In April 2009 the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Indidana University was tasked with the "creation of a vivid, easy-to-find, easy-to-use online academic roadmap for undergraduates". In June 2010, myself and another HCI/d student, Chit Meng Cheong were hired on to start designing the Academic Roadmap.

The Academic Roadmap was going to be a system where undergraduate students would have access to a central location where they would be able to find information relevant to their undergraduate careers. This information included class search and registration, campus and community events, degree exploration including overseas studies, and degree achievements. The Academic Roadmap needed to be a tool that helped undergraduate students explore and understand the different arrays of academic disciplines and campus life offered at Indiana University. Students needed to have easy access to tools and information from all departments that allow course and academic career planning to be as smooth as possible.

Process

Our process included interviewing, conducing surveys, and conducting focus groups with students as well as researching existing academic roadmaps by other universities.

We sketched and created concepts using a variety of different methods to show class search and registration, degree achievment, and degree exploration.

We created wireframes and mockups using many tools including Google Drawing, Adobe Fireworks and Illustrator, and OmniGraffle.

Finally, we presented our findings and design decisions to numerous campus committees overseeing different parts of the Academic Roadmap project.