EDCI 672

Case Analysis: Lynn Dixon

Anneleise Dickens
Purdue University
Fall 2014

image courtesy of
http://wli.wwt.org.uk/category/uncategorized/world-wetlands-day/

Anneleise Dickens

November 1, 2014

Case Name: Lynn Dixon

Key Stakeholders:
The designer is Lynn Dixon, who works for Telopea Learning in Sydney. She is originally from
the USA and moved to Australia a year earlier. She has found there are quite a few differences
in how the Australians view work as compared to Americans. One primary difference is she sees
the Australians approach to work in a more casual manner (Ertmer et al., 2014, p. 195). On
top of this, Lynn is considered a top-notch designer and lead project manager, as she is one of
few at Telopea who have an ID degree.
At issue in this case is that Lynn has been asked to head a project to develop software for a
kiosk for The Aquarium in Cairns. This kiosk is to be an interactive, touch-screen interface that
will help The Aquarium visitors learn more about the wetlands areas. Lynn has never worked on
such a project; while she is excited, she also knows many factors will have to be considered and
approached from different angles and she has research to do in a short amount of time (Ertmer
et al., 2014, p. 196-197).
Figure 1 below outlines the specifics of this kiosk, as requested by the team creating the exhibit,
both prior to Lynns design document and during document review. Lynns primary concerns
are how to design for a touch-screen exhibit and satisfying the clients while staying within
budget and time constraints.

Anneleise Dickens

November 1, 2014

Figure 1

celebrate World Wetlands

Day
show connection between
Great Barrier Reef,
wetlands, & catchment
areas
emphasize relationship
information about different
types wetlands
role played in Aboriginal
culture & heritage

20-minute time limit

medium-level average
interactivity level
measure of time spent by learners
@ any one section
data of most popular & longest
viewed sections

Touch-screen kiosk
Explore & Learn about
Wetlands
audio narration
Requirements
age differences
language barriers
Wants/Needs
fancy animation
game section

The client in this case is The Aquarium; however, to be more specific, Laura Barton
(government liaison with The Aquarium) and Ben Williams (Education Manager at The
Aquarium) are two leaders of The Aquarium team and qualify as clients. This team (unnamed
but for Laura and Ben, but also clients) will be creating the entire wetlands exhibit; Ben and
Laura are the two with whom Lynn will be working closely in designing this software. I would
classify Laura as a primary client; she is the sponsor of the project and has requested
involvement only in major reviews and signoffs (Ertmer et al., 2014, p 197). The clients'
primary concern is a great, interactive touch-screen kiosk that comes in under or at the limited
budget and within the time frame given (more below). Janette Parks, head of Telopea Learnings
sales team, would not necessarily be a client. She secured the contract with The Aquarium, so
she holds a stake in this project. I would consider her as important, but not a stakeholder, per
say.

Anneleise Dickens

November 1, 2014

The Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the Lynn Dixon case is Ben Williams; the case specifies
him as the SME and he is there to help Lynn with preliminary reviews, feedback, and timeline
management. Ben will also report to Laura, project leader (Ertmer et al., 2014, p.197). A primary
concern of Ben Williams is that he wants a great exhibit, such as animation, games, audio
narration, and more of the Aboriginal importance, especially storytelling (Ertmer et al., 2014, p.
200). He wants this exhibit to truly show visitors the importance of the wetlands. Overall, Ben is
happy with the initial design; he just has high hopes of more bells and whistles, (Ertmer et al.,
2014, p. 199).
For this case, the audience includes the general public, young and old, natives and foreign
visitors, and many experts in marine life. This kiosk will be located in a central exhibit at The
Aquarium, available for everyone to access. The central concerns of the audience would
assumedly be user-friendliness, streamline quick access design, understandable for all ages
and languages, accessible for those with special needs, and not time intensive.
Key ID Design Challenges:
Design challenge 1: Lynn must design a project that is set up on a touch-screen, something
she has never done before. In terms of ADDIE, this should be primarily part of Analysis, but
could also be part of both design and development, as she has to consider certain materials to
include. She has never done such a design and realizes she needs to figure out many specifics,
such as screen size, buttons and placement.
Design challenge 2: Within the context of ADDIE model and in the Evaluation stage, I saw
very little in this case regarding evaluation. Ben did state that the team wanted access to reports
of learner interaction and time spent on modules within the kiosk exhibit, and data as to which
modules there was more or less time spent on. However, there is nothing said during the design
review regarding evaluation. It makes me wonder if this has been considered or addressed.

