Lesson 2

One part of the Stage 2, Develop Site Structure & Organize Information, is to begin working with possible user scenarios. A user scenario describes, authentically as possible, a user and his/her goal(s) when interacting with the Web site.

Here're a few examples based on the UVSC Distance Education Web site:

• Jane Doe, a non-traditional student interested in completing a Bachelor's degree at a distance, visits the UVSC Distance Education Web site to find out what degree programs are available online, how much they cost, and, possibly, how to register and sign up. She's never been the the Distance Education Web site before, and is not very comfortable with the Web in general.
• Joe Schmoe, Dean of the School of X at UVSC, is interested in having Distance Education put a full degree program online. He wants to know what the process is to develop new online courses for the degree program, how much it costs, and how the Distance Education department works with faculty and administrators. He's a seasoned Web user but is skeptical of Distance Education in general.
• Jill Nill teaches Distance Education, but she wants to know how she can recieve additional training on WebCT, specifically when and where the training is offered, and how she can sign up. She has used the Web a lot in the past, but is a little nervous about asking for the help she needs, and is concerned that her needs won't be met.

User scenarios are ideal ways to think about how users might attempt to accomplish a task on your Web site. A user path is the articulation of the ideal steps on a path users would take to accomplish a given task.

This week's discussion begins a collaborative dialogue that explores potential user scenarios for a particular Web site and the paths a user might follow to succeed in those scenarios.

Your first discussion posting this week should include your Project 1 materials:

• Your organization definition
• Your organization's Web site primary goal(s)
• Your organization's Web site primary audience(s)

Your second and third discussion postings this week should be to pose a user scenario to two of your classmates based on their organization definition, primary goals and audiences.

Remember, user scenarios should be as authentic as possible. In next week's discussion I'll be asking you to respond to these user scenarios with user paths.

• Lesson 2 Discussion Board Topic