Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology
COS70004 User-Centred Design
UCD Assignment
ILO Apply scholarly and evidence-based approaches to software requirements elicitation and
specification.
Analyse software context of use (i.e., users, tasks and system environment) using a variety of
models to identify user requirements.
Generic skills
■ analysis skills
■ communication skills
Purpose: In this assessment piece will give you the opportunity to develop the ability to find and make use
of evidence from scholarly sources (i.e., academic literature). This is an independent research
project.
Individual
Assessment
This assessment is worth 10% of the unit.
It is graded out 10 marks.
Submit via Blackboard as per instructions (use Turnitin to check for plagiarism).
No resubmits are allowed for this task.
Resources: Swinburne Library Human-Computer Interaction Reference Guide (in particular Databases/ACM
Digital Library)
Monash Universities Learning Support website for more assistance with academic writing.
Swinburne Library guide on how to reference
Deliverables Evidence of completion of Plagiarism Unit (e.g., screenshot)
Report on application of UCD process or technique as specified below
Marking Research Topics – Criteria Report must demonstrate:
■ an in-depth knowledge of the current semester’s Assignment Topic
■ the appropriate use of references to support an argument
■ evidence of reading one or more of the following:
• text book (e.g., Hartson & Pyla) and/or other related books,
• published journal articles, government publications, etc
■ in-text referencing and reference section according to Harvard style
Additional Research Topics – Criteria Professional presentation and English expression
Academic Integrity (see below for penalties related to violations of Academic Integrity)
Word Limit 1,500 (min) to 2,500 (max) words
Late Penalty 10% per day
User-Centred Design UCD Assignment
Assignment Topic: Personas
Imagine you are part of a user interface development team for a company that manufactures
medical devices. The team is considering using personas for their next
project. However, no one in the team has used them before. Your
task is to prepare a report for the development team on whether
or not they should use personas in the project. Issues you
should address in your report:
■ What are personas and why are they used?
■ What are the pros and cons of using personas?
■ Have any researchers used personas in this domain (i.e.,
medical devices) before? If so, what did they do and what
did they find?
■ What are your recommendations to the team about using
personas in the project (i.e., should they use personas in the project)?
Due to the safety critical nature of medical devices (i.e., malfunction may result in death or serious
injury), the team is most concerned with using techniques that will get the best outcomes
for the project.
To prepare for this report:
■ Do the Plagiarism Training Unit (see Blackboard/My Units) REQUIRED
■ Review how to cite and reference research articles (see Swin Library guide to Harvard
style referencing)
■ Read text book section on the topic
■ Search for relevant research using key word search terms on Google Scholar (note: if
PDF not available, then check Swin library catalogue)
• Find at least 1 primary reference to help you define the assignment topic
• Find at least 1 academic research paper on the assignment topic
Page 2 of 4
Hint: A good place to start this report might be our text book Hartson & Plya (Section 7.5)
User-Centred Design UCD Assignment
Academic Integrity
Use the following structure in your report…
Page 3 of 4
Not Ready to Pass Pass
Does not address the current semester’s topic
Penalty:
■ -10 marks
Report is on current semester’s topic.
Does not complete plagiarism training (see
Blackboard My Units)
Penalty:
■ – 1 mark
Shows evidence of completing plagiarism training (i.e.,
screenshot of MCQ test results see Blackboard My
Units).
Turnitin Originality Report indicates more than
20-30% similarity with:
■ other published work and/or
■ work submitted by other students
Penalty:
■ Work similar to other sources will not be
marked
■ -10 marks
Work from other sources is appropriately acknowledged.
Less than 20-30% similarity with other sources.
Note: Similarities with other students will not be detected and reported by Turnitin until AFTER due date. Do
not share references, resources or text with other students. Protect your work with adequate computer
security. If you provide work to another student you will be penalised the same as a student who uses
your work.
User-Centred Design UCD Assignment
Title page:
Include:
■ Unit code and name
■ Assignment title
■ Student name
■ Tutor’s name
■ Word count
Executive Summary
Overview of report and key recommendations.
Table of Contents
Make sure you use heading styles and use your word processor to autogenerate your table
of contents.
1 Introduction
In this section include:
■ Background information including purpose of report, definition of any key terms or concepts.
2 Body (Note: Choose informative section headings)
In this section include:
■ Evidence from your literature research
■ Logically organised sub-sections
3 Conclusion
In this section:
■ summarise main ideas and key findings
■ do not include any new information
References
A list of material cited in the text of the assessment.
Page 4 of 4
Hint: Write this last!
