English   Danish

2014/2015  BA-BHAAI1032U  Business models for user experience design of social media smartphone apps

English Title
Business models for user experience design of social media smartphone apps

Course information

Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Bachelor
Duration Summer
Course period Summer
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Course instructor - Dr. Michael Kai Petersen, Technical University of Denmark
    Patricia Plackett - MPP
Main academic disciplines
  • Information Systems
  • Innovation and entrepreneurship
Last updated on 02-07-2014
Learning objectives
By the end of the course students should be able to:
  • Identify user needs (define user segments, frequent usage scenarios, usage patterns based on type of device, changing user needs throughout the day, mechanisms used for navigation.
  • Transform user needs into hypotheses validated in functional prototypes by outlining a storyboard diagram for consistent navigation between sequences of screens (hierararchical structure, filtering, sharing).
  • Apply detailed wireframes of individual screens based on flat design patterns and style guides (e.g. iOS7, Windows 8) for bars, controls and content display that support the chosen conceptual metaphors (e.g. contextual maps, timelines, graphs).
  • Validate the prototypes in order to identify the MVP minimum viable product functionalities (does the app solve the problem? is the interface usable? for which user segment? at what price?).
  • Analyze social media data based on API’s in order to identify types of user generated data that optimize unique value propositions and key resources in business models for smartphone apps.
  • Compare and apply business model patterns to optimize value creation for a smartphone prototype app integrating user generated social media data.
Course prerequisites
Basic knowledge about information technology related to design of smartphone apps and Facebook OpenGraph social media data (compulsory)
Prerequisites for registering for the exam
Number of mandatory activities: 1
Compulsory assignments (assessed approved/not approved)
Mandatory Mid-term Assignment: Groups consisting of at most 5 students must define UX design for a smartphone app prototype as a lean minimum viable product MVP based on Facebook OpenGraph API validated using prototyping tools such as POP or InVision.
Examination
4 hour written exam:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Written sit-in exam
Individual or group exam Individual
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 4 hours
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer Term
Aids allowed to bring to the exam Limited aids, see the list below and the exam plan/guidelines for further information:
  • Allowed dictionaries
  • Books and compendia brought by the examinee
  • Notes brought by the examinee
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
If the number of registered candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination warrants that it may most appropriately be held as an oral examination, the programme office will inform the students that the make-up examination/re-take examination will be held as an oral examination instead.
Description of the exam procedure
Extra note about help aids: printed notes and articles and electronic files/USBs are allowed
Course content and structure

This course in “Lean UX user experience design”applies lean methodologies to validate the business potential in smartphone app concepts without requiring any prior knowledge of software design. It combines high-level tools like POP https://popapp.into build functional prototypes using their own smartphone cameras, as well as browser based analysis of social media data, in order to conceptualize smartphone apps in order to optimize business models that integrate structured social media data describing user behavior and preferences.
 
Taking a data driven approach to formulate user needs as hypotheses, which are validated in an iterative agile design process, Lean UX http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920026242.doprovides a methodological framework for rapid prototyping of MVP minimum viable products, centered on incorporating only the most essential features, while reducing time to market based on reuse of design patterns.
 
The course focuses on developing skills required in product manager roles related to agile software design, aiming to enable students to validate user needs by sketching out usage scenarios in interactive storyboards and turning wireframes into functional mock-ups on their own smartphones, in order to qualitatively and quantitatively test user hypotheses. In turn transforming these user interactions into unique value propositions, which are assessed from a value creation perspective using Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas. The course thus a provides basis for defining business models for smartphone app concepts, that integrate social media data based on analysis of engagement metricsusing the CBS social data analytics tool SODATOand the Facebook Open Graph Explorer
 
The preliminary assignment requests students to retrieve their own metadata objects using the Facebook Open Graph Explorerbrowser based interface,  in order to demonstrate their ability to analyze structured social media data representations of user behavior and preferences.

Class Schedule
 

Class Topic
Class 1 Introduction to lean UX as a basis for agile software design
Class 2 Describing user behavior based on Facebook OpenGraph API and engagement metrics using CBS social data analysis tool SODATO
Class 3 Preliminary Assignment: Analyze your own metadata using OpenGraph Explorer
Class 4 Transforming user needs into smartphone UX design storyboards and wireframes
Class 5 Mandatory Mid-term Assignment: Test UX design of a functional prototype app
Class 6 Integrating UX interaction patterns and social metadata into unique value propositions using the Business Model Canvas
Class 7 Combining UX design patterns and social metadata into key resources using the Business Model Canvas
Class 8 Qualitative and quantitative validation of a minimum viable product MVP
Class 9 Optimize social media app value based on design patterns using the Business Model Canvas
Class 10 Optimize social media app value based on business model strategy patterns using the Business Model Canvas
Class 11 Comprehensive Review
Teaching methods
The course combines lectures with hands-on exercises and project work using the student’s own smartphones and apps such as POP https://popapp.in and InVision http:/​/​www.invisionapp.com to validate functional prototypes. The lectures introduce UX design principles for smartphone app prototype development, retrieval of social media data objects based on the student’s own Facebook accounts, as well as analysis of business model aspects in order to optimize the value when designing a minimum viable product MVP based on lean methodology.
Further Information
Preliminary Assignment: To help students get maximum value from ISUP courses, instructors provide a reading or a small number of readings or video clips to be read or viewed before the start of classes with a related task scheduled for class 3 in order to 'jump-start' the learning process.
Expected literature

Laura Klein: “UX for lean startups”, 240 pages O’Reilly Media, 2013, ISBN: 978-1-4493-3491-8
http:/​/​shop.oreilly.com/​product/​0636920026242.do

Alexander Osterwalder & Ives Pigneur:: Business model generation, 288 pages Wiley, 2010, ISBN: 978-0470876411
http:/​/​www.amazon.co.uk/​Business-Model-Generation-Visionaries-Challengers/​dp/​0470876417

Last updated on 02-07-2014