Noticed: Designing a university–Student communication service

Abstract

This thesis reports the process of designing an information aggregator and communication application called Noticed for Aalto University. The project was a collaborative effort between four students of Aalto University.

Currently, multiple tools are being used at Aalto University for providing information to students and staff. Information is scattered across multiple channels including learning management systems, web portals, websites, social networks, student emails, and notice boards. A large amount of information is duplicated and overlapped, which leads to confusion and frustration among both student and staff at Aalto University.

I first conducted background research on the university and analysed the various Aalto communication channels, alongside with the channels used in other universities. Then, I applied service design methodologies to isolate the core problems of information communication at Aalto University. In order to do so, I first identified the main stakeholders involved in information communication at the university, and conducted a series of interviews. This allowed understanding the core of the information communication problem from the users’ perspective.

Next, I used agile product development methods to iteratively develop an application that could bring a solution to the identified information communication problem. The development consisted of four iterations. Each of the iterations was tested with key users. The outcomes of the usability tests were used to implement the following iterations of the product. The resulting application was named Noticed and was designed so that it could serve as an official communication channel for students and staff, while aggregating all the information circulating in the university to deliver it on a unified platform.