annoys or blocks users |
| Accessibility | making a system usable by people with extra needs |
| Compatibility | working well with other systems |
| Legacy system | an old system a firm still uses |
| Downtime | time when a system is not working |
| Future proofing | choosing and planning so a system lasts and can be updated |
| Installation package | a ready made file that sets up the software for you |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Starter: what you already know
Have a go
Starter: what you already know
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
A good system does the job
Good functionality means the system lets users do every task they need. If staff must use a paper form for one job, the system is missing a feature.
A pain point is a part that annoys users. Two common ones are response time and complexity. Slow answers waste time. Too many steps make users give up.
Tell users how long they must wait
Users cope better when they know what to expect. A service desk should say when a user will get an answer. If that time changes, it should tell the user at once.
A simple task should take few steps. If a task takes ten clicks, find a way to cut it to three.
Check: functionality and pain points
Have a go
Check: functionality and pain points
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.