Evaluating PiP : optimising user acceptance testing via heuristic evaluation

Curriculum design is a potentially complex HCI task, exerting high levels of cognitive load on users. This brief contribution summarizes the use of heuristic evaluation techniques within the context of technology-supported curriculum design systems, as a precursor to user testing. The overall purpose of the PiP evaluation is to examine core project deliverables, to assess their fitness for purpose and their impact on wider institutional systems and processes. This involves - among other things - systems testing, the gathering and analysis of user data using a variety of research techniques in order to identify opportunities for system and process enhancements, interpreting the perceptions and reactions of primary and secondary stakeholders, and assessing the overall institutional impact of the project. An additional objective is to use the findings from testing to share lessons with the HE sector about ways of improving curriculum design and approval processes