Dr. Bill Williamson | Professor of Technical Communication | SVSU

RPW 300 Writing in the Disciplines

Workshop / Heuristic Analysis

We examine the practice of heuristic analysis (HA) in preparation for work on the Design Assessment project. Your ultimate goal is to understand the HA process well enough to conduct your own study of the Object of Study (OoS) you select this semester.

Workshop Objectives

Workshop Deliverables

Workshop Details

This workshop is designed to offer experience with heuristic analysis in support of your work on the Design Assessment project this semester. During the workshop, you will design and execute a sample study of the SVSU Canvas interface, review and interpret your data, and submit a summary report of your study.

The workshop has 4 stages.

Prepare for the Study

You may complete this workshop independently or in collaboration with up to 2 classmates. If you choose to work with others, I recommend that you use Microsoft Teams or some other live chat / video conference tool to conduct the workshop.

When you are ready to begin, prepare for the study by completing these steps.

Conduct the Study

To complete the heuristic analysis, follow these steps.

Review the Results of Your Study

Once you have completed your discussion, review your notes, and if available, the recording of your work session. Look ahead to the description of the Summary Report to determine whether or not you have enough detail recorded to complete that step of the workshop. Upon reviewing the session recording, do the notes you took during the discussion accurately and completely reflect the details in the recording of your discussion? If not, then refine your notes so you can prepare a more-detailed summary report of your work.

Complete the Summary Report

The final stage of the workshop requires you to craft and submit a summary report. Whether you worked independently or in a team, prepare your own report.

Your summary report should include the following details.

Convert your workshop form to PDF or scan it to JPG. As you prepare to submit your summary report, note that you need to attach your workshop form to your discussion post. If you completed the form digitally, convert it to PDF. If you entered notes by hand, then scan your form and export it as a PDF or JPG file.

Think about design as you construct your report. Write your report directly in the Canvas Discussion forum designated for the workshop. Doing so limits your design choices, but still highlights the need to use basic design principles to make your content more accessible to readers.

Present your report in 3 separate sections that correspond to the report description above. Within sections, separate individual ideas/discussion points into their own paragraphs or list entries. Signal the beginning of each discussion section with an appropriate heading.

Submission Guidelines

Post your summary report and complete workshop form to the forum dedicated to this workshop on Canvas Discussions. Attach your completed Heuristic Analysis Form to your post.

Note: I provide some visual guidance in the discussion forum for determining how long your report should be. However, the real standard you seek to meet here is that of sufficient appropriate detail. In general, summary reports ask you to provide enough detail to demonstrate to peers and to me that you understood the activity on which you report, and that you completed the workshop as described. If your report is too brief, or if it lacks concrete, specific detail, expect to earn fewer than 50 points for your submission.

Evaluation Standards

This section describes the standards by which your work will be evaluated for this workshop. Attend carefully to these details to earn full credit for this assignment.

Evaluation Summary

There are 50 possible points for this workshop. You will earn points according to this standard.

A Note to Instructors, Colleagues, and Others

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