This series of article aim to understanding targets of user when they use the E-learning application. In order to figure out the targets, user interview should be done include consult how users make decisions, the scenario they might experience, the tasks they might finish, the pain-points they might encounter, and any special cases they probably go through. Finally, according to their response, researcher have ability to seek clues and figure out the purpose and target behind typical feeling and performance in e-learning scenario.
Name: Jamie
Gender: Famale
Age: 26
How did you spend your day?
Go to work in the morning, swipe the phone for a while at noon, then take a nap, and then start to work in the afternoon. After work, hurry home and have a meal. Watch the video while eating, After eating, tidy up and start drawing. Sometimes you can put channel there while drawing.
Sometimes the channel I listen to is painting lessons, and sometimes I listen to variety shows.
What is the plan for the next 5 years?
The big goal becomes a person who is super good at drawing.
At present, when I am painting, I may not be able to draw the ideas in my mind.
I expect I can express my ideas in 5 years. What I paint is more about stories, more about ideas, rather than saying that I am painting a specific material.
It’s pretty cool, what are you doing now and what are delaying now, are there any things that have been left there and not done?
Do sanitation and clean up the room. Clean up the desktop.
But drawing is scheduled. After drawing the things planned every day, it will be messy in life, and it will be better in work and study.
What are you most willing to do right now?
Of course it is traveling, or to see the exhibition.
If it is other aspects, having more time to learn and being able to have a long period of time of my own is the most ideal state for me now.
You abandon some of the houseworks in your daily life, and then use more time for painting, right?
Almost. You have to know that all his painters are like this.
In your work or life, are there any moments that you are more satisfied with, or some moments that make you feel very fulfilled?
A project can be done relatively quickly.
For example, a one-week project may be completed in two days, and then the superior will send me a new project, and then I may do two projects in a week, and I feel more satisfied.
Can I say that in your work, when your tasks are completed or efficient, then you feel a sense of accomplishment?
Right.
Are there other factors?
When doing tasks faster than others.
In addition to comparing with others, do you compare with yourself?
I do.
Recently, if I have check in painting every day, I will look back to the first day and I will obviously feel that there will be a big difference between what I painted today, such as the lines or shapes may be better, I will look at it this way. The effect of sketching can be seen in a few days, but if it is a large scene plan, it may be compared this year and next year.
Can I say that you get a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in the process of comparing yourself with your previous self?
Yes. I have to compare with myself. If I don’t compare myself, I don’t feel that there is no fun in living. Why is it the same every day? Every day I make progress and I must make progress so I can live a peaceful life.
When will you remember doing some online learning?
When encountering a bottleneck.
I have been drawing something. For example, after drawing some things, how to make the painting better, or there is a problem with one aspect or the shape, the color is problematic, and you see which aspect is weaker, I must think strengthen in this aspect, but when I think it myself, or read some articles and small videos, I don’t understand it.
Then I will think whether I should try to enroll in a class, and then I will pick some suitable ones to enroll.
In other words, in terms of the efficiency of your own progress, when the guidance of others is greater than that of your own research, you will think of online learning, right?
Correct.
Or start with this question, and then continue to ask, can you share an online learning experience that is the most memorable one of you?
When I was working on a portfolio before, I signed up for a E-learning class, because if I did my own portfolio, there would be no target.
The outputs of course are not high-quality, but teacher will tell what should you do, give you a general direction, and then we will give you some new ideas when we learn.
It is just a course of drawing in a daily punch-in, to guide you to draw a theme, and then provide some excellent cases, teach some techniques or teach some that, uh, some existing styles.
When teacher is free, I will show him what i should do with my work. Then after you have done these things, the typesetting teacher will help you to look at them. You can take a look at other students. We can see the outstanding ones, and then we will put some of the advantages in our own works.
You just mentioned the teacher, what the teacher teaches you is the method and guidance, right?
Right.
Regarding this method and guidance, can you elaborate on how the teacher guided you step by step, and then how did you absorb knowledge?
It will be divided into several big modules, that is, some styles of ready-made illustrations, because the current portfolio may require you to be an illustrator with more than one style, and then he will teach you a character that does not care about flat, and some style of painting. Then Doodle Style, then there are some Memphis, and then some national style illustrations of various styles, it is first divided into several large modules, and then each module, but first he will introduce some new ones that are lines the above case, or some projects he has done himself, and then teach it, sometimes there are some good ways to express, or how to draw with PS, he will also simply teach some techniques, and then give it to this stage You finish painting tasks one by one, and then everyone will post to the group, and then you will have some points that you might not have thought of when you painted by yourself, and then other people will think of it, and then you can also draw yourself. That is also a process of learning. Then there will be homework reviews. After everyone has finished drawing, the teacher will focus on a class of homework reviews. You can ask some questions or some good cases.
What will you do after the teacher’s evaluation?
I always review myself why I didn’t think about that. Probably because what I see is not enough, then I will browse the Behance website etc. to figure out.
