Document Development Exposition: Instructions and Usability Test Script

Explain in detail your document’s development from planning to finish, describing your
challenges, how you overcame them, and what you learned.

Planning
The planning aspect of this project was very important, as this concept is very hard to grasp. It was
challenging trying to decide exactly what information to give to beginners learning guitar. Once this
information was consolidated, it was easier to break up into sections and develop a method of
explaining it well. This step really showed me how to look at a broad topic and focus on one aspect of
that topic very closely.

First Draft (for peer editing)

It was extremely difficult actually writing out these instructions for the first time. In my experience of
teaching this topic, I have always had the luxury of holding a physical instrument to demonstrate
along the way. I found it very difficult to articulate these directions without referencing a physical
object accessible to both the student and a teacher. However, once the general ideas were written
down, it became easy to sift through information and clarify anything that was confusing as well as
add visual aids where they would be useful.

Second Draft (for your packet)

There were not very many helpful comments from my peers that pointed me in any given direction,
but in this step, I mainly focused on the design of the project. I was able to structure the images in a
visually appealing way as well as work on a color scheme that would match well with the material
being presented. This concept was new to me, so it was a great experience getting to play around
with the design and figure out what looked good and what did not. This taught me a lot, as I had
never done any type of major designing prior to this.

Final Draft (for your portfolio)

The edits made to my packet were very useful in understanding exactly what the final outcome
should look like. I had several issues with the layout of information that needed to be fixed. My
packet was wordy in some areas, so I removed those wordy sections in an effort to simplify the
instructions. The most challenging part about this step was developing step by step instructions for
the most difficult portion of the instructions. This part was wordy because it is very difficult to
explain. However, I went through how I originally learned this concept very slowly and was able to
develop a series of steps that detail how to learn this concept. This definitely taught me how to
break dense, complicated information into steps that are easier to understand. I also learned that I
did not fully understand what role the volunteer plays in a usability test. The comments helped me
develop an understanding of this so that I was able to adjust my usability script accordingly.
Document Development Exposition: Instructions and Usability Test Script