Topic 1: Understanding Digital Problems

• Understand methods of breaking down problems into parts using computational thinking and thinking tools, e.g. mind maps.
  

Decomposition Example

Mind Map Example

Videos

Software

• Mindmap Maker: https://app.mindmapmaker.org/
• Draw.io: https://github.com/jgraph/drawio-desktop/releases 

Resources

• https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/08/09/the-joel-test-12-steps-to-better-code/ 
  • https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/10/02/painless-functional-specifications-part-1-why-bother/ 

• Understand and describe personal, social and economic impacts.
  
• Analyse problems to identify
  - the human need, want or opportunity that requires a new or re-imagined digital solution
  - essential elements, components and features of problems in Digital Solutions
  - where and how digital technologies are used to solve problems to meet personal, societal and organisational needs, e.g. through search engines, robotics, mobile phone applications, automobile control systems, wearable devices, and the use of smart objects in the Internet of Things.
  

Videos

Resources

• https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/measuring-entrepreneurial-impact/0/steps/55997 
• Fast Track Impact Planning Template: https://www.fasttrackimpact.com/post/2019/03/18/research-impact-planning 

Impact goal	Relevant parties	Activities	Impact indicators	Impact risks	Risk mitigation	Organisational comments
Describe the benefit that will be delivered	Name of organisation(s), group(s) or individual(s) who will benefit from these impacts, who may be able to help us to deliver impacts or who are interested in these impacts for other reasons (see your 3i analysis)	Identify activities that could enable these parties to get the benefits described in the impact goal, or enable them to deliver these benefits for others	What would success look like, and how would you capture this for communication to others? Identify indicators that you could measure (either qualitatively or quantitatively) to demonstrate that your impact goal(s) have been achieved	Identify risks that could prevent impacts from being achieved and/or that could lead to negative unintentional consequences	Explain how the identified risks can be mitigated	Who will be responsible for delivering the impact goal? Identify any other organisational needs e.g. funding, training or other resources that may needed, and proposed initial actions and timings
Articulate your goal as specifically as possible. This can include goals of other organisations whose impacts we want to help achieve	Write the name(s) here	Write the activities here	List relevant indicators and means of measurement here	List risks, explaining the nature and magnitude of each risk	Provide risk mitigation narrative here	List anything else necessary to achieve the impact here

• Explore existing solutions to similar problems, e.g. existing applications, games or websites.
  

Videos

Resources

• https://www.uisources.com/screenshots 
• https://alternativeto.net/ 

• Explore emerging technologies in relation to problems, e.g. machine learning, deep learning, neural networks, natural language processing.
  

Videos

• Analyse a given problem to identify
  - the scope of the problem
  - constraints and limitations of the environment
  - the requirements of the solution
  - the user perspective and user-experience requirements
  - technical issues of the problem that influence the user-interface requirements
  - missing, required or unnecessary facts or information
  - success criteria to evaluate the personal, social and economic impacts of the solution.
  

Videos

Resources

• https://www.zaycev.studio/example-ux-review 
• https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/improving-ux-on-an-existing-website-6d90723a5bd
• https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/system-design-tutorial/
• https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/how-to-set-product-goals-initiatives-a-complete-guide-for-product-managers/ 

• Evaluate information and ideas.
  

Collect evidence from testing for objective criteria and user surveys for subjective criteria. The criteria should be stated at the start of the project.

Use this evidence to justify how well you have met the criteria then recommend how they could be improved.

Videos

Resources

• https://digisoln.com/evaluation.html 

• Communicate using
  - digital technologies–specific language
  - language conventions, textual features, such as annotations, paragraphs and sentences, and referencing conventions to convey information to particular audiences about digital solutions
  - sketches or diagrams to present information and ideas about the problem and programmed digital solutions
  - the modes of visual, written and spoken communication to present data and information about digital solutions.

Language Conventions

• Annotations
• Paragraphs
• Referencing (Generally APA)
• Sketches or Diagrams
• Correct way to present information.

Checklist

• General Components Reviewed
  
  • Title
  • Headings
  • Capital Letters
  • Spelling
  • Punctuation
  • Images have captions
  • Citations/References and Bibliography
• Specific Areas
  • Existing Solution
  • UI Design
  • Psueocode (Algorithms)
  • Requirements
  • Criteria
  • Evaluation