After watching a lot, you go to show the same object, you will have various aspects to draw. If you look less, a comb is a comb, and a cup of water is a cup of water, but if you look too much, you will have ability to describe it differently.
In the process you just described, which software do you use?
WeChat, Red Book, Weibo, and most importantly, CCtalk, because we submit homework on CCtalk, and then the teacher will send comments to the homework, and then Weibo and Red Book are responsible for punch-in and communicating.
How are these softwares communicate and collaborate?
For example, if you have a class, teacher assistant must send a notice to the WeChat group, and then we will go to CCtalk to listen. Later, some timely questions and answers in class will be posted on CCtalk, and some questions after class can be completed in the WeChat group.
Red book is only responsible for punch-in?
Right.
About Weibo. You can post a long picture on it, then ‘@’ teacher, if your work is good, the teacher will forward it.
For you, when will you use Weibo and when will you use Red Book?
To share my own things, I will use Red Book. If I want to read and share other people’s things, I will use Weibo. I will use Red Book when doing the strategy.
On the teacher’s side. Before a review class, he might first take a look at his classmate’s Red Book or Weibo, right?
It should be real-time in WeChat, because the amount of Red Book or Weibo may be relatively large. I don’t know how the teacher operates in the background, anyway teacher will read it.
In CCtalk, every students submit homework in the homework folder. The teacher will pick out some excellent cases to show.
For the entire CC talk teaching, do you watch more live courses or more recorded courses?
If I can follow the live one, I will follow it, because once it is recorded, you will be lazy and don’t want to watch it, there will be delays.
However, I now live with the side first, and then there are some things that I didn’t understand during the live broadcast. I will listen to the second recording, then sometimes I will fast forward, and sometimes I will listen to it repeatedly.
You mainly listen to the live course, and then record courses as a supplement?
Yes.
Throughout this process, about the most impressive visual style point, is there any?
After the class is over, a class end bell will be played, which is what we often hear, and then it will jump to a praise interface.
What does the school bell mean to you?
I finally finished a lesson, and I feel very fulfilled.
Is it a sign of accomplishment?
Well, almost.
Are there other ones that impressed you more?
On Cctalk, there is a raised hand to speak. Sometimes, for example, when you go to speak in an informal class, you can interact with the teacher in real time.
Do you think the design is ugly in the whole software? You can show it to me, or you can tell me where you feel that the use is not smooth and has some emotions during the entire interaction process.
- This software cannot be logged in on different devices at the same time. Sometimes I watch it on my mobile phone, and sometimes I want to watch it on an iPad, but if they log in at the same time, they will return the previous one.
- After I clicked them directly, it was a discovery page, and then a small pop-up window that you learned last time will pop up here, the window will tell you where you saw last time. The toast window will dispear in a few seconds. If you want to watch the last replay right away, just click the small pop-up window. If you don’t care about it, you will jump away.
How do you enter the live course interface if you do not enter through the small pop-up window?
In class, it will have a small moving icon, and then you will know that there is a live course.
Please think back to the whole process from entering the software to the end. Is there anything that upsets you?
The uncomfortable place is the mobile phone and iPad cannot login at same time. The application can’t recognize the device, which makes me very unhappy.
Under what circumstances would you want to log in to an account on different devices?
For example, if the screen on your mobile phone is stuck, you will want to switch to another device. Or when you want to take it outside, you will want to use your mobile phone to see it.
During the whole class, for example, is the teacher sharing his screen? Then he shares his screen while he talks. What will you do at this time?
I watched his operation quietly. Then sometimes I will make some notes, but later I find that the screenshot may be faster, just take the screenshot directly.
Do you need to take a screenshot by using a screenshot function that comes with the application, or do you need to shot it by yourself?
Ipad comes with it, but the teacher does not encourage screenshots, in fact, because he is afraid of piracy.
In addition to sharing the screen for teaching, does the teacher have other ways to convey his knowledge?
No.
Are there any other points that make you emotional?
A class schedule here, and then, for example, I have applied a Krenz courses. He will have a regular class on Saturday, and there will be a small dot on the schedule. This little dot will tell you when the course will start. This calendar function is also very good.
Do you use this feature often?
Not really, because I can remember my class, but if you enroll a lot of subjects at the same time, you can watch it here, if you enroll only one class, I can remember the class schedule.
How do you think this interface is beautiful?
Nod bad, CCtalk designed the timetable as one of the main functions.
Is there anything that makes you feel ugly?
Ordinary, not ugly or pretty, that’s it.
Are there any more interesting designs that make you feel cool or passionate?
Yes, because some courses on Cctalk are free and some courses are paid. Then there will be a small money icon at the back of your paid courses. You can clearly see which courses you bought by yourself, and you will learn more. Be more mindful.
Do you think this icon is intuitive? You know what it means the first time you see him?
Yes, a very intuitive little sign.
For the whole process, do you think there is something that makes you uncomfortable or the operation is not smooth?
It’s okay because all kinds of apps I can adapt to it.
