General Questions and Ideas
- What is the relationship of the Youth Forum to iEARN? (Why would a teacher post a project here rather than on iEARN or vice versa?) Would it be possible to explicitly link them? For example, could you post Youth Forum projects to iEARN as they're created (with link to YF for the specifics? Could ID on Youth Forum give you an ID to iEARN too?
- How is translation assistance requested? Does it happen automatically when you submit a project? (If so, we need to explain that.)
- Might be helpful to add sample questions as follow-up on the project readings.
- Might want to link to National Standards for Foreign Language (5 "C's")
http://www.actfl.org/public/articles/details.cfm?id=33, linking each activity with the standards it supports.
See the Learning Scenarios in http://www.state.nj.us/njded/frameworks/worldlanguages/.
- Consider adding sign-in box to the footer so it's available from any page.
- Who can go into the Members area? Just teachers or students too? (Do students have a common log-in? How do they avoid "clobbering each other's work?)
Implementation Strategy
- System Testing. To thoroughly test out the application, back up current version of the site, then remove all current projects, and reenter them from scratch. (Could use them for usability studies with teachers on the site to see how they use the site step-by-step.) Test adding new members and updating info, etc.
- Usability Testing. Create several usability scenarios to test the general access to the site, as well as members area. Test both Japanese and English versions (for Japanese, try students at 2nd, 3rd, or higher year of study). Test both Projects and Skills sections. Run tests with both teachers and students.
For the Members area, test:
- Sign-in
- Projects - In Progress, Projects - Finished
- Teachers' Modules
- Available Projects
- Account Info? (what info will be there?)
- Orientation (Help). Perhaps create Flash demo showing how to flow from screen to screen to enter a project.
- PR Needs. Given that this is an online application, seems most likely to promote via technology, e.g., the InternationalEd.org newsletter, website, etc. Might do presentations at World Language conferences (e.g., WAFLT conference on March 20 in Tacoma?) and develop "train-the-trainer" materials to assist people who might demo it.
- Contacts for exchanges.
- Don Spence, NC, East Carolina University (Global Partnership Schools with Hiroshima University School of Education)
- Courtney Clouse, Hyogo Cultural Center (has a partnership with Seattle S.D.)
- Schools to contact in Seattle area (work with Martin O'Callaghan at Seattle S.D.):
- Roosevelt H.S.
- University Prep (private school, Japanese teacher attended the Summit)
- Hamilton International Middle School
- John Stanford International School?? (elementary level?)
- Washington Middle School (has strong Japanese program, good teacher)
- Tacoma immersion middle school
- Financial Assistance. Initially, primarily technical assistance needed for launching the website. Probably don't need printed materials, etc.
Overall Site Feedback
- Main site navigation varies from page to page. On home page, it's on the left. On other pages, it's at the top.
- Some pages have two columns; others three. Wasn't always obvious to me what to expect.
- Add page name to html title tag.
- Graphics don't print well (e.g., PLEASE LOG IN)
Page-Specific Feedback
Home Page: http://youthforum.askasia.org
- YOUTH FORUM in title -- should it be mixed case (as used elsewhere in the site?)
- Change tense to present tense in text (e.g., will allow -> allows)
- Bulleted list of professions -- how are these fields reflected in the project organization (i.e. do projects indicate which field they're preparing you for?); with prominence on the home page, it suggests that somehow these fields are central to understanding or using the site.
Orientation: http://youthforum.askasia.org/orientation/
- Needs content. (I can help develop this.)
- Might there be multiple help topics, thus need for left navigation column?
Project Showcase: http://youthforum.askasia.org/pub-bin/showcase.pl
- Not clear what the relationship is to the projects in the Members area (titles don't match; do Projects: Finished not get listed?
- Naming conventions for projects are not quite clear. Some are very generic (e.g., Discovery Project) while others are more specific (e.g., A Cartoon Museum Project). Do project names have to be unique or are they used for grouping specific projects?
