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Customer persona:
User, (economic buyer, recommender, influencer) - Alex.
• Persona: first-year student at a 4-year college.
• What they feel (the problem): the existing software providers have no financial incentive to produce usable software, leaving the students with only menial replacements.
• The need: reducing time spent on an important but cumbersome task, saving them money by graduating on time.
• Painkiller: a non-manual but modern way to plan a course schedule, and a better insurance that they will get the classes they want.
Economic Buyer (~influencer, ~recommender) - Alex’s parent.
• Persona: parent of two children, one in college, one college-bound.
• What they feel (the problem): concern for their children’s education, concern for their own/their children’s finances.
• The need: assurance that their children are able to succeed in college and post college.
• Painkillers: a product that they think will help their child succeed in college, potentially discovered by them or by the child.
Notes:
- Saboteurs: university officials.
Hypotheses.
User.
• Problem Hypothesis (above).
• Solution Hypothesis. (above)
• Price Hypothesis: would pay $1/tracked class after first free, would use it to compare textbook prices.
• Go To Market Hypothesis: email marketing directly to students, Facebook posts (free), Adwords campaign.
Economic Buyer.
• Problem Hypothesis (above).
• Solution Hypothesis. (above)
• Price Hypothesis: would pay $2-5/tracked class.
• Go To Market Hypothesis: Facebook posts on group pages (free), Facebook marketing, physical mail to home.
Biases to keep in mind:
• Response bias
• Some selection bias (choosing people who might care about their classes more because they’re known to complain)
Interview Questions (general)
• How do you feel about course registration at [your school]?
• What would your ideal course schedule planner look like?
• What would your ideal course search look like?
• How do you go about planning your schedule?
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
• Do you have trouble getting seats in your courses?
• What would help you most when you can’t get into a class you want?
◦ Would you pay for that service?
◦ How much would you pay?
◦ Would you tell your friends about it?
◦ Would you share it on Facebook?
◦ Would you share it on Twitter?
• Have you felt as though registration could have an effect on graduating on time?
• What is the most significant issue with you from graduating on time?
Our assumptions are:
• Our customers are: first and second year college students at 4-year institutions.
• We assume their need is: plan their class schedule and get into their courses.
• We assume their pain: planning class schedule takes a long time, is menial, error-prone, and they have trouble getting a seat in classes that they need to take to graduate.
Pre-Interview:
• Hi [name]
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
• What is your major?
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• When have you felt most frustrated, about something school-related, in college?
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
• Is the amount of time it takes to plan your schedule and get the classes you want about what you expected, more than you expected, less than you expected?
• What are some things you feel are holding you back from graduating on time?
• How do you feel about course registration at your school?
• How much trouble do you have getting into classes you want to take?
◦ How much time do you spend?
• Have you, or do do you think you will, take summer classes?
◦ Why is that?
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
• What would your ideal course schedule planner look like?
• What would your ideal course search look like?
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
Interview questions for User regarding go-to-market hypothesis.
• Would you try out a non-university website that has to do with course registration if you heard about it from a friend?
• Would you tell your friends about a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ Would you share it on Facebook or Twitter?
◦ Would you try out such a service if you heard about it from a friend in person, on Facebook, or on Twitter?
• Would you tell your younger high school friends about a course registration service if they were going to your college?
◦ What if they weren’t going to your college but it worked at their college?
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat that required payment, would you pay for it?
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• What product that helps with course registration would you pay for, if any?
◦ How much would you pay?
◦ Do you think your parents would pay?
End of Interview.
• Is there anything else you’d like to add?
• Thank you so much for your time.
Feedback from Mara and Andre on problem hypothesis questions:
• Did you meet with an advisor, did anything come out of that.
• Did you try to get into a class that was closed, did you get in, what came of it?
• What happens if you don’t get the classes you need.
• Try to get into the consequences, see what the problems that came from it are.
• How do their parents feel about their course schedule?
• Do you have to take a summer classes?
• Think through impact, how it affects their life overall.
• How does it affect your experience going through school?
• Does it impact their social experience?
• Does it impact their day to day?
Monetization focused revision
Pre-Interview:
• Hi [name]
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
• What is your major?
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat, would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ If so, how much?
• If that service (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), required you to pay to use it, would you pay?
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
◦ If so, how much would you pay?
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon (and Chegg, Abebooks, etc) and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester is over?
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing as advertisements on the site? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs
◦ Tutoring services
◦ Campus representative positions
◦ Post-grad jobs
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings
◦ Apps for college students
◦ Study abroad programs
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester
◦ Off-campus housing listings
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE)
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the universities you were considering?
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah
Lead List:
This search worked well:
site:linkedin.com/pub "student at emory university" 2017 -dir
Actual Interviews
Christian Flanery (#1, email)
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ "I plan my course schedule by discussion with professors I trust and based on what work I intend to get into after graduation.
• What are some things you feel are holding you back from graduating on time?
◦ Nothing is holding me back from graduating on time. My schedule has panned out the way I want it to.
• How much trouble do you have getting into classes you want to take?
◦ Have never had any trouble.
• Would you pay for a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ No.
◦ If so, would you want to pay on a semester basis, or per class, one time?
▪ N/A
◦ If so, how much would you pay per semester, per class, one time?
▪ N/A
Bailey White (#2, email)
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ I look up my major's/minor's required classes. There's a sheet with all the lists of classes I need and I just pick whichever classes I need to take next.
• When have you felt most frustrated, about something school-related, in college?
◦ I feel most frustrated when a teacher isn't organized/isn't clear on grading requirements.
• What are some things you feel are holding you back from graduating on time?
◦ I don't have this worry.
• How do you feel about course registration at your school?
◦ Course registration is easy and always runs smoothly for me.
• How much trouble do you have getting into classes you want to take?
◦ I have priority registration both as an athlete and honors student so getting classes isn't an issue.
◦ How much time do you spend trying to get into those classes?
• Have you, or do do you think you will, take summer classes?
◦ I've only taken a winter class online before so I had something to do over the break, not because I was behind. But I don't think I'll take summer classes because I want to use that time to work on internships/jobs.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ The most bothersome aspect is having to make a schedule with an adviser to get your pin in order to register.
• What would your ideal course schedule planner look like?
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ I would recommend looking up professors beforehand or talk to other students who have taken certain classes to ensure the best possible experience of a class.
• What would help you most when you can’t get into a class you want?
