Lessons Learned on Developing Educational Systems Using a Hybrid User Centered Methodology - New Contributions in Information Systems and Technologies - page 204

4.3 Multidisciplinary Teams

Assuming that the improvement of Hybrid Methodology for User Centered
Development is continuous, the need to introduce other methods of User Centered
Design, beyond those presented in Table 2, may be a reality. However, this will be a
challenge for multidisciplinary teams using a hybrid methodology for User Centered
Development, depending on the skills of each element.
In an upcoming project, an important factor would be to ensure that as one of the
team members, were given the responsibility/role of "facilitator of User Centered
Design" in the development process. The facilitator of User Centered Design mediates
the relationship between users and the elements of the multidisciplinary team and
should have a multidisciplinary background (for example, see how users interact with
educational software and understand the context of use) [20].
Is reflected in this study what Guerra [32] had already identified in his study "the
success of working in multidisciplinary teams depends on how each element is
organized, communicates and relates to each other and there should be one (or more)
element (s) to assume (s) the leadership of the team. In this line, it is considered that
the diversity of skills/roles of the various elements of the multidisciplinary team may
also have created weaknesses throughout the development process. These difficulties
have focused primarily at the level of the difference in attitudes of the team members,
as well as communication failures. "
Working in multidisciplinary teams can create different involvements. For
example, the company that developed the Courseware Sere, the Ludomedia, you want
it to have reduced development costs. On the other hand, an external developer might
want to make the most of their collaboration. These aspects should be considered to
ensure that the expectations of both parties are not frustrated and the end result
satisfies the user [9]. However, the end-user satisfaction can be called into question if
one cannot strike a balance between the quality of the product (in this case the
educational software), the term for the design and the associated costs.

4.4 Barriers of User Centered Design

It was identified in the development of Courseware Sere the importance of taking into
account the assumptions and methods of User Centered Design. According Abras,
Maloney-Krichmar & Preece [18], two of the disadvantages of User -Centered Design
is that projects need more time to be developed and therefore become more
expensive. Moreover, Duim, Andersson, & Sinnema [33] state that the most costly
phase of the life cycle of a software is the maintenance. As described, the courseware
development process was lengthy. However being the educational resource in its 3rd
version, however, it is considered that, as stated by Shneiderman & Plaisant [3], "User
Centered Design methodologies leads to systems that generate fewer problems during
development and have lower maintenance costs over their lifetime".
The survey on the integration of User Centered Design in enterprises carried out by
Venturi & Trust [34], claims that only large companies integrate User Centered
Design, however with reduced use by professionals (only 1%). The development
process of Courseware Sere, reinforces what these authors claim, namely that the
development of prototypes are one of the most used [34] and, when evaluated by end