Anneleise Dickens

November 1, 2014

Case-Specific Constraint(s):
This would be primarily satisfying Ben Williams, a client and the SME. Ben wants to include
several things in this exhibit that may be cost-prohibitive; he has great ideas and aspirations for
the kiosk, but is having a difficult time accepting that the budget is not endless. However, Lynn
does a good job including him as a valued partner and accepting his ideas, then putting a spin
on them to help him realize what is and is not possible. Below, Table 1 outlines some of the
primary constraints of this case.
Table 1

Constraint
Touch-Screen Kiosk:

Unfamiliar with touch-screen design

20 min. avg. time interaction for
users
Average user difficulty of medium
Data collection
Cater to variety of participants (age,
culture, language,
profession/experience)

Explore & Learn About Wetlands

Thematic connections
Aboriginal relationship/storytelling

Extras (bells & whistles)

Games
Fancy animation (sky-level
animation of the catchment area)

Design Dilemma
Lynn has never designed for anything other
than a computer, so she has research to
complete in terms of the idiosyncrasies of this
format. In addition, she needs to follow the
Statement of Work that specifies the time, user
ability format, and data collection
requirements.
Lynn has much to do in what I suspect to be 45 months. World Wetlands Day falls on
February 2, and as the case describes her
current climate to be chilly, I am thinking it
must be August or September, with winter
coming to an end.
The primary dilemma here is for Lynn to
incorporate the Aboriginal relationship to the
wetlands. Being from the US, Lynn probably
does not know much about the Aborigines; her
suggestion to approach a local university in
Cairns is probably the best approach, and Ben
is well qualified to do so as the SME.
Herein lies Lynns greatest dilemma, from the
angle of the case study writing: Ben wants it
all, and Lynn has limited budget and time. She
has a hard time telling Ben no, and works well
with steering him around an obstacle and
helping him point out himself about budget

Anneleise Dickens

Audio narration

November 1, 2014

constraints. She is more than willing to do

what she can to placate him with a small game
and some basic animation. Using volunteers
or college students as narrators, for a low or
no fee, would help solve the narration
dilemma.

Priority:
Which of the above challenges or constraints ranks as most important? In looking back, it
seems analyzing how a touch-screen interface operates and is developed is most important for
Lynn to tackle. She knows she has research to do, and she needs to reach out to the graphic
designers and anyone else she can think of from which to get feedback and advice. Surely there
are tutorials available online. Once Lynn has the basics of touch-screen devices down, she can
then work on the actual design and placement of the thematic connections and such. From her
Design Document, the time for the exhibit looks to be approximately eleven minutes. It is in her
best interest to understand fully how a touch-screen operates so she can get at the least a
working model up and going for testing in terms of time and user ability.
Coming in second for priority would be the basic case-specific constraint of making Ben
Williams happy. As he seems to be relatively easy-going and open-minded, this should not be
too difficult, for Lynn works well with Ben and has done a good job of placating him and opening
his eyes to alternative and less costly ideas than his optimistic ones. She suggested asking the
local university for help with the Aborigine storytelling and information, and suggests some
scaled down games and animation in place of the fancy things Ben requests.
The reason I place learning the touch-screen interface over satisfying Ben is simply that without
a working knowledge of the touch-screen, the exhibit will not happen under Lynns leadership.

Anneleise Dickens

November 1, 2014

She has to know the ins-and-outs of this format in order to make everything fit as the clients
wish.
Rounding out the third in importance of challenges would be Evaluation. Lynn has not, at least
as presented in this case study, addressed any summative evaluation of the project. This needs
to be done, especially as this is her first time designing for touch-screen interface; if she is
offered another opportunity she should have evaluative feedback. In that same manner, Laura
and her team also need hard data in order to make changes or improvements for this kiosk and
any future kiosks.
Weekly Readings & Previous Experience Contributions:
From the readings for this week, both centered on the use of graphics and animation/pictures
(aka, graphics!) in terms of learning. While neither study came to solid conclusions, they both
raise the point that when used correctly, graphics can contribute to learning. Thus, in the touchscreen interface Lynn is to design, graphics must be used. Ben wants to have animations and
interactive games, all of which contain graphics (Hoffler & Leutner, 2007; Sung & Mayer, 2012).
From my own experience, pictures and animation is always helpful as long as it is relevant (also
pointed out by Sung & Mayer, 2012). As a teacher, I know that many students are visually
oriented learnersthey have grown up with video in a variety of formats. I just saw that the
Smithsonians website has online 3-D viewers of different things such as dinosaurs and I have
seen many a virtual field trip online of sites such as aquariums, museums, and historical sites.
All of these use graphics, images and animations. As a mother, I have seen firsthand how an
illustration and animation captures a childs attention and imagination. For older folks such as
myself, it helps make things clearer and easier to understand. To be honest, a touch-screen
kiosk with nothing but text will most likely be ignored or used for graffiti art.

