Assignment: User-Centred Design

Critique current issues in User Centred Design and their implications for software development practice.

Purpose

In this assessment piece you will evaluate a particular User Centred Design practice or theory (as presented in an academic paper) and assess its importance or relevance to software development practice. This is an independent research project.

Length: Evidence of completion of Plagiarism Unit (e.g., screenshot) Critique of Topic paper (1,500 (min) to 2,000 (max) words) to be marked by tutor.

Use the following structure in your critique:

Section 1: Introduction

In this section you should consider:

- What is the purpose of the article?
- Define any key terms

Section 2: Significance

In this section consider:

- Is the problem important?

Section 2: Evidence

In this section consider:

- What arguments are made to support the author's position?
- What evidence is used to support their position?
- How convincing are the arguments/evidence presented?
- Can you find any counter evidence or do you have an opposing argument?

Section 3: Implications for software development

In this section consider:

- What are the implications of the paper for the software development community?
- What are the implications of the paper to you?
- How has this paper changed your views (if at all)?
- How could you see applying these ideas to your work practice, or the work practice of your organisation?

Section 4: Conclusion

- Provide a short summary of your critique

References

A detailed list of material referenced in the text of the assessment.

Failure to appropriately reference material from previously published sources such as the web or journal articles etc (i.e., plagiarism) will result in a FAIL grade. The list of references must be presented using approved referencing style such as Harvard or APS (BB/Week 4/Guide to Referencing). Include (appropriately referenced) web pages (include data accessed). Include references for any images used. It should be clear whether you created an image or downloaded it from another source.

When referencing make sure you use appropriate ‘in-text' citation. For example, when mentioning the work of Courage and Baxter in-text, use the format:

Courage and Baxter (2005) suggest the following guidelines for conducting interviews....

Any references cited in the text should then be included in the Reference section using Harvard style, for example:

Courage, C & Baxter, K, 2005, Understanding your users: A practical guide to user requirements, methods, tools and techniques, Morgan-Kaufmann, San Francisco.

Note there are different styles for different reference types (e.g., journal articles, web pages etc). See the guidelines provided by the library in the Resources section of this document.

Article: A license to kill -Improving UCSD in Agile development by Marta Larusdottir, Jan Gulliksenb, and Asa Cajander.