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Team Echo

K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa,S, Jagtap


15 Dec 2016

H541 HCI: Final Design Project


III.
 Final Project Report

Submitted to Dr. Lynn Dombrowski

Problem Space

Network Mentoring:
Provide Career Advancement
Opportunities through
MENTOR to PROTG and
PEER to PEER Matching APP:

Report Contents
1.Validation (Product Assessment)
Usability Study Findings
Summary of Product Assessment
Survey Results
Appendix
Project Presentation Slides
Product Interface Screen Images
Problem Space+Requirements gathering Report
Explorative Design Report
Sketching, Prototyping, + Internal Report

2
3
4
5
6

7
8
End of Document
End of Document
End of Document

Team Name: ECHO


Team Members
Haley Rios @umail.iu.edu 317 694 6539
Sandeep (Sandy) Jagtap sajagtap@iu.edu 551 998 5472
Carlos Sosa csosa@umail.iu.edu 317 714 7672

H541 HCI: Final Design Project


IV> Final Project Report
15 Dec 2016

Validation (Product Assessment)

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

Link to Dynamic Prototype:

http://pages.iu.edu/~sajagtap/mentorconnect/#g=1&p=mentorconnect

To validate the solutions effectiveness and usability issue, a usability study


was conducted. The aim of study was:

To find strength and weakness of design solution

To benchmark the usability of application interface

To understand users mental model

To get users feedback on existing feature and its usefulness

To gather recommendations if any
The evaluation included target personas and usability experts as test users.
There were two type of user personas:
Mentors

Mentees (Young Pros and Grad Students)
The experts and users performed task on the interactive prototype.The task
were designed so that user would explore important features of the application. The tasks were as following:

Create new account in the application

Connect with mentor or peers in the application

Ask questions to your Peers or Mentors

Rate expertise of Peers or Mentors

Find Information on Science topic
At the end of session, users rated their experience in the form of a short
survey:
(https://docs.google.com/a/umail.iu.edu/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdxYDUL0FM31UDZIU3pIPFq55nYd8khoITh9dLTJNkzuozrVg/viewform).
The survey included questions regarding application concept, interface and
overall experience (Refer Appendix) .
During the session, moderators observed user verbal and nonverbal
response. At the end of session moderator had short interview with user
asking what users liked most, least and things that can be improved.

H541 HCI: Final Design Project

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

IV> Final Project Report


15 Dec 2016

Validation (Product Assessment)


Usability Study Findings

Link to Dynamic Prototype:

http://pages.iu.edu/~sajagtap/mentorconnect/#g=1&p=mentorconnect

Each user completed all assigned tasks. There were a couple of good
observation, responses and suggestion made by experts.

Task Error

Although most of user completed task successfully there were few instances where user and
expert deviated from expected path. Most of the users completed all the tasks listed below:
T o search post or information on the Science topic many user quickly reach to search
and some of the users inquired as to whether or not there is a filter. They did not bother to
scroll as it might be time costly.
M
 any users did not locate submenu in connections tab which is at the bottom
F ew of the users went straight to chat options in order to ask questions to mentor instead
of looking for Upcoming session and asking questions there.
Also while creating account most of user were confused about double barrel questions on the
skills. The question was which skill you like to know or you want help on.

Post Session Questionnaire

The survey was conducted at the end of session to capture users experience. Survey questions
were designed such that user response were either yes-no or ratings on five point scale.
Survey included following questions:
Yes/No response Question:
D
 oes application solves intended problem and satisfy basic requirements ?
D
 o you think solution to problem is new and creative ?
W
 ill you recommend this application to others ?
Five-point rating (worst to Excellent ) Questions:
H
 ow would you rate Ease of Use ?
H
 ow would you rate Ease of Navigation ?
H
 ow would you rate Intuitiveness of application interface ?
H
 ow would you rate Information Organization in application ?
H
 ow would you rate Aesthetic Qualities of Application ?
H
 ow would you rate application on consistency and standards?

Interview

At the end of session, the users also participated in short interview.