◦ Sometimes honors courses are harder to get into because they're capped at smaller numbers. I've emailed a professor before asking for help in getting into a class.
• Would you tell your friends about a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ That service would be very helpful because if you're waiting for a spot to open, you usually have to just go through the registration portal and constantly check if a spot is open. You just have to be lucky sometimes.
◦ Would you share it on Facebook or Twitter?
• Would you pay for a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ I wouldn't want there to be a fee.
◦ If so, would you want to pay on a semester basis, or per class, or one time?
▪ If I were to pay, I think $1-$5 would be a suitable fee.
◦ If so, how much would you pay per semester, per class, or one time?
• Would you pay to make your school’s course search easier to use?
◦ My school's class search is easy to use already.
Ryan Kurtz (#3)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi Ryan
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Junior
• What is your major?
◦ Natural resources and environmental science
• About how much time do you spend every semester on something that has to do with course registration?
◦ Probably an hour
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ Just open up the degree audit, go to the school’s course search, and pick which ones I need to take, then use scheedule, which just shows all the different combinations of the classes.
• When have you felt most frustrated, about something school-related, in college?
◦ My major’s have a lot of classes that repeat.
• What are some things you feel are holding you back from graduating on time?
◦ Some classes are only offered in certain semesters.
• How do you feel about course registration at your school?
◦ It’s been fine, not much time spent on it. Kind of weird if you don’t get into class that you need. Got filled up really fast. Quite a few of his friends are taking time aside.
• What impact do you feel course registration has on your life?
◦ Not really a big impact.
• How much trouble do you have getting into classes you want to take?
◦ Just tried it the first time, and then just switched.
◦ How much time do you spend?
• Have you, or do do you think you will, take summer classes?
◦ Took summer classes after freshman classes.
◦ Why is that?
▪ Trying to change majors, needed to get back on track.
• What happens if you don’t get into a class you want to take?
◦ Switch to different.
—maybe—
• Do you feel like the outcome of course registration affects your ability to perform well in school?
--------------
• Have you met with an advisor about registration difficulties, and if so, were they able to help?
• How do your parents feel about the classes you take?
• How have the classes you’ve taken affected your experience of school overall?
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course registration software you use?
◦ Just the visual, Schedulee, being able to see when the classes meet.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦
• What would your ideal course schedule planner look like?
◦ Pretty much exactly like how scheedluee does it. Select and deselect classes without having to go back and readd classes.
• What would your ideal course search look like?
◦ Doesn’t allow you to filter by gen ed.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Pull up your Dars, look it up, and look it back and see when these courses were offered, and then plan out your four years (was an assignment in their freshman year class). Wanted to study abroad, so had to plan that out.
• What would help you most when you can’t get into a class you want?
◦ Have a waiting list, but doesn’t say how far down the list you are, plan like you’re not going to get it. Some classes get filled up really fast, the waiting list for that is quite a few.
• What time of year are you usually trying to get into classes?
◦ Registered Feb 7th for next fall. In October.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ Just good that seniors get first dibs.
Interview questions for User regarding go-to-market hypothesis.
• Would you try out a non-university website that has to do with course registration if you heard about it from a friend?
◦ He was doing it by hand at first, and then he started using it, heard about it from friends. Had heard about it spring semester freshman.
• Would you tell your friends about a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ Yes, that’d be nuts. That’d be an immediate. Would be a goldrush.
◦ Would you share it on Facebook or Twitter?
▪ Probably not.
◦ Would you try out such a service if you heard about it from a friend in person, on Facebook, or on Twitter?
▪ Would probably ignore it from Facebook or Twitter, but in person is fine. Nervous about number.
• Would you tell your younger high school friends about a course registration service if they were going to your college?
◦ Probably would tell them.
◦ What if they weren’t going to your college but it worked at their college?
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• Would you pay for a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ No.
◦ If so, would you want to pay on a semester basis, or per class, or one time?
◦ If so, how much would you pay per semester, per class, or one time?
• Would you pay to make your school’s course search easier to use?
◦ No.
• Would you pay to make it easier to plan the classes you want to take for the upcoming semester?
◦ No.
• What product that helps with course registration would you pay for, if any?
◦ How much would you pay?
◦ Do you think your parents would pay?
End of Interview.
• Is there anything else you’d like to add?
• Thank you so much for your time.
Nicole Henderson (#4)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi Nicole
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Graduated, answered questions about her undergrad and grad. Went to Samford for Law school (first year).
• What is your major?
◦ Business
• About how much time do you spend every semester on something that has to do with course registration?
◦ An hour
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ Wanted to make sure had classes that fit the requirements, trying to graduate a semester early, wanted to make sure never had Friday classes.
• When have you felt most frustrated, about something school-related, in college?
◦ Just the degree requirements, trying to match everything up. Degreeworks wouldn’t always match up with what was listed on the course. And made sure you met them without wasting time.
• What are some things you feel are holding you back from graduating on time?
◦ Sometimes just the classes offered, they didn’t offer the classes every semester.
• How do you feel about course registration at your school?
◦ Overall wasn’t that bad. Definitely there was stuff that could have been easier.
• What impact do you feel course registration has on your life?
◦ Not had too much of enough.
• How much trouble do you have getting into classes you want to take?
◦ No, didn’t have trouble. Some of her friends did have trouble.
◦ How much time do you spend?
• Have you, or do do you think you will, take summer classes?
◦ She did, but she didn’t take them at the school. At community colleges.. Didn’t like classes that had huge amount of people in them.
◦ Why is that?
• What happens if you don’t get into a class you want to take?
◦ There was possibly one class. Photography. Ended up taking a different class instead.
—maybe—
• Do you feel like the outcome of course registration affects your ability to perform well in school?
--------------
• Have you met with an advisor about registration difficulties, and if so, were they able to help?
• How do your parents feel about the classes you take?
• How have the classes you’ve taken affected your experience of school overall?
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course registration software you use?
◦ Just putting in all the specifications that you wanted to make sure classes were not on Friday. Was good about specifying, but it was click all the boxes, then select boxes only.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Just having to do it.
• What would your ideal course schedule planner look like?
◦ A much easier way of searching for classes on a little scale thing. Being able to just click “morning”, have a range for which days the classes. Too ovelwhelming.
• What would your ideal course search look like?
