Desk Crit: Jea Choi

Hi Jea,

I reviewed your project and wanted to give you some feedback!

I love the design - I immediately wanted to explore the site. I think it's inviting, and I really like the character on the intro page who is talking.

Throughout the module, be consistent in how you write "Think-aloud". Sometimes you capitalize the T, sometimes you don't.

The first intro page - here are some minor suggestions (the corrections are in all capital letters)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, my name is Jenny.
I am a student in AN Instructional Product Evaluation class!

I am trying to evaluate AN education program using think-aloud protocol.

However, I am not sure if I am doing IT CORRECTLY.
Please help me get through this!
---------------------------------------------------------------

Next Page:

Move your mouse over the menu ITEM TO LEARN MORE.

Under Full Contents:

You will be able to see a full text of what you have learned in THE "lesson" section.


Under Links:
Internet resources related to think-aloud protocol will be LOCATED HERE.
Search through the Internet and LEARN TO BE MORE PROFESSIONAL in Think-aloud

one other small thing: at the bottom, it says Copy Right - Copyright should be one word, and the r would be lowercase.

I know you are still adding things to your project - I think it's going to be really great! I can't wait to see the finished product. Let me know if you have any questions about these comments!

Thanks,
Carrie

Desk Crit Received from Jiwon You

(This was sent to one of our team members, Audra Edwards.)

Project name: whale morphology

Hi, Audra,

My name is Jiwon You from Ewha Womans University. I reviewed your project site (http://www.identitywebandphoto.com/6210/ ) on April, 14, 2008 and I enjoyed your project pretty much. I can feel that how much your team put an effort and enthusiasm into this project.

I like to share a couple of my ideas about your project and I hope that it helps you to complete your project. I liked the video clips that you used because it made me feel that I was on the whale tour on the sea. Also I think that the information on the glossary was helpful; especially some of terminologies were scientific ones the glossary provided easy and clear information about whales. However, when the video is playing, it will be better to show the progress bar so that users know how long this video is and where they are. Video playing and audio file are not synchronized so replaying video does not play with audio file. I think if you solve this issue, it would be much better. The other thing that I noticed was changing "continue" button on the screen. Depends on the lengthy of the contents, the location of the button seems changed. It would be better if you locate the navigation buttons at the same place and this will improve the consistency. In addition, there is no back button within a lesson. Adding a back button will support users to navigate the content more freely.

It was exciting to see your work and I learned many new things about whales. I like to thank you and your department for providing this opportunity for sharing my ideas. Thanks and Good luck to all of you.

Regards,

Jiwon You

Desk Crit: Suwha Lee

Hi Sue,

Here's a desk crit for you!

Splash page looks beautiful - unusual and effective navigation.

Intro - why is there audio on the first screen but not the screen with the instructional goals? It might be more consistent to continue with the audio on that screen.

Lesson 1:
At first, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do on this screen. I know that they are numbered, but perhaps you could add the word Step? Step 1. View the situation.
Step 2. Review....
Step 3. Now that you have reviewed...

or, you could add directions at the top of the screen under CASE 1.

I really like the way the audio and animations match - it looks very professional.

I would say the same for each Case - make the directions clearer somehow.

I think overall, it looks very impressive, and it functions well. The audio sounds much better than when I saw your project at the dress rehearsal.

Thanks!
Carrie

Desk Crit: Joy Drzyzga

Sent 3/7/2008

Hi Joy,
I thought your project sounded really interesting when you told us about it in Studio, so I took a look at your prototype and I'm sending you a desk crit. :)

-I really like the way you've laid out the site. The video screen is large and the navigation buttons at the bottom are easy to see.
-On my screen, the start button (the one that is a cutting board) has a purple box around it that cuts into the text on the page (it is cutting into "go back at anytime"). I would move the button down or remove the purple link border so it's not blocking the text.
-On the first video page, I had trouble hearing the audio. (I realize this is a prototype so you may already be aware of the audio issues). I was able to hear it a little bit better when I adjusted the volume control on the flash video, but I still couldn't really hear it.
-I like how you have the text to the right of the screen, and all of your text is very easy to read.

I'm looking forward to seeing your project progress! Let me know if you have any questions about any of this.
Thanks,
Carrie

Desk Crit: Vici Decker

Sent 3/7/2008

Hi Vici,

It was nice to meet you last night! I had fun talking about CSS and Dreamweaver with you. I think the concept for your project is really great, and I think it's a unique and interesting project.

I really like the images that you are using in your project. As I said last night, I think the images work great on the poetry pages, but I would be careful about using an busy image for the entire background on a page that has lots of text. Even if you change the text color, it might still be hard to read. One possibility is to put a white box around the text so the image is still there, but the text is legible.

I also really like your idea of giving your learners several routes to explore your site. It might be a good idea to also have a "home" button on all of your poetry pages so they can always return to the main page if want to.

I look forward to seeing your site as it progresses! Let me know if you have any questions about CSS or anything else.

Have a nice weekend,
Carrie