Diversity Design Competition
Usabilathon competition, three-week team challenge at George Mason University, with the goal of redesigning GMU's Diversity in Psychology webpage to meet the needs of diverse current and prospective students, staff and faculty.
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Background
Diversity committee assist and encourage the Psychology Department in the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, staff, and undergraduate and graduate students. They support the coverage of diversity in the Psychology curriculum. The committee provide information to the Department concerning diversity resources and events at the University and in the local community. In addition they provide a supportive and inclusive environment.
Goals
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Identify needs of diverse students
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Improve appearance, organization, usability, and user experience of Website with goal of providing tools and resources to meet these needs
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Provide and maintain updated resources and information for current and interested diverse students to feel more included
Method
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Data Analysis
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Personas
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Create Survey and did Usability Testing of old website and competitor websites
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Email Interviews with Diversity Committee
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Heuristic Analysis
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Card Sorting
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Hierarchical Analysis
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Create Wireframe Examples of Homepage
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Used Parallel Design
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Created Initial Prototype with Axure
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Usability testing on old site vs initial Prototype
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Made Final Prototype
Recommendation
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Diversity “Conversation”
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Engage students, faculty & staff in the conversation about diversity
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Learn through each others’ experiences
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Incorporate more events & interaction opportunities (social media & chat functions?)
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Diversity “Hub”
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Provide community/local resources, groups, events, etc.
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Representation & “seek to inspire”
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Demonstrate the diversity of the dept/GMU and show it is a home to people of all kinds
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include dept stats, more photos, organize diversity events, etc.
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Inspire diverse students to pursue psychology (& academia careers)
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how/why does the committee represent and value diversity
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Incorporate interactive diversity experience (videos, music, etc.)
Lessons Learned
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Choosing an appropriate research method is critical
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Teamworking is a key
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learned how to corporate as a member of a team​
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