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Give yourself a lunch break. Know what kind of person you are, a lot of people would choose 8am classes, and they’d do horribly. Choose afternoon classes if you’re an afternoon person.
• What would help you most when you can’t get into a class you want?
◦ Maybe more options for alternative classes.
• What time of year are you usually trying to get into classes?
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ Probably more summer class options. And honestly more affordable housing for summer students.
Interview questions for User regarding go-to-market hypothesis.
• Would you try out a non-university website that has to do with course registration if you heard about it from a friend?
◦ Probably, yeah. I don’t know why not. Would use ratemyprofessor site. People would look at stuff.
• Would you tell your friends about a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ Oh yeah (both undergrad and law school). A few of the classes, wanted other teachers but the other ones were full.
◦ Would you share it on Facebook or Twitter?
▪ Yeah, especially now in the law school. People in law school have trouble getting into courses, there are limited seats. There’s a bidding system for the classes, but then you can go back after and people change classes.
◦ Would you try out such a service if you heard about it from a friend in person, on Facebook, or on Twitter?
▪ Yeah.
• Would you tell your younger high school friends about a course registration service if they were going to your college?
◦ Yeah, would tell your high school friends.
◦ What if they weren’t going to your college but it worked at their college?
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• Would you pay for a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ Minimally, she cares some what classes she takes. She knows other people care a lot more which classes they take. She knows other people care a lot more. In both her undergrad and her grad school, but only if she knew she needed a specific class.
◦ If so, would you want to pay on a semester basis, or per class, or one time?
▪ Pay per semester, would rather that than per class, would not per class. One-time would not be appealing at all.
◦ If so, how much would you pay per semester, per class, or one time?
▪ Per semester: would pay $7.99. Like to mess with people. Would be annoying if she had to go back and pay each time she wanted to add a class. Same figure for undergrad and law school.
• Would you pay to make your school’s course search easier to use?
◦ Maybe. Probably something like $10 one-time.
• Would you pay to make it easier to plan the classes you want to take for the upcoming semester?
◦ Yeah that would be super useful. Would want to be able to send it to herself via email. Not everyone has an iPad that they can screenshot.
• What product that helps with course registration would you pay for, if any?
◦ How much would you pay?
◦ Do you think your parents would pay?
▪ Parents would have probably paid. If she said this is what I need, they would have done it. They would pay for anything school related.
Ben Warren (#5)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi Ben
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Second-year law student.
• What is your major?
◦ Philosophy.
• About how much time do you spend every semester on something that has to do with course registration?
◦ Probably about 4 hours.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ First would get list of all classes being offered (on the portal website), then looked for the subject matter wanted to take compared to what needed to graduate, then look at the times each class was being offered. Figured out what schedule I wanted, and what classes I needed.
• When have you felt most frustrated, about something school-related, in college?
◦ At a teacher, who didn’t give clear instructions on what she intended for the class in a 100 level course, she expected a lot, which went against expectations.
• What are some things you feel are holding you back from graduating on time?
◦ Probably myself more than anything, probably could have graduated on time if I didn’t fail a few classes. Took a year off.
• How do you feel about course registration at your school?
◦ It was a very steep learning curve, hard to get used to. Takes a lot of time. The interface is pretty crappy. Once I got used to it it wasn’t terrible. We had a sit down session where they spent an hour to teach how to use.
• What impact do you feel course registration has on your life?
◦ Moderate impact. Once got used to it. Now in law school it is pretty terrible.
• How much trouble do you have getting into classes you want to take?
◦ Really terrible getting into classes you wanted to take in law school, not really any trouble at all in undergrad. Because he made sure he was one of the first people to register. University wasn’t very big in undergrad. Professors would just let students in if the class was full in undergrad. South Alabama undergrad.
◦ How much time do you spend?
• Have you, or do do you think you will, take summer classes?
◦ Did take a summer class every summer.
◦ Why is that?
▪ To catch back up.
• What happens if you don’t get into a class you want to take?
◦ First thing he’d do is register for a backup list of classes. Then he’d go to the professor and ask if he/she could get added in. They always let him in.
—maybe—
• Do you feel like the outcome of course registration affects your ability to perform well in school?
--------------
• Have you met with an advisor about registration difficulties, and if so, were they able to help?
• How do your parents feel about the classes you take?
• How have the classes you’ve taken affected your experience of school overall?
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course registration software you use?
◦ The lack of any kind of GUI. Most people aren’t used to just text based systems. How you had to write down the CRN for registering. There’s no way to do the research in advance and put the class in a list. Had to keep things in a spreadsheet, or something like that. Just the disparity between registration and researching for registration. Just had to figure that out on his own.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ The amount of time and effort spent, time looking at the undergrad catalogue, first for the college, then for the major, and just figuring that out each semester. Each semester he would have to relook at the list because didn’t memorize the list.
• What would your ideal course schedule planner look like?
◦ Web based, there would be a way you could click on your major and it would list classes that applied to that major/minor, then it would filter by core, and core for major, core for minor, and also general education requirements for the college. And be able to save a class to a list, and set priority. Have a list, and then be able to just say “register for these classes”.
• What would your ideal course search look like?
◦ There would just be a search bar, just put in a keyword, under that there would be filter options, such as class/web based, topic, and professor, and what day, (morning class, night) MWF, TuTh, or even a weekend class. List of filter options.
◦ How would they be displayed: not necessarily alphabetical list, some kind of automatically familiar organizational method.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Tell them to as soon as the schedule becomes available, look at it, and then figure out what they needed vs what they wanted.
• What would help you most when you can’t get into a class you want?
◦ Take another class that was required. Options that fullfilled this same classes role.
• What time of year are you usually trying to get into classes?
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ In my first year, if someone had taken an interest in helping me make a plan to graduate. They had a terrible retention rate, and he was apart of a program to improve the retention rate. It paired upper level students with freshman. That would have helped.
Interview questions for User regarding go-to-market hypothesis.
• Would you try out a non-university website that has to do with course registration if you heard about it from a friend?
◦ Yeah.
• Would you tell your friends about a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ Yeah.
◦ Would you share it on Facebook or Twitter?
▪ Probably not, don’t use either.
◦ Would you try out such a service if you heard about it from a friend in person, on Facebook, or on Twitter?
▪ Yeah.
• Would you tell your younger high school friends about a course registration service if they were going to your college?
◦ Yes.
◦ What if they weren’t going to your college but it worked at their college?
