Rapid prototyping methodology in action: A developmental study

Abstract

This study investigated the use of rapid prototyping methodologies in two projects conducted in a natural work setting. It sought to determine the nature of its use by designers and customers and the extent to which its use enhances traditional instructional design (ID ). With respect to describing rapid prototyping use, the results pertain to designer tasks performed, the concurrent processing of those tasks, and customer involvement. With respect to describing the enhancements facilitated by rapid prototyping, the results pertain to design and development cycle-time reduction, product quality, and customer and designer satisfaction. In general, the two projects studied show ID ~orts that created products that were usable for a conveniently long period of time without revision; delivered in a shorter period of time than would have been expected using traditional techniques; and received by satisfied customers who had been involved throughout their development. In other words, the rapid prototyping methods lived up to their promised benefits.[] Instructional designers are frequently confronted with demands not only to generate high quality products, but also simultaneously to reduce design and development time. One solution to this dilemma is the use of rapid prototyping (RP) methodologies. RP methodologies should reduce production time because: (a) using working models of the final product early in a project tends to eliminate time-consuming revisions later on, and (b) design tasks are completed concurrently, rather than sequentially, throughout the project. RP methodologies will satisfy customers because they are involved in an extensive formative evaluation of the actual product throughout its design and development. In essence, the thrust of this research was to test these assumptions by studying the use of RP in a natural setting and to suggest a detailed RP design model that would be useful in other environments. THE NATURE OF RPRP involves the development of a working model of an instructional product that is used early in a project to assist in the analysis, design, development, and evaluation of an instructional innovation. Many view RP methods essentially as a type of formative evaluation that can effectively be used early and repeatedly throughout a project (Tessmer, 1994). For others, however, it involves more profound changes in the traditional approaches to design.RP typically has been used in software engineering, but recently others, including instruc, tional designers, have devised ways to apply these methodologies to their work. For example,

Terminology Entries (Alphabetical Presentation)

“…Model development research may result in new, enhanced, or updated models to guide the instructional design (ID) process or a part of the process, such as Jones and Richey's (2000) study which resulted in a rapid prototyping ID model. Model validation research, on the other hand, demonstrates the effectiveness of a model's use in a real-world setting (i.e., external validation) or provides support for the various components of a model (i.e., internal validation) (Richey, 2005 …”

Modding and Rezzing in Games and Virtual Environments for Education

“…For instance, even though Rapid Prototyping development model was originally proposed for computer application and engineering process (Dey, Abowd, & Salber, 2001;Jones & Richey, 2000), it has been successfully adapted for the development of interactive learning (game) modules by Loh and Byun (2009). Likewise, the well-known instructional design processes comprised of: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation -collectively known as the ADDIE Model (Dick & Carey, 1996;Leshin, Pollock, & Reigeluth, 1992) -have also been suggested to be a possible model for serious games development (Byers, 2009).…”

Tool use in open learning environments: In search of learner-related determinants

“…To apply the three design strategies in actual development, we adopted a rapid prototyping process (e.g., Jones and Richey, 2000;Tripp and Bichelmeyer, 1990) to develop the PSS system prototype. Rapid prototyping is a method commonly used in software engineering.…”