Graphical User Interface for Timetabling at TekNat with Standardised Output

Abstract

Uppsala University's "Vetenskapsområdet för teknik och naturvetenskap" (Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology), or just TekNat, has been moving towards automating their scheduling process for several years. This project has been part of that effort, and had the goal of showing that requirements could be gathered for a scheduling interface that satisfied both scheduling staff and teachers, as well as showing that these requirements could then be implemented. Human-Computer Interaction, or HCI, was used to aid in these tasks, as it is a field concerned with how to design effectively for intended end users, and has a variety of techniques and methods to aid in accomplishing this. Some requirements were known beforehand, such as the interface needing to have a standard format for its output, while most were gathered using HCI methods such as semi-structured interviews and paper prototyping. The final requirements specified what was desired for the interface to improve on the current system and be faster, easier, more enticing to use. A functional GUI was implemented that followed these requirements, with some reservations, and improved after feedback from three rounds of testing with the staff.