Enabling access to engineering education materials everywhere by design

We are currently engaged in a redesign of the method we use to distribute Engineering Teaching Kits (ETKs) via the Internet. This work in progress reports the results of the user-centered conceptual design phase of the project. ETKs are self-contained STEM education standards-based units that promote integrative learning about STEM via engineering design challenges. The current distribution method, a page on the University of Virginia's course management site, Collab, was adopted based on ease of developer access and use after a successful professional development session at ASEE's K-12 workshop in 2009 resulted in high demand for the presented activities. However, the page has proven to be increasingly unfriendly to users despite several redesigns and reorganizations, the results of which have had limited impact on user accessibility due to Collab's features and functionality. A site that can't be accessed or navigated easily may lead (would-be) users to seek alternatives. This situation is not consistent with our philosophy of sharing materials as open source and with user-centered design values, including the work done by the UI/UX and HCI communities. Our first task in the conceptual design phase was to consult with users via a short survey. We wanted to understand more fully their expectations and needs for a content delivery method and to verify anecdotal feedback we had received over the years to make sure we had identified the problem and project goals correctly. The results will also inform preliminary requirements and be used to develop persona, or user profiles, for use in usability testing. The second task was to investigate current “best practices” in web page design by reviewing popular sites on both traditional and mobile devices. The preliminary requirements based on these results will be used in future design activities.