Overview
In our very first lesson, we introduced the notion that GISystem Analysis & Design was an iterative process that featured multiple stages and should include evaluation components at each step whenever possible. In this lesson, we will focus specific attention on methods and techniques for evaluating GISystems. Such techniques include methods you might already be familiar with - surveys, interviews, and focus groups. But the range of available evaluation methodologies also includes a variety of technology-enabled methods to automatically capture usage statistics and to capture/visualize what users see on a screen, for example.
In this lesson, you will have the chance to learn about some common methods for evaluation, and you will identify a technique to evaluate your own GISystem Design. You can either incorporate an evaluation method provided in this module or you can do research to find another technique. Every year brings substantial innovation in the human-computer interaction community - and it usually takes some time for such innovations to trickle down into what is used to evaluate GISystems specifically.
Objectives
At the successful completion of Lesson 7, students should be able to:
- Explain a method to evaluate your GISystem Design in the term project proposal
- Write an economic analysis for your GISystem Design in the term project
- Describe the future work necessary following the evaluation of the GISystem Design
- Describe how eye tracking can be used to evaluate GISystems and the unique capabilities the method offers to GIS
- Discuss the limitations, assessment metrics, and situations where interaction logs may be useful for evaluating a GISystem
Assignments
Lesson 7 is one week in length. Please refer to the syllabus or the course calendar for specific assignment instructions and due dates.
Questions?
If you have questions now or at any point during this week, please feel free to post them in the General Questions Discussion Forum. While you are there, feel free to post your own responses and comments if you are able to help out a classmate.