Moderators asked following questions to user
W
 hat things user liked the most about application, interface, experience
and whole concept ?
W
 hat things user did not like or least liked about application, interface, experience and
whole concept ?
If given a chance what things you would like to change or add to the interface or concept ?
Is there anything you would like say or add which I did not asked about ?

H541 HCI: Final Design Project


IV> Final Project Report
15 Dec 2016

Validation (Product Assessment)


Summary of Product Assessment:

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

Link to Dynamic Prototype:

http://pages.iu.edu/~sajagtap/mentorconnect/#g=1&p=mentorconnect

The survey results, observation notes and post session


interview response were compiled to analyze the user
feedback.

Problems with the Product:

The key problems in application are summarized as follows:


Application does poor job to differentiate mentor and mentee
Application lack to provide guide or help to users
Lack of filters for searching specific topic and AMA
Lack feature of asking question if there is no AMA sessions
Few interactions like selected degree, major can provide auto complete feature
Position of options for recommendation and connection option is not
intuitive
Application identity is not emphasized in the application as application logo is not displayed once user onboard
Lack of strategy to attract mentors

Positive things with the Product:

The key positive findings users mentioned during the evaluation:


Simplified onboarding / registration process broken into smaller
chunks
Short information about mentors and peers in the application
Use of novel interactions
Simplified Navigation
Use of common and easily understandable icons
All features are upfront and easy to access

Recommendations for Future Development:

There were really good recommendation made by users and experts. Also
user observation lead to following recommendation for future design
development
Some of the key recommendation are as following :
Devise strategy to attract mentors
Make clear distinction between mentor and mentee during onboarding process
Modify onboarding process based on the persona and make it more
flexible
Make topic search more flexible by providing filters
Add notification when mentors answers the questions
Validate possibility of creating group of people by category to motivate peer to peer learning
Visual design changes to emphasize application identity

H541 HCI: Final Design Project


IV> Final Project Report
15 Dec 2016

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

Validation (Product Assessment)


Summary of Product Assessment:
Survey Results:

<I will add result screenshot once we have results from


everyone>

H541 HCI: Final Design Project

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

IV> Final Project Report


15 Dec 2016

Appendix

H541 HCI: Final Design Project


IV> Final Project Report
15 Dec 2016

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

Project Presentation (slides)

H541 HCI: Final Design Project


IV> Final Project Report
15 Dec 2016

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

Product Interface Screen Images

Team Echo

K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa,S, Jagtap


4 Nov 2016

H541 HCI I: Final Design Project


I.  Domain Space And Requirements Gathering Report

Submitted to Dr. Lynn Dombrowski

Problem Space

Network Mentoring:
Provide Career Advancement
Opportunities through
MENTOR to PROTG and
PEER to PEER Matching

Report Contents
1.Summary of Interviews and Research Findings
2. Synthesis of Problem Scope/Domain

Team Name: ECHO


2
4

Team Members
Haley Rios @umail.iu.edu 317 694 6539
Sandeep (Sandy) Jagtap sajagtap@iu.edu 551 998 5472
Carlos Sosa csosa@umail.iu.edu 317 714 7672
Kevin Miller, kmiller5@iupui.edu 317 979 6885

H541 HCI I: Final Design Project

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

I. Domain Space And Requirements Gathering Report


4 Nov 2016

Summary of Interview and Research Findings


Interview/Primary Research:

Persona/Student: a female undergraduate who is


about to enter the workforce upon graduation.
We found that connecting with mentors is not necessarily
something that is easy, and often times difficult when she
does not have access to many people in her field of work.

Persona/Student: Undergraduate, economics major.


Subject insisted on seeking mentors with similar interest
and having practical skills and knowledge. Subject currently
has mentor,s but mentors skill set or profession does not
match with his own even though there was a process to
match mentor to protg (in which subject filed his bio and
interests). Subject maintains that having a mentor is good
thingwe get to know events and you can talk to mentor
about things that concern a common career path.