November 1, 2014

Anneleise Dickens

Reasonable Solutions:
Table 2

Solution

Challenge(s)
Addressed

Lynn first and

foremost needs to
understand the
basics of the touchscreen interface and
how it is designed. I
understand from the
case study that
Laura has arranged
for a provider to
create the
hardware; I suggest
Lynn contact them
first and see if they
can suggest
appropriate
software design
systems or
tutorials.

Design challenge &

Incorporate game(s)
and animation: Ben
wants this. He
knows The
Aquarium audience,
knows what people
want, and also
wants to showcase
his teams efforts at
their best. To satisfy
Ben, Lynn needs to
try and work in at
least 1-2 short,
interactive games
that include
animation, with
possibly a fancy
animation at the
beginning of the
exhibit to catch
audience attention.

Case-specific
constraint: keep Ben
happy

case constraint

Pro(s)

Con(s)

A quick Google
search leads to quite
a few hits and
tutorials, so it should
be relatively simple
for her to learn online
and from the graphic
designers at Telopea.

It is always possible
Lynn simply cannot
figure out how to
design for this
interface. Possible
also is the time factor
interferes with her
learning. Some
people pick up new
things quickly; I am
not sure how good
Lynn is at this, but it
seems she would not
accept such a public
project without being
confident in her ability
to learn a new
interface.

She can go to graphic

designers, the
company creating the
hardware, and also
could possibly have
good luck with a
Sydney university or
even tech school.

Interactive games and

animation are
audience pleasers
and attention-getters.
Not only will Ben be
pleased at the
incorporation of such,
but the public
audience itself will be,
as well. Lynn has to
figure out a way
around the budget
constraints and
sweet-talk her
designers into the
most basic but fancy
animations possible!
Again, she could
approach local
universities for
assistance.

Money is the biggest

constraint at play
here. It is quite
possible (as I do not
know the costs
required) that
incorporating such
fancy animation is
beyond the scope of
this project.
It is also possible
using games and
animation will take the
exhibit over the
proposed time limit;
although I do not
quite see how. Lynn is
smart enough to
adapt the objectives
and themes into
games.

Anneleise Dickens

November 1, 2014

Final Recommendation (description & justification, with cons addressed)

My final recommendation to Lynn Dixon is that she learns how to create a touch-screen
interface (see Table 2). She needs to take a closer look at her Analysis phase and make sure all
Is are dotted and Ts crossed. Without this essential piece in place, there will be no kiosk; at
least, not one designed by Lynn. In terms of the time needed to learn this, Lynn will most likely
have to devote a portion of her personal time to learning touch-screen and overcoming any
obstacles that arise. There is also the possibility that she hire someone to help with the specifics
of the interface, but budget will probably not allow for this.
At the same time, Lynn needs to keep in constant contact with Ben. Laura only wants to chime
in major issues such as reviews and sign-offs, so Lynn needs to keep Laura apprised of the
situation and, should Ben become too demanding, possibly ask Laura to intervene. Janette is
excited about the project, and Lynn needs to keep her excited and make sure Janette is
involved. In order to waylay some of the disappearing acts Janette seems to be pulling, Lynn
should keep in touch with her and ask for her advice and feedback; make her feel involved and
as a partner. After all, Janette secured the project; therefore it is also her reputation on the line,
and possibly her job, as well. While Lynn has not much time to complete this project, she has a
willing and able partner in Ben, who although idealistic, is also realistic and is the perfect person
to assist with the design in terms of themes and interaction. He knows what aquarium goers
want. As long as Lynn keeps him involved and busy, she will likely make sure his fancy
animations are included in some manner.

Anneleise Dickens

November 1, 2014

References
Ertmer, P. A., Quinn, J. A., & Glazewski, K. D. (2014). The ID CaseBook: Case Studies in Instructional
Design (4th ed.). Pearson Education.
Hoffler, T. N., & Leutner, D. (2007). Instructional animation versus static pictures: A meta-analysis.
Learning and Instruction, 722-738.
Sung, E., & Mayer, R. E. (2012). When graphics improve liking but not learning from online lessons.
Computers in Human Behavior, 1618-1625.