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• Would you pay for a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ Undergrad, probably not. If it’s something he can do himself even it it takes more time, not going to pay.
◦ At law school: probably would pay more for the notification service because the bid points work. $15/month for that in law school. He would probably pay.
◦ If so, would you want to pay on a semester basis, or per class, or one time?
◦ If so, how much would you pay per semester, per class, or one time?
• Would you pay to make your school’s course search easier to use?
◦ If added into tuition, sure. Would make his life easier, but wouldn’t pay. If he could be shown it could save me time as a freshman he would.
• Would you pay to make it easier to plan the classes you want to take for the upcoming semester?
◦ Wouldn’t pay.
• What product that helps with course registration would you pay for, if any?
◦ How much would you pay?
▪ Alert service: $5/month. 6-8 months a year when relevant. Not as important in undergrad. Would let his parents pay, probably.
▪ Course search: $60/year. Parents pay.
◦ Do you think your parents would pay?
▪ The probably would have paid. If they could have been shown it would have been useful.
End of Interview.
• Is there anything else you’d like to add?
• Thank you so much for your time.
Meghan Meyers (#6)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi Meghan
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Just graduated.
• What is your major?
◦ Health Science.
• About how much time do you spend every semester on something that has to do with course registration?
◦ After very first semester, probably 30 minutes. First semester: 1 hour to 1 hour and a half. During orientation was first registration, didn’t know what classes we could get into what class to take, etc.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ Used DegreeWorks, maps out what classes you need to take for major, concentration classes, the prereqs. Would go in and look at that, and get the CRNs, and figure out how to fit those in. If they were electives, there was selective, Truman is a smaller school, no more than two sections, then you just had to wait.
◦ If you really want to take or need to take, and the professor can get you into the course. Overwrite. Never had to use an override.
• When have you felt most frustrated, about something school-related, in college?
◦ When the programs don’t work, so when the programs would crash whenever all the students would try to register at 7am, sometimes the student portal would be down. The wi-fi would be down.
• What are some things you feel are holding you back from graduating on time?
◦ Nothing really.
• How do you feel about course registration at your school?
◦ Felt like it was fine, but as far as it was able to handle as many people on it, that was frustration.
• What impact do you feel course registration has on your life?
• How much trouble do you have getting into classes you want to take?
◦ Toward the beggining, had some trouble, but the number sections offered was available was limited. Got better as went along.
◦ How much time do you spend?
• Have you, or do do you think you will, take summer classes?
◦ No summer classes.
◦ Why is that?
• What happens if you don’t get into a class you want to take?
◦ Usually always had a backup course, or a few. Spent a lot of time doing backup options.
—maybe—
• Do you feel like the outcome of course registration affects your ability to perform well in school?
◦ No.
--------------
• Have you met with an advisor about registration difficulties, and if so, were they able to help?
• How do your parents feel about the classes you take?
• How have the classes you’ve taken affected your experience of school overall?
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course registration software you use?
◦ Could search for classes by CRN numbers, which made it pretty easy. But as soon as you typed in the CRN you were autoregistered. You couldn’t choose multiple disciplines. Couldn’t search for multiple subjects at a time.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Crashing when registrenig.
• What would your ideal course schedule planner look like?
◦ Degreeworks works pretty well, no complaints.
• What would your ideal course search look like?
◦ Being able to search by class times offered. Being able to search for multiple subjects.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ They need to look at the catalog. So they can look at what’s offered which semester. You should plan out multiple schedules because you wont’ get your very first choice.
• What would help you most when you can’t get into a class you want?
◦ Would have brought up “these are these other classes being offered at this time, or other classes still open in this subject”
• What time of year are you usually trying to get into classes?
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ Totally fine.
Interview questions for User regarding go-to-market hypothesis.
• Would you try out a non-university website that has to do with course registration if you heard about it from a friend?
◦ Yeah, probably.
• Would you tell your friends about a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ Yeah, not super ethused.
◦ Would you share it on Facebook or Twitter?
▪ Yeah.
◦ Would you try out such a service if you heard about it from a friend in person, on Facebook, or on Twitter?
▪ Yeah.
• Would you tell your younger high school friends about a course registration service if they were going to your college?
◦ Yeah, probably if it came up in conversation.
◦ What if they weren’t going to your college but it worked at their college?
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• Would you pay for a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ Probably not.
◦ If so, would you want to pay on a semester basis, or per class, or one time?
◦ If so, how much would you pay per semester, per class, or one time?
• Would you pay to make your school’s course search easier to use?
◦ If it was included in student fees, but otherwise no.
• Would you pay to make it easier to plan the classes you want to take for the upcoming semester?
◦ No.
• What product that helps with course registration would you pay for, if any?
◦ Not that I know if.
◦ How much would you pay?
◦ Do you think your parents would pay?
▪ “Oh probably”. Low one time fee they’d be willing to pay. $10-$20.
End of Interview.
• Is there anything else you’d like to add?
• Thank you so much for your time.
Mark Jabourian (#7)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi [name]
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Junior, rising senior.
• What is your major?
◦ Biology
• About how much time do you spend every semester on something that has to do with course registration?
◦ Not much time, but 5 hours. Mostly just planning.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ Go to DegreeAudit, list of courses that I need to take, credits I need to have before graduation. After a list of all the classes I need to take, use that to plan schedule. this semester issue: first applied to my classes, about a week’s time they put a hold on my account, and I was in two classes at thata time, by the time it was lifted all the classes were closed.
• When have you felt most frustrated, about something school-related, in college?
◦ Really wish that the classes were more hands-on, rather than just conceptual. Never really feels like you’ve accomplished anything.
• What are some things you feel are holding you back from graduating on time?
◦ Myself. Chose biology, my dad wanted me to do, wanted to see what it was like, and I started on the track for biology, and once getting to advanced, didn’t
• How do you feel about course registration at your school?
◦ It’s very disconnected from . Even when talking to advisor, they are just trying to get you to graduate. Would be nice if the advisors were more personalized idea of how to go about what to take from the onset.
• What impact do you feel course registration has on your life?
◦ Just a stressful experience. If you’re not on it from the very beginning. Have to apply for the next year’s classes before you even know how you’re doing it in the ones you’re in. . Would be nice if it was summer and could still contact advisors, that’d be great.
• How much trouble do you have getting into classes you want to take?
