Interface Design: Part 3

Coming in on the tail of the search interface, the manual won't be too different. It's basically a list of sections that segway into specific rules. Handling pictures will be a challenge throughout this project.

Interface Design: Part 2

Designing the landing "Home" page and the search interface. I'm not sure about having the search and the manual behind a login firewall. If this is about "information on the fly" then a login should not be needed to use them.

Interface Design: Part 1

The fun part!! I'm trying to deal with limited real estate, but it's that difficult due to my extensive experience with iPhone apps in general.

Intro Screen, login, and the registration screens. These are straighforward. The user should be presented with FLL's branding, plus they'll need to either log in or register.

Learners

Just some thoughts on the learners. There are three main demographics for the this learning: from my experience FLL (and FIRST in general) attracts professionals, college students, and retirees. All of these groups come from a workplace or home environment that is science and/or technology related. Not all are engineers or scientists, but more than likely, they work with, live with, or want to be an engineer or scientist. This is a great demographic for an iPhone application solution: it's tech friendly, portable, and very user friendly. For the professionals, studying FLL rules in their spare time is facilitated by having a portable app. Also a note on gender: FLL volunteers in general are pretty evenly divided, but referees tend towards male (60-70% based on my observations).

Learners:

A. Professionals

i. Limited time

ii. Highly capable

iii. Needs to work well with children

iv. Variable tech savvy (usually above average)

v. Variable FIRST experience

B. College Students

i. Very tech savvy

ii. Time to spare

iii. Needs to work well with children

iv. Variable FIRST experience

C. Retirees (more likely to be engineers)

i. Variable tech savvy (higher than what one would expect of most retirees, but lower than the professionals)

ii. Time to spare

iii. Needs to work well with children

iv. Variable first experience

Proposal to Create a Smartphone App for FIRST Lego League

Needs: FIRST Robotics is an organization “For Inspiration in Robotics Science and Technology” that conducts robotics competitions for many age ranges in order to spark interest in science and engineering. For this project, I will be focused on the FIRST Lego League (FLL). FLL, a league for kids grades 4-8, challenges them to design, build, and program an autonomous Lego Mindstorms Robot in order to complete several challenges/missions on a plywood sized field. Every year, there is a new theme, new challenges/missions, and significant changes in the rules. As such, there is a demand for qualified volunteers, a need for training, and a desire for on demand information (when not sure of a rule, look it up!). As a FIRST volunteer who travels a lot, having access to information in a small form factor is important. Additionally, it’s nice to have the rules in my pocket at the competition instead of a binder!

As someone who is deeply involved in FIRST Robotics in the role as a referee, it is imperative that I understand FIRST’s commitment to “gracious professionalism.” It’s first and foremost a commitment to the youth in the program and to the other volunteers who participate in creating interest in science and engineering. As a referee, it is my duty to make sure the game is played in a fair, timely, and professional manner. In order to fulfill my duties as a referee as such, FIRST expects its referees to understand the principles with which it was founded, and mostly, know the field setup, game concepts, and of course, the game rules. I could not claim to be a gracious professional, and it would be a disservice to the kids and the other volunteers if I did have a holistic understanding of these.

Learning Goal:

Learners will learn the basic principles of FIRST, the game manual, game logistics, and appropriate adult/youth interaction during the game. They will:

a. Be able to demonstrate a firm understanding of the rules including: field setup, game concepts, and game rules/scoring.

b. Understand and appreciate how FIRST wants you to interact with kids

c. Be able to demonstrate an understanding of event logistics.

Performance Goals:

a. Learners will be able to look up rules on the fly through a manual look up or through a manual search.

With these requirements in mind, I propose to create an iPhone web application that will address a referee’s need for portable information, it will deliver referee training, and it will measure their understanding by quizzing them. Since the content changes yearly, I also propose to create a “backend” for the app that is updateable and tracks learners success with the quiz; I plan to do this by learning to program in php.