Well, some classmates will make some bad remarks during class, but many students will post his message to make it up and unseen.
How did you deal with this matter?
I never make comments, I just observe silently, and there is no emotion.
When do you interact with the teacher?
Not so much now. In the past, when I was in college, I really didn’t understand when I took the watercolor class online, because I started from rookie, I would take the initiative to ask questions in the group, but now knowledge are basically for me… One is because there may be more people online, and someone has asked me some questions, and the teacher has answered them; and there is another possibility that I know more now, and I don’t need to ask some trivial questions.
You just mentioned the point of questioning, so in the process of questioning, what form did you use to ask questions? Raise your hand, is there anything else?
The live course means that the teacher will put our chat box here. And he will see the scrolling chat when we are in class. (Show the process while talking)
For this feature, can teacher see it immediately every time? Or?
Sometimes it will be rolled up, in this situation you need to ask again. Sometimes we have to copy it a few times before he can see it.
What do you think of this experience?
Not so good, but there is no way.
You think this experience is not very good, but you also feel that there is no solution?
Yes
You have a trade-off between practice and theory. Which aspect do you think is more important?
When attending the class, the first half is partial theory, and then teacher start to teach me some key steps and some quick methods.
After class, he will send out his psd file, and you can clearly see what mode is used to draw each drawing. For example, in the course of ‘lighting’, the teacher will finish every step on the screen, let you determine the color tone by yourself, and master the painting skills by the method of toning. The theory is first, and then the brushes that will be used in practice will be discussed.
At the same time, the teacher will explain the whole step by words.
Each lesson will send you a psd file. How do you organize all the psd files?
There will be a folder for each lesson. And then stored on my computer,
When you come back and look for files again, or when you are searching for files, how do you feel about the whole process like this?
The PC is okay. When searching, I can turn to the disk to find it, and then I will upload a copy to iCloud, and then search it in the iCloud.
Do you think the process of looking through makes you feel comfortable? Or is there a time when you can’t find it?
Sometimes I will find it for a long time, yes. You need the corresponding homework and the corresponding strategy, sometimes you won’t find it.
What will you do when you can’t find it?
Take some time to find. Basically, you only have one course and you can usually find it, unless you sign up for a lot of courses and get confused.
That is to say, after you complete such a combing process, you can accurately find the files of the courseware you want, right?
Almost.
Is there anything to add?
I think it is cool way that the course of Krenz have teacher assistants.
The teacher assistants could evaluate the drawing from students according to the three different nodes of the course. Which are shaping nodes, large color nodes and detailed nodes. After you finish each node, students can send the drawing to the QQ group, and then name your file.
For example, this is the homework node(demonstrating), so that the teaching assistant can know you accurately at which node of the drawing, what effect should be presented, the assistant teacher will give you an evaluation of whether the effect of drawing is ok, and then you can continue painting after pass.
However, CCtalk currently lacks such a function. I mean it can only hand in the ultimate homework, lacking some guidance on the learning process.
In the extracurricular time, students have almost no knowledge of the degree of digestion and communication. I hope this can be improved.
And such a process should be personalized, and there should be a communication interface of our own. Such an interface can clearly reflect your understanding of the teaching knowledge, problems encountered, communication with the teacher, and different milestones of progress. Otherwise, everyone will be mixed together. One is to search for a long time, and the other is to be unable to systematically reflect on the process of digesting knowledge.
I feel that your focus should be on self-discipline and efficiency throughout the entire learning process. Can I say like that?
yes, I am such a person.
Summary
Feelings:
- Class start/end bell make users feel fullfilled.
- The ‘Paid icon’ makes users feel mindful for courses.
- Some bad remarks might be delivered in the chat box by some students, make users feel disappointed
- The files come from different courses make users feel confused and cannot find the file accurately.
Pain-points:
- Announcements need to be checked in Wechat group(Which is not for sending announcements) is easy to ignore.
- Knowledge sharing and discussing need rely on other platform. Which might means the self-study society is demanded.
- Teacher faces the large number of assignments, meanwhile students cannot find their historical works easily.
- Cannot login same account in different devices at same time.(technical pain-point)
- Take notes is too slow, and screenshot need to be sorted out after class. Meanwhile teacher does not encourage screenshot.
- During online course(which is not the emphasis function for this research), the question can be seen after students asked few times.
- Retrieve of files may takes long time.
- The platform can only hand out ultimate homework to it. Almost no knowledge digest process can be applied and discussed through platform.
- Application lacks self-milestone and teacher-students communication. Which means the self-paintings need to be found in communal interface and this process will takes a long time.
Demands:
- Self-compare(milestone of oneself). Teacher comments — level of assignments — assignments — self- comments.
- Share opinion with others about knowledge understanding.
- Course points can be highlight and share between teachers and students. Mind-maps — knowledge and interpretation — files — courses link.
- The schedule — announcements — reminder — messages combination function.
Targets:
Efficiency.
Progress make life meaningful.
Self-discipline of study.