Persona/Professional: HR Consulting
Subject regretsnot having more opportunities for collaboration and learning on the job. Sees use of Skype and Facetime
as a useful way to reach students long distance.
Persona/Professional: Advertising
Subject loves the practice of mentoring. Expressed interest in
providing creative guidance, but also providing the essential
understanding of advertising as a business.
Persona/Professional: Educator
Subject values the honest constructive criticism you get in a
work environment. This person emphasized that he wanted
to work with people really were motivatedWho really
wanted to have a mentor.

Overall, the idea of having a mentor in your specific field seems to be


well received. Students seem to value mentoring but also seem aprehensive about initiating the processespecially if a mentoring program
is not available at their school. Subjects embraced the idea of utilizing
tech to make these connections and mentioned that if they would reach
mentors through email or linkedIn. It would seem that connecting peers
and mentors with similar interest is a crucial step to exchanging information and advance skills and recommended networking activities (i.e.
collaborating or attending trade events).
From the professional standpoint, The subjects we spoke with seem
quite interested in assisting up-and-coming professionals. Although they
agreed that face-to-face meetings are the best way to impart experience
and knowledge, they liked the idea of applying technology to mentoring.
They all acknowledged that they simply would not have enough time to
deliver a well balanced and thorough mentoring experience face-to-face,
But seem to agree that using Skype or FaceTime, Texting or emails would
relieve that burden.
When asked about their early careers and mentoring experiences, They
simply express that they wish they had more. These professionals also
indicated that it would have been nice to have a rotation of trainers/
mentors to get more exposure to multiple work styles and problem-solving. This would help alleviate unrealistic expectations.
They all, in essence, wished they would have had more networking
opportunities. Looking back, they also acknowledged that information
regarding business/finances would be extremely valuable.

H541 HCI I: Final Design Project


I. Domain Space And Requirements Gathering Report
4 Nov 2016

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

Summary of Interview and Research Findings


Secondary Research:

There are several applications and websites which already have solutions that let you find people of similar interests.
For example:

meet up : https://www.meetup.com/

InCommon : http://www.getincommon.com/

GroupSpace: http://groupspaces.com/

WeGoGo: http://www.wegodo.com/
Each of the above applications have components of finding people with similar interests and then hace the users meet.
Even though these exist, people still find difficult to connect with people of similar interest. The component of instant
connection with mentor or peer with similar professional skill to guide is missing in all of these apps.

LinkedIn is a popular site that has the potential for professional networking. Although there are many professionals and
companies to connect with, finding a mentor to connect with is not its primary purpose nor does it make it finding one
easy. LinkedIn describes itself as a site where you get access to people, jobs, news, updates, and insights that help you
be great at what you do. LinkedIn has an option to connect with people if you know how to find them, but often times it
is used as a place to post a version of your resume and find jobs to apply for. Its sole purpose is not to connect mentees or
young professionals to mentors who are ready to give advice on things such as education, career, and skill advancement.
A potential solution would focus on giving both parties a space to search for each other option based on certain career
areas, skills, and level of expertise.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-find-sales-mentor-linkedin-chris-spurvey
http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/get-a-great-mentor-through-linkedin-5-steps.html
Online Mentoring Options:
Generally, face-to-face mentoring often translates well to the online environment. Several of the same basic principles
utilized during in-person meetings apply online, too. One-on-one mentoring services, like icouldbe.org and iMentor,
involve individual students interacting with one mentor each, often discussing topics that are not explored as deeply in
school. Other mentoring providers, such as the Electronic Emissary, are designed to integrate students curriculum-based
learning during the school day, typically requiring direct teacher involvement. Personalized communication with mentors
who can provide work assignments that address school curriculum subjects directly can help to make school-based
learning more relevant for students. Cross-cultural concerns should be addressed in mentoring multi-cultural or international. Regardless, many of the online mentoring services address the attraction/advantage of removing cultural and other
forms of bias that comes with face-to-face meetings. Online mentoring, by its nature, tends to hinder potential individual
bias and provide a positive sense of anonymity.