◦ Usually, it’s not so much trouble. Can pretty much force-add into any class. Just a lot of last minute into any class. Every year have had to force-add.
◦ How much time do you spend?
▪ Tend not to spend much time. If it’s more than one, it’s just a huge headache. Avoid it.
• Have you, or do do you think you will, take summer classes?
◦ Possibility, probably later this summer.
◦ Why is that?
▪ Because some classes need to retake. Just to graduate on time.
• What happens if you don’t get into a class you want to take?
—maybe—
• Do you feel like the outcome of course registration affects your ability to perform well in school?
--------------
• Have you met with an advisor about registration difficulties, and if so, were they able to help?
• How do your parents feel about the classes you take?
• How have the classes you’ve taken affected your experience of school overall?
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course registration software you use?
◦ Very glitchy. Lot of little things, like middle click to open new tabs. Would be nice if it could contact advisors for you when you can’t get into a class. So many little emails sent just to advisors.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Really just the glitchiness, just really irritating.
• What would your ideal course schedule planner look like?
◦ It could be through an app (iPhone/Android). As i’m registering, could give me a list of recommended course list for the upcoming semesters. Auto-registering for the courses.
• What would your ideal course search look like?
◦ The way it is now. Wouldn’t change it. Nothing’s coming to mind.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Sit in on the classes you expect to take. See what they’re about before enrolling. As far as course registration process goes: for someone solid on their major, take the easiest classes first semester, then one hard class, then ease yourself in. Take care of electives before main classes.
• What would help you most when you can’t get into a class you want?
◦ More of an automated system. Still confused about who I should contact about the next semester. If there was an automated assistant that would auto-enroll me. Would be troublesome (recognizes the difficulty). Set priorities for your courses, what you really want to take.
• What time of year are you usually trying to get into classes?
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
Interview questions for User regarding go-to-market hypothesis.
• Would you try out a non-university website that has to do with course registration if you heard about it from a friend?
◦ Yeah, as long as it was secure and when I first opened it it didn’t look glitchy and had to look clean and designed well.
• Would you tell your friends about a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ Yeah, absolutely.
◦ Would you share it on Facebook or Twitter?
▪ Yeah, something definitely work. Then absolutely.
◦ Would you try out such a service if you heard about it from a friend in person, on Facebook, or on Twitter?
▪ Yeah, I think I would. I would prefer to hear about it through the university. Most trust it there. So long as a decent number of people used it, then it’d be fine without university support.
• Would you tell your younger high school friends about a course registration service if they were going to your college?
◦ Yeah, he would.
◦ What if they weren’t going to your college but it worked at their college?
▪ Yeah, I think I would.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• Would you pay for a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ I don’t think so. Think it would be a little much. Unless it was so deeply integrated with the university that it was part of tution.
◦ If so, would you want to pay on a semester basis, or per class, or one time?
◦ If so, how much would you pay per semester, per class, or one time?
• Would you pay to make your school’s course search easier to use?
◦ I don’t think so. Would just deal with the trouble. Depends on how much easier it was. It was unbelievably good. (seemed bias here, trying to support us)
• Would you pay to make it easier to plan the classes you want to take for the upcoming semester?
◦ Yeah, if it was easier, and sort of gave suggested schedules based on what he’s taken.
◦ Would be willing willing to pay $5-$10/month, second thought: probably $10/semester.
• What product that helps with course registration would you pay for, if any?
◦ Idea of some program that would base the next years based on previous performance in class that could
◦ How much would you pay?
▪ $10/semester.
◦ Do you think your parents would pay?
▪ Feels like most parents wouldn’t. But students would probably prefer to pay. Same goes for him.
End of Interview.
• Is there anything else you’d like to add?
◦ Will email if he has any questions.
• Thank you so much for your time.
He does see the charging thing as something we should ask a lot about. Any college students that works, if it makes that college student’s life easier, then they would pay. The notifications specifically.
Definitely would benefit from it. Decent number of courses he’d be interested in taking, then it just be setting them in there.
Notification would be better than the course planning.
Subject, =>, number. Was confusing to him at first.
Ask people “do you ever consider taking classes above/below a certain number.”
Have a dropdown that just says everything that’s level 300, everything 400. That’s less they’d have to enter.
Experiment with the best to search by a specific subject.
When searching “biol”, if you could show the textbook info, that’d be great.
Likes being able to compare classes all on one page.
If didn’t want to change the equals. Might want to have OR for 100 or 200.
Knowing whether it was open or not would be really helpful. Have a way of clicking to email your advisor.
Maybe give a prompt confirming the “uncheck all”.
Loading all courses would be better than having to press more.
Likes being able to see what classes your facebook friends are considering.
Would be nice to be able to see your friend’s classes visually. Would be nice if could add 5 specific people you’re interested in seeing.
Suggested making money through advertising. But 1/10 notifications being an ad would be too much.
May want to incentive people
Could base their priority based previous performance. Getting good grades as a way to get into the next class.
Something to consider:
Sponsored by “CocaCola” would be more annoying in a text, but not a big deal in a notification from an app. Expect to see an ad.
Wouldn’t be annoying to get a text with the cheapest textbook price for the class they were tracking.
Essentially, if he had the notify feature, the way he’d go about planning would change. He’d track closed classes he’d probably like to take.
Thought being able to see which classes people were tracking would be helpful (how many students were tracking it). Suggested having a line, the people who signed up first would get the notification first.
Kristin White (#8, email)
Via email. Disregarded because she only took night classes and worked full-time.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ I worked full time and would take anything that was required for my degree that was offered in the evenings.
• When have you felt most frustrated, about something school-related, in college?
◦ When I went to VCU, they had stopped offering as many evening classes due to budget cuts.
• What are some things you feel are holding you back from graduating on time?
◦ The course offerings in the evening held me back from graduating on time.
• How do you feel about course registration at your school?
◦ It is fairly easy
• How much trouble do you have getting into classes you want to take?
◦ Slight because they filled up quickly due to be offered in the evening.
◦ How much time do you spend trying to get into those classes?
▪ 30 minutes
• Have you, or do do you think you will, take summer classes?
◦ Yes
◦ 6a. Why is that?
▪ To try to take as many classes as possible to obtain a degree in a decent amount of time (I spent 4 years there after completing my Associate’s degree – it should have been 2 years)
• 7. What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Not knowing if courses I needed would be offered and having to ask for overrides due to special circumstances.
• 8. What would your ideal course schedule planner look like?
