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"The Simulated Meeting" Design

Overview of Design (by Component)

Note: This swiki page serves to deliver design rationale via an organizational model by component, i.e., Meeting and Analysis. Another swiki page delivers this same information by design category, i.e., architecture, interaction, content and graphic designs.

The Simulated Meeting activity allows learners to participate in a simulated P&T committee meeting. The architecture was initially designed for a tool which contained only the Simulated Meeting activity. An analysis component was later added, which allowed the user to traverse the transcript of the Simulated Meeting, identifying biases and procedural issues. A third component, a survey, was also added, but was later removed (possibly to be offered at a later time as an add-on component). The current Simulated Meeting activity is divided into two components: the Meeting and the follow-up Analysis.

Learner Goals

User Goals

The user's goal is to advance through the dialogue of a simulated meeting, choosing answers at strategic decision points. Afterward, users may review the transcript, identifying potential issues with the answers chosen. Users may optionally review in-depth research regarding the issues associated with the answers, or all issues regarding promotion and tenure.

MEETING COMPONENT

In the Simulated Meeting, after choosing a case to work on, the learner is assigned to a P&T committee which is in the process of reviewing a candidate's case for tenure. The learner can review background information about the candidate, read reference materials on bias and proper procedure and has opportunities during the simulation to influence whether the simulated candidate will get tenure.

Content Design for Meeting

The following content will be needed for the ADEPT simulated meeting:
  1. Introduction text to the activity
  2. Commmittee Member users' parts
  3. Candidate users' parts
  4. Meeting dialogue
  5. Meeting decision points

Tool for Developing Branching Scenario
XML Format for Scenarios

Interaction Design for Meeting

Two classes of interactivity for the P&T meeting can occur:
  1. users choose a comment at several decision points (predetermined by content developers) that determines in what manner the meeting proceeds. The user acts as a catalyst that offers one of two or three possible tones that the meeting takes. Outcomes of the meeting are either best, fair, or poor, depending on which combination of choices the user selected. These choices are also recorded for later use in the follow-up.
  2. an optional interaction, users identify and select what they believe to be biases throughout the meeting. These selections are recorded for later use in the follow-up. The interaction would be minimal (i.e., clicking a button and a simple feedback message that the action was recorded). The user acts as a passive observer. [This interaction has been reserved for the optional "survey" portion of tool.]

Thus, progress through the P&T meeting could be tracked in a tree diagram that is composed of all referenced bias material. Highlights can note bias statements chosen by the user, and branches travelled as a result of user selection at decision points. By referencing this record of one's first interaction with the scenario, individuals could evaluate their own sensitivity to bias.

After proceeding once through the tool, the user is presented with an analysis of the outcome, the tree diagram (as described above). The user could then re-access the P&T meeting via this analysis. They could go back and forth in the transcript/action and try various combinations of comments at the decision points, or re-identify biases what may have been missed the first time to effect a better outcome.

Example: Actors and Use Case for Perez scenario

Graphic Design for Meeting

The introduction screen requires the user to choose a case to study from a column of buttons on the left. The case study home page shows icons to:

A button allows the user to move to the Simulated Meeting setting. The setting for the activity is at a round conference table in a room. Three committee member characters are seated around the table. Each committee member exhibits different facial expressions depending on the punctuation or response by the user at a given decision point. Arrows allow the user to move forward or backward through the dialogue, and to select a response at a decision point. A "transcript" of the Meeting builds to the left of the table. This transcript area is separated from the Meeting space by a vertical scrollbar, allowing the user to read what has transpired. At the end of the Meeing, the user is taken to the Analysis home screen. Components of the Meeting are represented thusly:

Architecture Design

ANALYSIS COMPONENT

When the meeting ends, the learner is asked to analyze the conversation in terms of bias and procedural errors by selecting a statement from the transcript, and selecting or bookmarking its relevant bibliographic entries. While designed to initially show content for the specific case, the user can access ALL bibliographic content from this portion of the tool. Content components are:

Content Design for Analysis

  1. Transcript of meeting (dialogue with selected decision points)
  2. References
  3. Links to related sites

Interaction Design for Analysis

When the user enters the Analysis screen, the transcript from the meeting is displayed. The user may click any statement to see a brief description of issues associated with that statement and a few bibliographic references which the learner can review immediately or bookmark for later reference. At the end of the analysis phase, the learner can send this list of bookmarks to themselves for later perusal.

The analysis phase is implemented in Director, Lingo, and HTML. As necessary, external calls are made to send e-mail and bring up browsers as requested by the user. Components of the Analysis portion of the ADEPT downloadable tool are:

Graphic Design for Analysis

The home page of the Analysis componenet of the Simulated Meeting activitiy shows the transcript in the left-hand column, and commentaries and references are located on the right. The statement in the transcript that is selected by the user is highlighted. Relevant annotations are displayed on the right, with checkboxes. The user's mental model of "commentary followed by justification" is supported by showing general commentary to the statement, then underneath with a list of relevant references from the bibliography, and specific comments about those references. When checked, the reference collapses and becomes persistent, allowing for a list of bookmarked references to build on the right. By clicking on the specific reference in the right column, the user access the full bibliography of the tool in text form, at the point of the specific citation. Components of the Analysis resources are text-based:

Storyboards of the Analysis portion

Architecture Design

Simulated Meeting development

See what's been developed so far...

Full Resources storyboard (for tool and web)

Project Organization

ADEPT Goals
ADEPT Tool Design
ADEPT Tool Development
ADEPT Project Schedule
ADEPT Minutes
ADEPT Prototypes

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