H541 HCI I: Final Design Project

Team Echo

I. Domain Space And Requirements Gathering Report


4 Nov 2016

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

Synthesis of Problem Scope/Domain


Primary Purpose:
Assist young professionals, recent college grads and grad students who need help and guidance in
succeeding in their chosen career path(s). Mentoring is vital to that success it helps qualified and
motivated students advance in their chosen careers through experience sharing, practical tips, dos and donts,
and general guidance.
Issues With Todays Mentoring (The Old System)
In our research, we discovered that the core of learning at the graduate level and early career levels is
one-to-one dialogue between a mentor and a protg (learner). It is clear from our interviews that it is
important to establish a relationship with mentors in order to earn trust, thus amplifying the opportunity to
learn from the field environments.
Traditional face-to-face mentoring does, however, present several problems. It primarily prohibits thousands of
potential volunteers who do not feel they havw the flexibility in their schedules to make the kind of commitment
that mentoring or tutoring requires. Additionally, traditional models make it hard for mentoring programs to
thrive in the most underserved/isolated communitiesthe very communities that can benefit the most from it.

Problem Space/Domain

The concept of having instant connection/access with people (mentors and peers) with similar interests online
is an important and appealing one. Todays emerging professionals seek guidance in pursuing academic, career,
and life paths from experts/veterans. They want to determine which skills and skill development opportunities
they should gravitate toward. An application solution (i.e. online forum/social media) should provide students (and
young professionals) with relevant experience by connecting them with professionals (mentors) or peers in the field
of their interest. It should be a friendly, easy-to-navigate MENTOR to PROTG matching system that
delivers these needs.
Primary Goals:
Provide Career Advancement Opportunities through Social Computing solution
Reach Under-served Students
Expand Mentoring Networks
Match Mentors and Protgs and Peers to Peers

A Social Computing Mentoring Resource


We think that we can improve upon the quality and increase the use of mentoring with a social media system
that brings mentors and protgs together through technology. We plan to use technology to add flexibility and structure in its mentoring program, engaging professionals as mentors and mentees from some of the
most economically and geographically isolated communities. A well-developed CSCW system will help locate
mentors who are experts in various disciplines and who have been willing to share expertise and experience,
but unable to do so because of time constraints and location barriers. Another important reason to address
this problem space is to make mentoring more accessible is to underserved populations (young people who
do not have access to quality educational resources). For example, in some fields of study or vocations where
gender or racial inequality exists, its easier online than in person to target and pair up mentees with mentors
in a way that may help diversify their profession(s).
4

Team Echo

K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa,S, Jagtap


11 Nov 2016

H541 HCI I: Final Design Project


II.
 Explorative Design

Submitted to Dr. Lynn Dombrowski

Problem Space

Network Mentoring:
Provide Career Advancement
Opportunities through
MENTOR to PROTG and
PEER to PEER Matching

Report Contents
1.Key Project Requirements
2. Scenarios
3. System Direction

Team Name: ECHO


2
3
4

Team Members
Haley Rios @umail.iu.edu 317 694 6539
Sandeep (Sandy) Jagtap sajagtap@iu.edu 551 998 5472
Carlos Sosa csosa@umail.iu.edu 317 714 7672
Kevin Miller, kmiller5@iupui.edu 317 979 6885