◦ Let everyone schedule at the same time – you were allowed to sign up for classes based on how much you have completed.
• 9. What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Try to plan ahead and be prepared for different routes of graduation than you think
• 10. What would help you most when you can’t get into a class you want?
◦ More class offerings
• 11. Would you tell your friends about a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ I would have then
◦ 11a. Would you share it on Facebook or Twitter?
▪ Probably not
• 12. Would you pay for a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ No
◦ 12a. If so, would you want to pay on a semester basis, or per class, or one time?
◦ 12b. If so, how much would you pay per semester, per class, or one time?
• 13. Would you pay to make your school’s course search easier to use?
◦ No because I feel that is part of the tuition.
Caleb Canada (#9, email)
• What year are you?
◦ Rising Sophomore
• What is your major?
◦ Journalism and Mass Communication
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ I first met with my academic advisor to review what classes I need to take to stay on track for graduation as well as to keep pace in my major. After we had come to a decision to what classes I would take in the fall I waited for my group's registration day. I woke up at 5:00 to ensure that I would get all the classes I needed.
• When have you felt most frustrated, about something school-related, in college?
◦ I felt very frustrated when I was given under a weeks notice on an article I needed to write that required interviewing four people.
• What are some things you feel are holding you back from graduating on time?
◦ Right now I don't feel as if there is anything hindering me from graduating with my class.
• How do you feel about course registration at your school?
◦ I feel like is handled in an effective and personal manner. Although waking up so early is an inconvenience that I feel could be amended.
• How much trouble do you have getting into classes you want to take?
◦ I have yet to experience much trouble with class registration.
◦ How much time do you spend trying to get into those classes?
▪ Roughly 15 minutes.
• Have you, or do do you think you will, take summer classes?
◦ I am not planning on taking summer courses.
◦ Why is that?
▪ Taking summer courses wouldn't fit into my summer plans as they are right now.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Bizarre times that online registration occurs. The Wi-Fi on campus is not great and with everyone on it doing the same thing at the same times has caused it to be unresponsive at times.
• What would your ideal course schedule planner look like?
◦ I fail to see the relevance this has to the topic of improving the class registration process as it seems to involve a personal preference involving class scheduling instead of signing up for courses.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Try to spread their classes out throughout the week if possible so that they would feel less overwhelmed.
• What would help you most when you can’t get into a class you want?
◦ I believe that talking to an academic advisor would be the best path of action.
• Would you tell your friends about a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ Yes, that sounds like something that college students would be responsive to.
◦ Would you share it on Facebook or Twitter?
▪ Probably
◦ Would you pay for it if it required payment?
▪ That depends on what the price is.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it if it required payment?
▪ That would also depend on what the cost of the app is.
◦ If “yes" to 13b or 13c, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one-time)?
▪ Mostly likely on a semester basis.
◦ If “yes" to 13b or 13c, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, per class, or one-time)?
▪ $2.00 per semester
Nicholas Whisler (#10)
Had already looked at Coursicle after looking up my name. Made a lot of stuff bias.
Pre-Interview:
• Hi Nick
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Senior
• What is your major?
◦ Physics
• About how much time do you spend every semester on something that has to do with course registration?
◦ 3 minutes.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ ODU before going to Radford. Have to meet with your advisor before hand. You go by what is required for your field, then look at what’s required for
• When have you felt most frustrated, about something school-related, in college?
◦ Nothing really.
• What are some things you feel are holding you back from graduating on time?
◦ Not too much. Took a year off, but nothing.
• How do you feel about course registration at your school?
◦ It’s good. He looked at Coursicle.
• What impact do you feel course registration has on your life?
◦ Pretty minimal.
• How much trouble do you have getting into classes you want to take?
◦ None, the only problem came across so far is the time conflict. Paperwork for time conflict was annoying.
◦ How much time do you spend?
• Have you, or do do you think you will, take summer classes?
◦ Yes, currently in summer classes.
◦ Why is that?
▪ Because took the year off.
• What happens if you don’t get into a class you want to take?
—maybe—
• Do you feel like the outcome of course registration affects your ability to perform well in school?
--------------
• Have you met with an advisor about registration difficulties, and if so, were they able to help?
• How do your parents feel about the classes you take?
• How have the classes you’ve taken affected your experience of school overall?
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course registration software you use?
◦ Don’t think about it too much. The layout is really not up to date. You don’t go on it and think it was really thought out.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Just boring.
• What would your ideal course schedule planner look like?
◦ I like on Coursicle, like how it’s on a rotating cylinder (the chosen dropdown). Being able to draft three schedules, and do auto-registration on them, setting preferences. When they hand out a syllabus, they tell you how much you study your. Assign a workload to a course, being able to see the workload before registering. Less student rating teachers, but the teacher rating the course on a general level. If you had drag and drop, that’d be pretty cool. Being able to see the course description, have to click it.
• What would your ideal course search look like?
◦ If you could search by teacher, that’d be good. Search by workload, if applicable.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Plan accordingly, meet with a couple of the teachers to see what you’re getting into. Don’t be surprised if you wait until last minute and your classes are full.
• What would help you most when you can’t get into a class you want?
◦ Taking the paper trail out of it. Having to get the signature for the professor, and then going to the registrar’s office.
• What time of year are you usually trying to get into classes?
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
Interview questions for User regarding go-to-market hypothesis.
• Would you try out a non-university website that has to do with course registration if you heard about it from a friend?
◦ Yes, uh, I would look into a bit so long as it was trusted. Probably look at the schools that are involved with it. Dependent on who told him, maybe if there background stories online.
• Would you tell your friends about a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ Yeah, I don’t know if it’s something I would just bring up. But would tell them if it came up. Just such an everyday notion with the apps now.
◦ Would you share it on Facebook or Twitter?
▪ Probably not. If we could attach something along the lines, like a gift card or something. Depending on the incentive, he would share it on Facebook/Twitter. Something along the lines of a free song.
◦ Would you try out such a service if you heard about it from a friend in person, on Facebook, or on Twitter?
▪ Not big on social media. Thinks most people would though.
• Would you tell your younger high school friends about a course registration service if they were going to your college?
◦ Yeah, definitely. (suggested going to high school counselors).
◦ What if they weren’t going to your college but it worked at their college?
▪ Yes, wherever they were going.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat that required payment, would you pay for it?
◦ Definitely wouldn’t.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
▪ No.
