HCDE

1. Team IDEATORS HCDE 318 Fall 2019
Contextual Inquiry
Participant​: A first-quarter undergraduate student in HCDE.
Date​: Oct. 23 2019, 9:00am--1:30pm
Location​: Sieg Hall and Lowe Hall at the University of Washington
A. 9:00am-11:20am during HCDE 313 class session
Observer: Kara
Facilitator: Catherine
Analyst: Tim
Actions:
- Walked into the classroom with a pink sweatshirt and blue pants, hood on.
- Sat at a table of 3 with 2 students he did not know (observational comment: the
instructor said to sit with people you didn’t know; there were 9 other students in
class.)
- Turned on his laptop.
- Looked at MyPlan.
- Looked at a news article.
- Looked at the SEBA career fair website because a fellow student told him about
it yesterday.
- Found out that more students were walking in to the classroom (observational
comment: now there were 18 students in total.)
- Went to google.
- Looked at companies attending the career fair.
- Went to HCDE website.
- Scrolled through the HCDE website.
- Went back to MyPlan and looked through courses.
- Talked with his group about the prompt from the instructor.
- Went back to scroll through MyPlan.
- Raised hand to answer a question.
- Went back to MyPlan (observational comment: he was on his computer while the
class was discussing.)
- Wrote up something on a document.
- Looked up from computer, leaned on one hand, and looked at the instructor.

2. Team IDEATORS HCDE 318 Fall 2019
- Pulled out his phone and scrolled through his phone with head down.
- Left the room during break and went back after a few minutes.
- Kept looking at his computer and phone.
- Slumped over looking at his phone
- Got Back on computer.
- Briefly looked up at professor and then back to his computer.
- Packed up belongings.
- Put chapstick on.
- Ate a piece of gum.
- Walked over to a friend, waiting for him to finish a quiz and walking together to
the next class.
Takeaways​:
- He was on his computer or mobile device for the entire class session.
- He rarely engaged with other students or the instructor during class discussions.
- He seemed to be distracted by information that were more personal to him.
- He was eager to settle down his academic plans for the next quarter through
MyPlan.
- Looking through the HCDE website to check out the upcoming career fair and
other career-related events was another priority on the student’s mind.
- Overall, the student seemed to be focusing on other academic-related and
career-related tasks, such as planning classes for the next quarter, checking
information about the HCDE career fair. For other time he chose to interact with
his phone through the entire class period.
B. 11:30am-1:30pm during HCDE 231 class session
Observer: Catherine
Facilitator: Kara
Analyst: Britnie
Actions:
- Talked to friends before class started;
- Checked for UX internship at a company using Google search; glanced through
detailed descriptions of positions available (observational comment: participant
was really concerned and focused on the information)
- Glanced through other students’ portfolio pages through HCDE website;
- Replied to a friend’s text on the phone;

3. Team IDEATORS HCDE 318 Fall 2019
- Went to LinkedIn and checked the company’s information again (observational
comment: he moved closer to the screen and read the information really closely);
- Opened Spotify on the phone;
- Continued to look at other job descriptions on LinkedIn (observational comment:
he started to anxiously tap and shake his right foot with irregular patterns);
- Raised his head to interact with the instructor for a few minutes;
- Switched to LinkedIn’s main page to look at random information (observational
comment: his facial expression was less stressed right now and he stopped
tapping his foot);
- Went to his profile on LinkedIn and started editing profile information
(observational comment: at the moment he began humming songs and nodded
his head rhythmically);
- Used search bar on LinkedIn regularly and interacted with the filter options
regularly (observational comment: he continued the humming throughout his
online navigation);
- Went to Canvas and searched for the class slides in syllabus so to do group
activities with other students;
- Spoke in class and showed his computer screen to the instructor;
- Checked emails and saw over 10 unopened mail in his inbox (observational
comment: he made a frown on his face; he said that he had three email
accounts);
- Made a comment to the observer: “I just saw two emails from a coordinator of
HCDE career fair about a lost jacket. It is unreasonably weird. I do not think she
needs to send it twice to all HCDE students. These are informal; email should
have formal information.”
- Checked events and resources from the calendar on HCDE website;
- Called a friend who was sitting two people to his left: “did you know that HCDE
has a portfolio page….” during the break;
- Continued to at other students’ portfolios by first accessing the HCDE website;
- Worked on his own portfolio on another website for a few minutes;
- Checked his email inbox again and lowered his head down to his arms at the
table.
Takeaways:
- During this observation, subject was mostly interested in career related activities.
- LinkedIn was his primary source to look around for internships and job
opportunities. He used LinkedIn as a form of communication as well, by updating
his profile intended for other employers and students to look at. He also used it

4. Team IDEATORS HCDE 318 Fall 2019
as a search engine to learn about job opportunities and receive career-related
information that he is interested in.
- He also used google as a general search engine to look for job opportunities.
- In addition, he was also concentrated on portfolio work, making an effort to
create or improve his portfolio. He looked through the HCDE website at other
students portfolios to get an idea of what a portfolio should have and what he
should include.
- He also seemed bothered by the amounts of emails he receives from HCDE and
felt that some particular emails were not necessary to be sent to the group.
- Overall, the subject was more interested in career related activities during the
observation based on searching for jobs and portfolio related activities.
C. Documentations:
(We have informed the participant and have the permission for information and photo
releases.)
Figure 1. Contextual Inquiry during HCDE 231. Figure 2. Contextual Inquiry during HCDE 231.