H541 HCI I: Final Design Project


II. Explorative Design
11 Nov 2016

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

Key Project Requirements


People have always sought wisdom and advice from elders, those in positions in which they hope to find themselves. They have gone
to great lengths to connect with these sages, advisors/mentors. Todays frenetic lifestyles distract and prevent much of that
age-old tradition and this problem scope identifies a way to use technology to help popularize and utilize mentoring.
The aim of Team Echos final project is to support these mentoring traditionsto bring mentor and protg/mentee together
through technology (an application) on a single platform to learn, share and exchange knowledge/experience.
Networking with others (peers) who value mentoring and learning from their peers is invaluable to todays aspiring professionals,
students, and enthusiasts. Our prospective users are looking for a plana system within which to connect to those individuals who will help light their career path.
In order to achieve that, we plan to devise a system that will carefully qualify and match mentee with other mentees (Peer2Peer) and
experienced mentors of the similar field of interest. Once there is certain match among these individuals, the design, should provide
a supportive mechanism to exchange information in a meaningful way specific to the mentoring experience (reminders, suggested
discussions, tips). In a broader sense, the design is aimed towards connecting experienced experts in a field to anyone who wants
to learn how to succeed in that particular field.
In summary, the following are the key requirements that our
solution should address:
It should provide Intuitive, Simple and efficient ways to discover
and connect mentee with other mentees and mentors of similar
interests while respecting individuals privacy
It should provide a flexible and engaging way to exchange
information in richer ways than may be currently
available (chats, email, etc.)
It should support Peer2Peer learning and information sharing

Our basic users (personas) are:


S tudents (and other adults seeking to change their
career direction) aspiring to be professional, who
are seeking advice from experts in the field of their
interest/career path
P rofessionals (experts) who want to contribute to
their industry/society and share the knowledge
acquired through their experience.

It should encourage mentors to share knowledge, yet, at the


same time determine how to decide when and to whom to
respond and connect.
It should motivate everyone using this platform
to contribute
It should provide a means to qualify serious protg candidates
Additionally, to extend the reach of solution to masses,
It should be inexpensive
It should support traditional desktops, laptops and most
importantly, hand-held mobile devices.
It should simple and easy to use.
It should inclusive to the users of diverse age, gender, profession,
familiarity with technology, skills etc.

H541 HCI I: Final Design Project


II. Explorative Design
11 Nov 2016

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

Scenarios
Our Users: Mentees and Mentors

The scenarios for the both system options are somewhat similar but essentially different in how they actually make the
match (algorithmically or manually) and in the communication options (asynchronously or live). The following scenarios
illustrate and explore the means in which a mentor networking exchange might take place. In our first solution, a mentor
does not work or live with the mentees and does not pre-decide or decide on the spot what he wants to share. In the
second design solution, the mentor prefers to talk to the mentee in a live session.
Scenario 1:
Ana is a graduate student pursuing her masters degree in design. She wants to know about the industry practices from
an expert in the design industry. She seeks to connect with an expert currently working in the design industry exclusively
in finance domain as Ana is interested in finance and economics. Ana opens up our mobile application. She has set up her
bio and through a profile survey, she indicates her interests, plans, and career aspirations.
Our system solution will automatically suggest several matches which she explores (by reviewing details that these
potential mentors have posted on their profiles). Ana sends requests to connect with them. Her hope is to communicate
directly with them and/or get notifications about their knowledge sharing AMA sessions.
Scenario 2:
Daniel has been a professional designer for almost ten years. He is really passionate about design. He leads a team of
designers within the marketing communications department at an Investment Bank in New York. He has a really busy
schedule but he still wants to give some of his time to the community by teaching design, but he cannot commit to an
adjunct professor workload. His employer encourages him to become involved with the development of prospective
employees and may even allow him to devote 2-3 hours of his time to his field. He is excited about the opportunity but
protective of his time and he likes to pre-plan his schedule.
One weekend, Daniel decides to share his knowledge and agrees to participate on the weekends by answering questions
from aspiring designers through a live AMA session. He opens our app to start a scheduled live AMA mentoring session.
All of his followers and people in his connection get alerts about this AMA session the week before. During the AMA, he
receives several questions to which he responds carefully and with a personable tone. He answers his mentee/protgs
one-by-one. As he notices common themes, he begins to think about how he can consolidate his thoughts and provide
this information through video or audio blog in next session, or through another means.