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• What product that helps with course registration would you pay for, if any?
◦ How much would you pay?
◦ Do you think your parents would pay?
End of Interview.
• Is there anything else you’d like to add?
• Thank you so much for your time.
Has connection to the dean of students.
Students are more likely to use the notification service, he thinks.
Juliana Salazar (#11, email)
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ I have to get a registration PIN from my advisor and then wake up before 6am on registration day to start registering for classes at 6am.
• When have you felt most frustrated, about something school-related, in college?
◦ When i cant get into the classes i need because of i need a permit or the class if full.
• What are some things you feel are holding you back from graduating on time?
◦ University core requirements
• How do you feel about course registration at your school?
◦ it is not very efficient
• How much trouble do you have getting into classes you want to take?
◦ i usually have some trouble trying to get into one of my classes.
◦ How much time do you spend trying to get into those classes?
▪ just about 20 minutes
• Have you, or do do you think you will, take summer classes?
◦ No
◦ Why is that?
▪ i cant afford it
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ waking up so early
• What would your ideal course schedule planner look like?
◦ classes in the morning instead of late afternoon
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ type the class pin as fast as possible and have several plans regarding classes
• What would help you most when you can’t get into a class you want?
◦ help from faculty and staff
• Would you tell your friends about a service that texts you when a class you want has an available seat?
◦ Yes
◦ Would you share it on Facebook or Twitter?
▪ Yes
◦ Would you pay for it if it required payment?
▪ probably yes
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it if it required payment?
▪ No
◦ If “yes" to 11b or 11c, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one-time)?
▪ on a semester basis
◦ If “yes" to 11b or 11c, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, per class, or one-time)?
▪ $10
• Would you pay to make your school’s course search easier to use?
◦ yes
Hannah Andrus (#12)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi [name]
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Just graduated.
• What is your major?
◦ Biology
• Got degree
◦ Southern virginia university
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ I looked at what classes that were required, then looked at what she needed for the biology degree, and would take two for her sciences and then just a couple of general education classes.
◦ How’d you choose general ed classes?
▪ Some were really specific. Just picked which ones were most interesting. Looked through the list and then saw which one fit my schedule. If it was super late in the day or not fit in with other classes, didn’t
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ Max 30 minutes.
◦ Is that about the amount of time you would have expected it to take? More time? Less?
▪ Probably about the expected time. Depends on how organized you are.
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ Would click on the course descriptions, couldn’t click the back button because then you’d have to start all over. That was really annoying.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Getting approved by an advisor.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Depends. If they’re there for four years, then they should plan out all four years. Plan out what they’re going to take, at least for their major, and then just fill in their gen eds. If they’re not planning on staying, take classes that are transferrable.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ Everything she did was by hand. Annoying that it wasn’t electronic. Tracking degree requirements all done by hand.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat that required payment, would you pay for it?
◦ “I guess”, wasn’t really a big problem. But there was one class somewhere else,
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
▪ If she didn’t have the money, then she would and then pay them.
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• If that service were free (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ It depends. If it sends ads when it told you the class was available, then yes. Otherwise, rest of semester no.
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ Probably not. Pretty not.
▪ If so, how much?
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ Depends on how desperately I needed that class. If it was senior year, then probably yes. (but went to small school so all hypothetical).
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ Depends on how much was. Then probably yes. Pay $20/semester. But imagining she’s going to a big school in answering that.
◦ For the ability to save multiple possible schedules?
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you find that helpful and use that service?
◦ Yeah, would be helpful.
◦ Would you purchase your textbooks on Amazon, Chegg, or other after finding the books on the course search?
▪ Yeah, probably. She buys them on Abebooks.
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester?
◦ She does.
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
▪ Give it to a friend to sell. She thinks her friend sells them on Amazon.
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be most interested in if advertised on the site?
◦ Part-time jobs. Yes, but local part-time jobs, 4.
◦ Tutoring services. No.
◦ Campus representative positions. No.
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, 5.
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. No.
◦ Apps for college students. No.
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. No, if not the required textbooks.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. Yes, 3-4.
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). No.
• Would you pay to remove ads from a site you used to search for classes and plan your schedule?
◦ No.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by any university you were considering?
◦ Not particularly. More looked at class size. And the degrees they had.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ Probably.
• Is there a product that would help you with anything regarding classes at college that you would pay for? If so, what is it?
◦ Not that she can think of on top of her head.
◦ How much would you pay?
◦ Do you think your parents would pay?
----- maybe -----
• Would you be responsive to any sort of advertisements texted to your phone?
End of Interview.
• Is there anything else you’d like to add?
• Thank you so much for your time.
Alexis Hawsey (#13)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi [name]
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Rising sophomore.
• What is your major?
◦ Journalism.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ We sign up via college website. Go through a portal. Most of us just talk to our advisors. They have a plan already made out for people in specific majors.
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ With the advisors, have about 5-15 meetings. Not really plan on your own.
◦ Is that about the amount of time you would have expected it to take? More time? Less?
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ Sometimes on the portal, it’ll log you out, and you have to log back in. And you can’t get into some classes if that happens which it does during registration.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Not sure.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Just, talking it out, making sure you have time. Talking it out with the advisor.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ I think just playing attention to credits is the big thing.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat that required payment, would you pay for it?
◦ I think it’d be helpful. I mean if I had the money I might.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
▪ I could, yeah.
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
▪ No idea.
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• If that service were free (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ I think so, because you could just ignore the ads.
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ Possibly, if they got to be too much.
▪ If so, how much?
▪ Not sure.
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ Maybe, yeah.
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ Yes, I think so.
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ Yes.
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
▪ Yes.
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester?
◦ We sell some of ours back. But sometimes they won’t take them back if they’re using newer versions.
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
▪ Only to the bookstore.
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs. Yes, 3-4.
◦ Tutoring services. Yes, 3-4.
◦ Campus representative positions. Yes, 2-3
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, 5.
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. No.
◦ Apps for college students. Yes, 2-3.
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. No.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. Yes, 3.
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). Yes, 4.
• Would you pay to remove ads from a site you used to search for classes and plan your schedule?
◦ Might, yes.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the specific universities you were considering?
◦ No, didn’t look at specific courses. Looked that might go into the major.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ Yes, that might be helpful.
----- maybe -----
• Is there a product that would help you with anything regarding classes at college that you would pay for? If so, what is it?
