Dear Students: Today you are going to generate ideas for the requirements of a computer-based system that is described in a document of a client who wants to improve the SIR JOHN A MACDONALD HIGH SCHOOL website http://sja.ednet.ns.ca/index.html. You are going to use the power-only EPMcreate technique as the creativity fostering technique to generate your ideas. The power-only EPMcreate technique consists of 5 mini brainstorming sessions. In each mini session, you will pretend to think from the viewpoints of two stakeholders(roles/users) STUDENT and PARENT, and for each pair of viewpoints, you will follow the steps 0-4 that are explained in the table below Try to produce as many as possible, don’t evaluate any idea, and don’t inhibit anyone from participating. You have only two hours to carry out the steps, but you may end your session earlier if all of you agree that no more ideas are forthcoming. 0. Blank out your mind. ===== 1. Generate ideas for the requirements of the given system that are needed jointly by STUDENT and PARENT. (30 minutes)
 1. Support multiple browsers (Firefox, etc.) 2. Support mobile browsers (optimized for devices) 3. Webmail should have SSL 4. Address has country in it 5. Phone number/fax should have area code 6. There is no context for George. Should state what it does 7. George should have an SSL/TLS certificate 8. Phone numbers on George page should have area codes 9. News and Dates boxes could be in frames to avoid overflow 10. For email, there is no "I forgot my password". It should be added 11. Instructions in yellow box could be given in less technical language 12. Site map word should be link as well as lighthouse graphic 13. SJA Photo Gallery is not a link nor does it apply to anything on the page. It should click through to the gallery. 14. There is a number at the bottom -- no indication of what it means. It should say or be removed. 15. Fine Arts Gala ad does not click through to more information, which it should 16. Side menu does not work at all in Firefox. Seems as if there is no content there. It should at least click through to the site map or something else 17. Off-site links should open in new window (or state that they are redirecting you to another site not controlled/endorsed by the school) 18. Menus are very complicated with too many options. Regroup items into smaller groups. 19. Code of conduct is missing -- either add the document or remove the link 20. Links to Virtual Guidance Office and Library look totally different than the other pages -- it looks like a patchwork of pages. Should implement a common look and feel. 21. Library should look like the main page 22. Virtual Guidance Office page should look like main page 23. Student Council page should look like main page 24. Youth Health page should look like main page 25. Documents that are PPT files should at least be PDFs. Better still, all the PDFs should be html webpages with the same content and a link to download the PDF (for printing) 26. Important dates do not have year -- is this current or expired? 27. Calender could be implemented with Google Calender or iCal so that you can export all the dates to your personal calender 28. NSTU link -- should use full name. We didn't know what it was until we clicked on it. 29. PD request form should use encryption to send the password 30. Email software should be kept up to date with latest security patches (there are known vulnerabilities with Horde email) 31. Directions to the school (map or driving instructions) ======= 2. Generate ideas for the requirements of the given system that are needed by STUDENT but are not wanted by PARENT. (30 minutes) 32. In the student menu, some information is repeated from school information -- these should be removed from one or the other. They are Virtual Guidance OFfice and Staff Websites and Email. 33. Student email picture at top of main page should be first (since student menu is also before staff) 34. More pictures. Names of students on pictures and comments. 35. Bus schedule is missing. How can I get to school if I don't know when to take the bus??? 36. What is "Big Bunch"? Not clear. 37. Advanced placement shouldn't be a power point 38. Big bunch should look like the school page 39. Dates should be integrated with the other calender. They should at least use the same format (either per week or per month) 40. Teach advisors on big bunch page should link through to their website or email address. 41. The big bunch page is out of date! It should be kept current or removed if its no longer used. 42. Activities in the Big Bunch calender should be links to more information about the events 43. Big Bunch page -- Training Workshop link is not well placed and it is a bad link 44. When you open the sports page, you are redirected. First, the link should be direct. Second, when you click back to go back to the main page, you are landed on a redirect page. These links should be fixed. This problem applies to other links too. 45. Course selection should have partitioned information -- which courses are being offered currently. An online registration system would be good. 46. If I am a new student or prospective, how do I enroll. There is no information 47. Courses could have an online component for distance learning, submitting assignments, getting lectures 48. There could be an online yearbook 49. There could be a map of the school, to find classrooms 50. There could be a social network facilities -- keep in touch with students, blogs, etc. 51. Staff get their own website, what about students? 52. No information about clubs 53. Way to access grades online 54. Library page doesn't seem to let you search the catalogue. This could be added 55. Want way to see what books I have checked out and be able to renew them. 56. Want way to subscribe for a book that is not available and receive email when it is. 57. Sports page should use frames so that boxes don't overflow with information. 58. Pictures should be downloadable 59. Pictures could be in a widget or slideshow or something that doesn't look like the web circa 1994. 60. Should have a webcam showing the outside of the school, constantly updating 61. There could be job listings for summer jobs for students, with the ability to apply 
 ====== 3. Generate ideas for the requirements of the given system that are needed by PARENT but are not wanted by STUDENT. (30 minutes) 62. Less pictures (privacy concern) 63. Blur out the faces of the students in the pictures. Black bar across the eyes would be acceptable too. 64. When are the parent-teacher interviews? This should be prominent in the parent section. How do I get around the school? Where is it? Where do I go? 65. Staff listing should say who people are (their title). Who is the principal for example? 66. Staff listings should have phone numbers or extensions for staff 67. There is a family emergency -- what do I do? 68. Is there an ombudsman? What is their contact information? 69. SJA tech support doesn't lead to any information, just a log in screen. 70. George service should say what it provides. Can I check my child's attendance records, disciplinary reports or marks? 71. There is a phone number and fax listed for school. Is there an email address? 72. Parents should be able to update their contact information online in case they need to be contacted 73. Parents should be able to subscribe to the newsletter online with email or rss (you can for the library newsletter, why not this one?) 74. Scholarship updates link on Virtual Guidance is broken. 75. Information should be organized so that its relevant to what parents want or a specific task they want to do. It is poorly organized and spread all over different "mini-sites" linked to by the main site. 76. Does Ms. Parsons want the entire world knowing she is on maternity leave? ====== 4. Generate ideas for the requirements of the given system that are not wanted by both of STUDENT and PARENT, but are needed possibly by other stakeholders. (30 minutes) 77. How to I put up or update a webpage if I am a teacher? 78. What is a PD Request form? What does it do? 79. PD request should be secure log-in 80. Because the school uses totally different systems for different things -- email, forms, george, etc. Do I have to have a different username/password for each? Single-sign on would be good. 81. It would be good to see directions, things that are located nearby 82. What kind of gym or sports facilities does the school have? 83. How do I determine if I am eligible to send my student to this school? 84. How does this school rank against other schools? What are the statistics for standardized tests, etc? 85. The website URL is hard to parse and remember 86. There could job listings for staff position 87. Staff should be able to access HR info (tax forms, pay stubs, etc) 88. School policies should be online 89. Does the school have any partnerships with industry? What if industry is interested? 90. The school needs a logo.