(Scenario 1 - Finding Information About Homework Assignments)
This participant's most common goal is "finding out about homework assignments."Starting from the CS 3604 Home Page, Participant #3 moves to the Professionalism Home Page, scrolls down the page, clicks on the Calendar, and scrolls down to check when the next assignment is due. Next, the participant clicks on the link to a specific assignment. (Participant Comment: There is another set of assignments in the Careers Home Page that some students in the class failed to notice at the beginning of the semester.)
(Scenario 2 - Finding Current Announcements)
This participant's second most common goal is "finding out about current announcements." (Participant Comment: Announcements are a common element of course home pages.)Starting from the CS 3604 Home Page, Participant #3 moves to the Professionalism Home Page, scrolls down to the Table of Contents, and notices that there is a subtitle "Announcements and New Information"; but no link to any announcements exists. In this scenario, the participant has failed to achieve his goal.
(Scenario 3 - Using the On-Line Debate System)
This participant's third most common goal is "using the debate engine."Starting from the CS 3604 Home Page, Participant #3 clicks on a small "click here" link located in the "On-Line Debates" paragraph and gains access to the on-line debate system. This participant then clicks on the "Restricted Access" link located under the "Debates for Fall 1997" heading, enters his user name and password, and accesses a page with a list of on-line debate scenarios. Clicking on any one of the scenario links takes Participant #3 to a description of the scenario and a hierarchical list of statements made by the debate participants. By clicking on any statement, Participant #3 is able to read a given argument. Scrolling to the end of an argument, this participant tries to read other statements. He clicks on the "Back to Debate" button and is surprised to find himself back at the page having the list of on-line debate scenarios. Participant #3 must click on his chosen scenario again and must find, and then access, other statements in the debate. (Participant Comment: He doesn't like the way the "Back to Debate" button is designed; it should take users one step back.)