notes for rapid prototyping

Notes for Rapid Prototyping

I first encountered the problematic relationship between plans and situated actions when, after years of trying to follow Gagné's theory of instructional design, I repeatedly found myself, as an instructional designer, making ad hoc decisions throughout the design and development process. At first, I attributed this discrepancy to my own inexperience as an instructional designer. Later, when I became more experienced, I attributed it to the incompleteness of instructional design theories. Theories were, after all, only robust and mature at the end of a long developmental process, and instructional design theories had a very short history. Lately, however, I have begun to believe that the discrepancy between instructional design theories and instructional design practice will never be resolved because instructional design practice will always be a form of situated activity (i.e. depend on the specific, concrete, and unique circumstances of the project I am working on).

— from Streibel, M. (1991). Instructional plans and situated learning: The challenge of Suchman's theory of situated action for instructional designers and instructional systems. In G.Anglin (Ed.),Instructional technology: Past, Present, and Future (pp. 122). Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.

History Originated in 1960s in manufacturing industry with the development of

computer controlled tools 1970s brought the creation of mathematical 3D solid models and the first

Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems 1980s Introduction of Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF); Rapid Prototyping is

used in many manufacturing processes From 1980s, Rapid Prototyping is also used throughout most software

development design

Why do it? Clarify Needs Enhance creativity Reduce errors in final product Increase usability Increase customer acceptance

Risks Method not understood by client or developers Endless revision Premature release Goal/feature creep Project management requirements different

Michael M. Grant 2010

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Vertical Prototypes - in-depth functionality for a few features Horizontal Prototypes - entire screen with no underlying functionality

Paper prototypes - easy to change. users perceive that it is easier to change. Often throwing in color or artwork make a use thing that they cannot suggest changes.

Wireframe Prototypes / Wireframing - nothing visual, just shaded blocks explaining what will be there

Storyboarding

Electronic prototypes (inspiration)

Look and Feel Prototype Can deal with style Colors Effects, such as drop shadows Divisions of screen areas (real estate) Use of mouse gestures

Media Prototype Can explore use of sound effects, narration, 3D illustration, video, etc.

Navigation Prototype Can illustrate the capabilities to move from one activity to another How to access reference materials and services, such as glosssary,

notebook, calculator, personal performance data

Interactivity Prototype Can illustrate designs of the context, activity and feedback How do the practice items work? What types of interactions are embedded to interact with the content

Advantages It encourages and requires active student participation in the design process. Iteration and change are natural consequences of instructional systems

development. Clients tend to change their minds. Clients don't know their requirements until they see them implemented. An approved prototype is the equivalent of a paper specification with one

exception—errors can be detected earlier. Prototyping can increase creativity through quicker user feedback. Prototyping accelerates the development cycle.



Disadvantages Prototyping can lead to a design-by-repair philosophy, which is only an

excuse for lack of discipline. Prototyping does not eliminate the need for front-end analysis. It cannot help

if the situation is not amenable to instructional design. A prototype cannot substitute completely for a paper analysis. There may be many instructional design problems which are not addressed

bv prototvping. Prototyping may lead to premature commitment to a design if it is not

remembered that a design is only a hypothesis. When prototyping an instructional package, creeping featurism (the adding

of bells and whistles) may lead to designs that get out of control.

Tips Suspend good programming practices that require time or thought; faster is

better. Don’t be concerned with media or a polished look. Fake everything you can. Focus on interactivity, because people have trouble judging it until they’ve

actually seen it. Remember more prototypes are better than fewer, more complete

prototypes.

Design + Development Rapid prototyping can be used with both design and development. I’m recommending that you conduct design and development concurrently,

using rapid prototyping for developing and feeding the information you need for design.

ReferencesAllen, M. (2007). Designing successful e-Learning, Michael Allen's online learning library: Forget what you know about instructional design and do something interesting. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Allen Interactions. (n.d.) Supervisor effectiveness: Employee security [interactive module, images]. Retrieved February 4, 2010 from http://www.alleninteractions.com/demos/corning/course/supervisoreffectiveness.swf

Lynch, M.M. & Roecker, J. (2007). Project managing e-learning: A handbook for successful design, delivery and management. New York: Routledge.

Piskurich, G.M. (2006). Rapid instructional design: Learning ID fast and right (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Pfeiffer.



Rieber, L.P. (1999). Comparing design and development within rapid prototyping and formative evaluation [image]. Retrieved February 4, 2010 from http://it.coe.uga.edu/studio/seminars/rpfe.html

Streibel, M. (1991). Instructional plans and situated learning: The challenge of Suchman's theory of situated action for instructional designers and instructional systems. In G.Anglin (Ed.),Instructional technology: Past, Present, and Future (pp. 122). Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.

Tripp, S., & Bichelmeyer, B. (1990). Rapid prototyping: An alternative instructional design strategy [image]. Educational Technology Research & Development, 38(1), 31-44.

