Abstract:

The goal of this paper is to identify which HCI principles to apply in the design of an interactive guide for orientation week at the North-West University. According to Shupp (2014) first year orientation programs are significant in the assistance of successful transition for students from a high school to university environment. Unfortunately, most students find it difficult to follow all the activities involved in the orientation program. Some students either misplace the program, do not understand the program or in most cases find the program uninteresting to go through. Taking into account that the youth of today are technology centered, providing the orientation program as an electronic application could help improve the availability, usability and even the appearance of the orientation guide. This highlights the necessity to determine which HCI principles can be applied in the design of an interactive guide for orientation week. Using HCI principles could enhance the experience of the interaction between the student and the computer which could result in a better response to the orientation guide. A key focus in this study is on the design of the artefact and for this reason the design science research (DSR) methodology is used as a guiding tool. The study provided in this paper resulted from an honors research project.