H541 HCI I: Final Design Project


II. Explorative Design
11 Nov 2016

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

System Direction: Our Solution


Design Solutions: System Options:
A. T he web and mobile application which lets users find people with similar interests and provide a built-in
messenger service to initiate one-on-one communication between two interested parties. It also incorporates
asynchronous features like blog, video blog etc.
B. T he web and mobile application which automatically match your profile with people of similar interest and
has features like live AMA (Ask Me Anything) session in a video, audio or blog format for one who is sharing
knowledge

Team Echos Final Solution

Network Mentoring : : Mentor Networking

Effectively, our direction will incorporate all of the ideas explored here. Some of the key features that we
would like our application to include will support Peer2Peer networking as well as mentor/protg relationship
development. We have concluded that the featureslike the AMA sessionsare important to the ongoing
management of these relationships (i.e. reminders, suggestions, etc.). The live AMA sessions will be beneficial
for mentees who might not even know what sort of question to ask in many cases.
Our findings have also told us that our solution should provide flexibility to Mentors to decide
when/where to mentor, (and to some degree, what topics they should discuss) and with whom.
This way, they can easily allow time to focus on mentoring in their busy schedule.

Our solution will also employ an algorithm (to identify people and topics related to ones field of interest in
order to suggest the connection, live AMA or general topic discussion feed to the user). Also allow its users to
search the system and determine my profile information they wish to share. We are concerned that although the
technology required for such a platform is already in place, the development of this specific algorithm (to provide
matches of people and content alerts) can be challenging.
Our social computing system will spark Peer2Peer learning.
As peers ask questions and receive answers, all users will learn from these conversations.
At one point, most users will feel encouraged to contribute and that will be how the whole
community of young professionals and students (and certain mentors, as well) will benefit.

Team Echo

K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa,S, Jagtap


18 Nov 2016

H541 HCI: Final Design Project


III.
 Sketching, Prototyping & Internal Walk-through

Submitted to Dr. Lynn Dombrowski

Problem Space

Network Mentoring:
Provide Career Advancement
Opportunities through
MENTOR to PROTG and
PEER to PEER Matching APP:
Mentor Connect

Report Contents
1.Prototype sketches
2. Cognitive Walk-through Summary
3. Recommendations for the Final Dynamic Prototype

2
3
4

Team Name: ECHO


Team Members
Haley Rios @umail.iu.edu 317 694 6539
Sandeep (Sandy) Jagtap sajagtap@iu.edu 551 998 5472
Carlos Sosa csosa@umail.iu.edu 317 714 7672
Kevin Miller, kmiller5@iupui.edu 317 979 6885
1

H541 HCI: Final Design Project

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

III. Sketching, Prototyping & Internal Walkthrough


18 Nov 2016

Prototype: Mentor Connect


Summary of Cognitive Walk-throughs

Link to Working Paper Prototype:

https://drive.google.com/a/umail.iu.edu/file/d/
0B9yTgJLRh79EX0Nsdlp3cXl2cWpOSDYwMVoxQzRhUzBmRl80/view?usp=drivesdk

UARs (Feedback):
Task: Connecting with Mentor/Mentee

S ome of the issues that users may find while using
this system are in the clarity of the flow of it. Icon
tabs are not clear as to what they are representing.
Icons may need to be replaced with ones that are
more understandable or words that make tasks clear.
A
 lso, there is no clear search options when it comes
to finding new people to connect with as well as or
maybe a settings tabs to change preferences as to
who shows up in the connections and feed sections.
The main concerns here are flow and clarity of the
system.

G
 eneral flow of the app. works

Y ou can sign in with an email address, but theres no


place in the sign-up process to enter one.
T he sign-up link doesnt work, but when I click
Log In, it takes me to the sign-up process, instead
of the home screen.
S ign-up Step 4 isnt clear, except that it has
to do with skills.
A
 re all of the fields required? I would assume so, but
it might be good to tell the user.
T he newspaper icon tells me that theres a news feed
there, but I see something more like a home screen.
Perhaps a house icon?
T he Homeverbiage up top never changes
when you switch tabs.
T he marker icon feels like it means Edit rather than
asking a question. Perhaps a question mark?
O
 n the second tab, its unclear what Recommendation means. Is the user supposed to make a recommendation? Or is the app making a recommendation
to me? What sort of things are we recommending?

