Testing with Test Group

After arranging to test my product on a class of KS3 geogrpahy students, today I carried out the testing. Instead of handing out test scripts I created a short questionnaire which focused on my key success criteria which will help me accept or reject my criteria.
The testing went well with a total of 30 finished questionnaires, in the near future I plan to create graphs from the results which I can use throughout my evaluation to show the acception or rejection of my success criteria.

Testing

I have chosen 2 test users to test my product so that I can make relevent changes thus improving the quality of my product. The 2 test users are Megan Walker and Arran Bowen (in target age -11). I gave them both my test scripts and explained how to use and fill the scripts and left them to use my product on their own. This made sure that they weren't influenced by my presence or others opinions and the results would be as reliable as possible.
The testing went well and a few key points which need to be changed have been shown to me, some of these include:

• Buttons dissapearing
  


• No videos
  


• Missing buttons where relevent - such as replay buttons and back buttons

Overall I feel that the feedback I recieved was mainly positive however I will work on making the necessary changes to improve the quality of my final product.

Transforming the Tsunami Page

As mentioned in my clients feedback, I need to make some changes to my Tsunami page. He put forward two ideas of either having a step by step animation whichs shows the formation of tsunamis or give a detailed case study of the 2004 Asian tsunami.

I have chosen to create a 7 page guide of tsunamis. It will include the formation, general information and a little bit on the 2004 Tsunami, focusing on the Sri Lankan resort of Kaultara.

This is a screenshot of the design before I started changing:

(Left Picture) This is the begining scene of the Tsunami page which explains the causes of tsunamis and has a picture of the worlds plate boundaries:

(Right Picutre) This is the second page which explains how tsunamis form, the animation is of two sea plates moving against each other and creating a wave. The page contains 3 graphics which will contain animation and I have hand drawn each aspect of the page.

Client Evaluation and Testing

Today I held a meeting with my client, Mr Young, to evaluate and test my product. The point of this was to gain valuable feedback from which I can apply to my product to achieve a more efficient and improved product. I held the client evaluation/testing before the target audience testing so that I could have two chances to improve my product from feedback.
To test my product we used the test guides that I had previously created which focused on navigation, animation and the quiz. Although I have not yet finished my quiz and imported my videos I believe that the feedback will still be vitally important.
Alongside the test guide I wrote a short page outlining the general points which were made by Mr Young throughout the evaluation.

Key points which I need to improve before the Test User tests:

• Prolong animation timings
• Ensure that there are 10 questions in my quiz
• Finish my quiz, including a final score
• Fix relevent buttons
• Change Tsunami page
• Add videos

I will try to complete these within the week.

Test Scripts

In time for my client and test user tests I have created a set of scripts which will guide the user in how to test and what they should be looking for.


I have seperated the testing into 3 stages:
1. Animation
2. Navigation
3. Quiz

This will give me a wide and easy to interpret set of feedback which I can use to improve my product. It will also make the testing stage much easier for my client and test users.

Video Making

17 February

Today I have added more animation into my volcano page. I have used shape motions and classic tweening to finish my interactive animation of volcanoes. Tomorow is the final day of term and on the 4th March is the deadline for my project to be handed in and marked. Over half term I need to 'fine tune' each page adding more animation and images. I then need to publish and link them to each other. During the first week back I plan to upload all of my documents to my e-portfolio.

17/12/10

Today we are breaking up for the Christmas holidays, over the holidays I plan to carry on with my project as much as possible to ensure that I meet the set deadlines.
Over the holidays I need to:

1. Update any of my work and improve from feedback
2. Carry on animating my flash product
3. Update my gannt chart (beginning of January)

09/12/10

Today I have started creating the Volcano flash page. I have created a new volcano with lava in so that I can use it as my interactive animation, I managed to put in a return button and background.

I have recieved help with animating my disasters page from Mr Preston (Senior Manager) and so I will apply this onto the page within the next week.

My idea is to create two interactive animations which will teach the structure and formation of a volcano. I feel this will be easier for both I and the user as trying to explain the structure and formation is difficult by text.

07/11/10

Today I have started on my thrid page in Adobe Flash (Disasters page) and I just need to finish animating the buildings.

I have also had a meeting with my Senior Manager and have been given new objectives to complete:

1. Re-cap making quiz on Adobe Flash by using the guide sheet on the VLE


2. Update my Gannt chart to show my current progress


3. Download Adobe Flash onto my own Laptop so that I can work at home

30/11/10

Today I have finished animating my Homepage with lava drops. I have also linked it to my Introduction page. I later need to add a return button onto the Introduction page and then I can move onto my next page.
I have also learnt how to use motion tweens, shape tweens and alpha fading which I can apply throughout my product.
This is a screenshot of my finished homepage in flash:

29/11/10 Gannt Update

Today I have updated my gannt chart showing my current progress in the project. A few tasks such as the project proposal and risk analysis took up more time than initially thought and so I have taken time out of the contingency bar at the end of the gannt chart.

18/11/10

Today I have started creating my motions in Flash. I have started with the introduction page and have included the moving raindrops from clouds. During the last lesson (16/11/10) I struggled a lot with trying to create motion paths and animations, however today I feel I have come more to grips with animating in Flash.
I still need to add in a few more raindrops and must then move on to other pages.

11/11/10 - Start of Flash Product

Today I have started creating my final project. I have made the opening page and introduction page in fireworks already and have started to import them into flash.
Next time I need to insert animations onto the introduction page, I also need to create a video for the introduction.
I will start creating the video over the weekend (13/11/10).

New Idea

My new idea will be on the topic of Natural Diasters in the geogrpahy cirriculum.

It will contain 3 sub-topics including Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis.

The user will be taught how each forms, effects of each disaster and other key information provided by the national cirriculum. Information will be provided through the form of videos, animations, text and images.

I will still base the success of my product on the same criteria stated in my functional specification.

I am now in the process of planning through using Gannt charts and writing my risk analysis.

First Meeting With Client

I have chosen my client as geogrpahy teacher Mr Young as he teaches geography to many students at Heathside and thus will know what to look for within a product such as mine. During the meeting I discussed the project proposal with him and how I wasn't completely happy with the project theme. He agreed and commented that it would be more beneficial for younger students to use a program such as the one I will be making. With a younger target audience in mind (Years 7 - 8, ages 11-12) we went through the topics of the current cirriculum that they are learning. I decided that the Natural Disasters topic sounded interesting and would be a fun idea to create into an interactive flash product. I now need to change my proposal to suit my new idea of Natural Disasters. I will write more on what the idea will contain in the next post as I need to do some researching first.