- One naming convention seems to be that Projects have "noun phrase" titles.
- How are projects grouped? (Should the groupings reflect the fields listed on the home page?)
Skills Toolbox: http://youthforum.askasia.org/skills/
- Font doesn't match other pages (is style sheet being applied?)
- Are naming conventions clear? One naming convention seems to be that Skills have "verb phrase" titles (e.g., Categorizing, Reading, etc.)
- How are skills grouped? (Should the groupings reflect the fields listed on the home page?)
- Maybe change formatting of second-level items to be indented or smaller font.
- Change the intro text (opening text is too general for this page). Make page intros parallel, e.g.,
Welcome to the Youth Forum Skills Toolbox! These on-line activities...Project: http://youthforum.askasia.org/pub-bin/gallery.pl?project_instance_id=21
(A Cartoon Museum Project)
- Do these pages get a Page Title?
- Could the selected menu item (i.e. Project Showcase) be highlighted as a breadcrumb?
- What does "A History of Cartoon" in the leftnav mean?
- Might need to add a little explanation with the navigation
Project: http://youthforum.askasia.org/pub-bin/newsletter.pl?project_instance_id=26
(Kanji)
- This page doesn't use the same format as previous project (i.e. with navigation controls in left column). How is it different?
Project: http://youthforum.askasia.org/pub-bin/newsletter.pl?project_instance_id=23
(Kamon
- This page doesn't use the same format as previous project (i.e. with navigation controls in left column). How is it different?
- http://youthforum.askasia.org/pub-bin/newsletter.pl?rm=view&project_instance_id=23&newsletter_article_id=9
has a Table of Contents in leftnav -- when and why is that used? Do Textbook projects all use the Table of Contents?
Members Area: http://youthforum.askasia.org/ (after logging in)
- Might be helpful to distinguish those parts that are for Members, e.g.,
Members Area (or something to show you're in the development area)
Teachers' Modules
Available Projects- Needs content for into and About your Account section. If list of projects could be fairly long, might be better to put the About your Account section higher on the page.
- What do the numbers mean beside the project titles, (e.g., Textbook Project - 9)? Oh, I see -- it's the Project #. (That's not very intuitive... could we add #, plus brief orientation explanation. Do users even need to know the project numbers?)
- How are the projects ordered/organized? Randomly? Chronologically?
- What does "Projects: Finished" mean? How did a project get "finished"? Oh, I see, I can select End Project,
http://youthforum.askasia.org/members/project_report_page.pl?project_instance_id=34 )Teachers' Modules: http://youthforum.askasia.org/members/teachers/
- Font doesn't match other pages (is style sheet being applied?)
- How do items get posted here?
- How are Teachers' Modules different from Projects or Skills?
Teacher Module: http://youthforum.askasia.org/members/teachers/TOC-module1.html
(Looking at You Looking at Me)
- Page format is different from other pages (e.g., Projects and Skills). What is standard format for content pages? (Or, if there are different types of content pages, how do we make it clear what type of page you're on).
- Textbooks http://youthforum.askasia.org/members/teachers/TM-textbooks.html
formatting of this page is too bunched over on the left.Available Projects: http://youthforum.askasia.org/members/available_projects.pl
- What's the relationship between this grouping (Independent vs. Collaborative) and the In Progress vs. Finished Projects listed on the Members home page?
- How are the projects organized/order? Chrono? Alphabetically?
- Does explanation of two types of projects get included in the Project Showcase? (Can I tell which kind of project I'm joining?) (In Orientation, consider explaining format of project types -- newsletter, timeline, storyboard).
Project Report: http://youthforum.askasia.org/members/project_report_page.pl?project_instance_id=34
(Media and Marketing)
- Explanation on this page is VERY helpful. But I wonder if it needs to be available in a more general location -- before I actually sign up for a project. Or perhaps we'll do that in the Orientation.