Editors Birgit R. Krogstie, NTNU

Link to the work package WP1 Reflection model and user studies

Delivered M15 (October 2011)

Link to the deliverable (pdf) D1.3 Scenarios and requirements

Executive summary

Deliverable 1.3 presents user requirements identified in MIRROR, collaboratively developed and negotiated by the scientific and test-bed partners. It is the main outcome of T1.3 and presents the work conducted within the project to achieve Objective 1.3.

The user requirements are presented in the form of storyboards. Storyboards are defined for each test-bed and describe situations that are relevant from a user perspective as well as innovative from a technological perspective.

Storyboards have been chosen as a requirement representation form, first because of their capability for promoting cooperation and creativity during the requirement elicitation phase and second because they can serve as a resource for development (e.g. by being ‘live documents’) in the remaining time of the project without imposing unnecessary constraints.

Storyboards have been developed through a structured process that has progressively moved from unstructured user needs and technical ideas to a series of relevant storyboards. The process has combined multiple steps to promote creativity, at the same time making sure that for all the test-beds the important needs are identified, also taking into account the research objectives identified in MIRROR. This has been achieved through different brainstorming sessions, creativity workshops, computer-supported idea generation activities, and template-based refinement of storyboards. These activities have involved in various ways all the partners and have been truly cooperative, though the ownership of the storyboards has been kept all the time with the test-beds to assure relevance. The adoption of a highly iterative and cooperative process has ensured that the refinement of the storyboards was done taking into account the progress in the different strands of activities in the project: the refinement of theoretical concepts through extensive analysis of the theoretical background; the improved understanding of user needs gained through the user studies; the improved understanding of the space of possibilities offered by technology through design studies and analysis of the state of the art.

As a result, the storyboards represent a short-list of requirements because they have been distilled from many intermediate ideas and designed by test-beds and technical partners together for representing relevant occurrences of reflection supported by MIRROR Apps (to-be situations). Storyboards contain user requirements, in terms of services to final users, system requirements (availability, recoverability, etc.), and stumbling blocks, i.e. specific conditions that might cause problems for adoption. When necessary, these requirements have been and will be detailed further within the individual WPs, also using if needed other formats, e.g. UML (Unified Modelling Language) diagrams, leading to the implementation of specific applications.

The identified storyboards capture a multi-faceted set of situations, illustrating how reflection can be fostered through different MIRROR Apps. The identified applications describe how different aspects of reflective learning can be supported. The storyboards show how MIRROR Apps are used to collect different types of data that can trigger and feed learners’ reflection on their own experience. MIRROR Apps help learners reflect on experiences by use of various representations and features for exploring them, e.g. by supporting chronological walkthroughs of actions performed in real life or within a serious game, searches for relevant problem-solution patterns from a knowledge repository, or the adding of tags and annotations to text or video clips. MIRROR Apps help learners use their experience to construct new knowledge, individually or collaboratively, for their own use and to share with others. In some cases, storyboards address reflection at a specific level, while in other cases they illustrate the complex interweaving of individual, collaborative, and organizational learning. MIRROR Apps help employees relate their experiences to time, space, work processes and objectives, e.g. related to performance assessment. MIRROR Apps also help management in the organizations get relevant data about work processes based on the experience, performance and input of employees, as a basis for making decisions about changes to the work processes. Overall, it is the individual and collaborative levels of learning that are the main focus in the storyboards.

With respect to specific technologies in the proposed solutions, handheld devices are often used to facilitate mobility in work and learning. In some cases adaptation to existing practices means other technologies fit better, such as digital pens when the existing information infrastructure is largely paper based, or large screens or surfaces to support sharing and collaborative knowledge construction.

• In sum, the MIRROR storyboards capture commonalities across test-beds (e.g. with respect to particular reflection challenges and suitable technologies, see Chapter 4) as well as specific needs, fully exploiting the diversity of MIRROR test-beds to shed light on computer supported reflective learning and its challenges.
  The MIRROR storyboards will be further used:
• In WP1 to refine the model of computer supported reflection and to inform the evaluation methodology
• As input for defining the MIRROR Apps to develop during Year 2 in WP 3-8. Each of these WPs will agree with test-beds on the Apps they develop. In case of conflicts, project management (WP 12) will moderate the agreement process.
• In WP3-8 as input for refining the design and development process, including the identification of system requirements for the MIRROR Apps. In the individual WPs storyboards might evolve to address specific concerns more in detail, but the ones presented in this deliverable constitute a common ground for the project to build on.
• In WP10 to start the planning of the demonstration of MIRROR solutions, and to inform the evaluation which will later provide input to the continued development of the MIRROR requirements.

The storyboards in this deliverable describe a rich set of MIRROR Apps that largely cover the design space of MIRROR. As such, they can be used to start development. In addition, we expect them to represent an important working tool for the remaining time of the project.