P erhaps need a welcome screen that introduces


and gives a quick overview of the goals of the
APP: to help Mentees connect with Mentors to
advance their career path.
Usability makes sense
U
 ser cam be confused on page 7 of the prototype. We need to make it clear that they are on
the FEED tab
H
 osting AMA button seems abrupt. The icon
pin, does not clearly depict/show that is
clickable and has an action associated with it.
Because, the user assumes icon to be label and
may choose not to click.
A
 ssumption that the student user understands
that they can choose more than one mentor. The
menu option had the labeling that asks users to
say something about themselves actually is
part of their profile. We need to make that clear.
The labeling does not directly indicate that it has
option to begin to explore mentor options and
start connecting.

H541 HCI: Final Design Project

Team Echo

III. Sketching, Prototyping & Internal Walkthrough


18 Nov 2016

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

Recommendations for the Final Dynamic Prototype


Core Features and Fuctionality

Career Development Tools and Mentoring thru Technology.


We are attempting to build an APP that easily allows mentors to connect with upand-coming professionals in their fields. We hope to allow direct matching based on
algorhyths and the submitted profiles.
There are many useful ways to connect with mentors. Direct messaging can be shared
with mentors who give permission. Online and offline meetings can be arranged to
begin to build professional relationships and networks. There can be live messaging
or scheduled AMAs (Ask Me Anything sessions arranged through the APP.
Based on Our Review (Walk-throughs) of the first Prototype,
Our Final Prototype Should:








U
 se meaningful icons and labels: For example icons for AMAs,
Messaging and Connections.
T he heading for each section in application should be changed
T he search should be able to search people and content
T he secondary menu in connection can be made more intuitive.
P rovide user a way to edit the profile details.
T here could be some interaction or way to guide user about the application
interface at the beginningClarify how the MATCH-MAKING works
C larify the communication options for connecting with a mentor/mentee
B e explicit as to which options are real time (AMAs) or off line mode (Video)
P resent features like private connections or shared connections

Link to Working Paper Prototype:

https://drive.google.com/a/umail.iu.edu/file/d/
0B9yTgJLRh79EX0Nsdlp3cXl2cWpOSDYwMVoxQzRhUzBmRl80/view?usp=drivesdk

H541 HCI: Final Design Project


III. Sketching, Prototyping & Internal Walkthrough
18 Nov 2016

Team Echo

S. Jagtap , K. Miller, H. Rios, C. Sosa

System Direction: Our Solution (Previously Submitted)


Design Solutions: System Options:
A. T he web and mobile application which lets users find people with similar interests and provide a built-in
messenger service to initiate one-on-one communication between two interested parties. It also incorporates
asynchronous features like blog, video blog etc.
B. T he web and mobile application which automatically match your profile with people of similar interest and
has features like live AMA (Ask Me Anything) session in a video, audio or blog format for one who is sharing
knowledge

Team Echos Final Solution

Network Mentoring : : Mentor Networking

Effectively, our direction will incorporate all of the ideas explored here. Some of the key features that we
would like our application to include will support Peer2Peer networking as well as mentor/protg relationship
development. We have concluded that the featureslike the AMA sessionsare important to the ongoing
management of these relationships (i.e. reminders, suggestions, etc.). The live AMA sessions will be beneficial
for mentees who might not even know what sort of question to ask in many cases.
Our findings have also told us that our solution should provide flexibility to Mentors to decide
when/where to mentor, (and to some degree, what topics they should discuss) and with whom.
This way, they can easily allow time to focus on mentoring in their busy schedule.

Our solution will also employ an algorithm (to identify people and topics related to ones field of interest in
order to suggest the connection, live AMA or general topic discussion feed to the user). Also allow its users to
search the system and determine my profile information they wish to share. We are concerned that although the
technology required for such a platform is already in place, the development of this specific algorithm (to provide
matches of people and content alerts) can be challenging.
Our social computing system will spark Peer2Peer learning.
As peers ask questions and receive answers, all users will learn from these conversations.
At one point, most users will feel encouraged to contribute and that will be how the whole
community of young professionals and students (and certain mentors, as well) will benefit.

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