◦ How much would you pay?
◦ Do you think your parents would pay?
• Would you be responsive to any sort of advertisements texted to your phone?
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah
Dennis Leondaridis (#14)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi Dennis
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Junior, rising senior.
• What is your major?
◦ Business management.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ Here at Radford, usually get an email from my advisor, and he goes over there and they tell him what classes I need for my major and what classes are electives, and what credits I need to get to pass. They tell him what classes I need to take. And when it’s time, and I have my PIN, I go online and register for class, and I lookup what classes I have, and sometimes I look up professor ratings when there are a lot of different professor, and usually go for TBA professors, I go with them because they’re usually student teachers. So usually balance with hard classes for my major with other classes. They do leave flexibility, but most of it is depending on interests. So they’ll have a 3D printing class, as electives. They have a business plan class, and some other ones. Choose based on his interest. Wrote down everything on paper. He has sketched out a year plan on paper, and crosses off when completing. He usually pulls up a “week at a glance” in another window. Tries to plan out harder classes on Tuesday Thursday, easier classes on Monday Wednesdays. He tries to plan ahead, the night beforehand, looks at what’s available (classes close). There are some times when you just need to get the force-add. Will try to get into the add-drop period. He couldn’t get too many of his classes because he didn’t wake up on time. Open schedule in the morning. Most classes from 12pm on. He’s currently waiting to see what he can do before schools starts. During the summer people can add drop.
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ Not very long. Already has class numbers from advisors, pretty tentative schedule just because the advisors give them out already. Will go and look at each of the times of all the classes and when they’re available, and will sort of just think it through. 30 minutes to an hour of planning, depending on how many credits I have.
◦ Is that about the amount of time you would have expected it to take? More time? Less?
▪ Didn’t realize before registration that it was going to be havoc freshman year. Didn’t realize that everything was going to close. Figured he was going to have to get force added to a lot of these. Sometimes when you can’t get forceadded to school, but since such a small university only 11,000 undergrads that they usually can get an extra 5 kids for force-added, but not a whole slew of kids are getting added. So you really have to show an interest by the interest, and that you need to take it, but you do need instructor to force-add a class. Killed himself of the first semester. He went to the chair of the department, then the instructor said ya or nay.
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ Most bothersome is probably that it kind of crashes sometimes, and that’s just a pain, and that’s just a huge swarm of students coming together and attacking the website. Other than that, it’s easier than going to a book like his parents had to do. Would be nicer if you didn’t have to go into another online page for the class (like he didn’t know where the course description was). He didn’t know what he was getting into when signed up for a biology seminar. Like little popups to see all the features of the course registration. He wants something that will guide you through the process. A little buddy.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Not knowing exactly. You have the schedule that your advisor and everyone has, but he’s wondering if you actually need those classes. Thinks it could have taken other classes that are better fit and interesting to him. He also don’t like how a lot of classes aren’t transferrable, he wanted to transfer to another school, but he’d have to take another year of english.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Definitely recommend that they plan out their 4 years with their advisor. Because while you’re there, you kind of get sidetracked on what you want to do. It helps you have that schedule, I can’t mess up this semester, or get anything below this GPA, because then I won’t graduate on time. Keeps them to something, makes it so that you don’t just end up there for a really long time.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ To know, from the beginning what electives. I had a lot of stuff that went wrong first year, like changing majors. Time management, bad on his part. So time management would be the best thing for them to know, for anyone to go into college. Especially with all your friends.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat that required payment, would you pay for it?
◦ Um, probably not.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
▪ Maybe.
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
▪ Yearly basis.
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
▪ $10-$15/year.
• If that service were free (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ Would probably do it if was email.
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ Um, honestly, if they had ads for jobs and internships, for instance if it was stuff from USA jobs, that pertained to the classes that you were signing up for. Would definitely want those ads.
▪ If so, how much?
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ Possibly, if they offered an alternative way to take that class. Maybe if, say, you have, 10 or 15 people who are taking that class, but you could also see a nearby community college that would transfer to that college. Some people take classes at nearby community college, because the credits transfer pretty well.
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ Yeah, he would probably pay. If he had most of the teachers in the university, because some of the professors don’t show up on Koofers, even though it was a pretty hard class. Again, probably a good $15/year, as a package.
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ Yeah, definitely. Because sometimes he’ll look on Amazon, but he recently found out about Chegg, but he didn’t know that at all. And maybe include a resale thing, because he knows people get ripped off by buying a $200 for $5 “my parents would kill me if they knew how much I sold this for”. A lot of his friends pay for Chegg to see answers to those questions, but he probably would have. But if they had a list of classes that used Chegg, that’d be cool too.
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
▪ For the most part, yeah. If they had the eBook version, that’d be good too.
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester?
◦ Yes, for the most part. Some of them he recently bought online books, and don’t have to worry about forgetting a book. But he usually likes getting hard copy of Math books. Does sell them afterwards. Hassle to put them on Amazon.
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
▪ They have this thing called Bookholders. They have one at “tech” not at Radford, sold his core book for english class, and the only place you’d use that book. He only was able to sell that for $6. He bought that book for $250, only used it 3-4 times.
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs (internships mainly). Yes, 5.
◦ Tutoring services. Yes, 4. [but they have on campus tutoring].
◦ Campus representative positions. No.
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, 5. [they have career fairs, but local, doesn’t just want local things]
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. Yes, 3. [like a well-price TV, couch]
◦ Apps for college students. Yes, 3. [but not much for food delivery in the area]
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. Yes, 3.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. Yes, 4 [monopoly of realty groups, special discounts].
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). Yes, 4.
• Would you pay to remove ads from a site you used to search for classes and plan your schedule?
◦ If there were the ads that were good definitely wouldn’t remove, like the ones above, then they were good.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the specific universities you were considering?
◦ Yes, he was. Before he attended, he had a complete different viewpoint for himself. He was a biology major and he kind of wanted to do something in chemistry, and after taking chem 102 with a horrible teacher, then he decided to check. He had looked at a college close to JMU, looked at a pharm courses there.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ Yes, probably classes and like teachers. Because he knows at Tech, the rigor of classes is ridiculous. He wanted to know what kind of environment he was getting himself into. Radford is too relaxed. Especially teacher wise.
----- maybe -----
• Is there a product that would help you with anything regarding classes at college that you would pay for? If so, what is it?
◦ How much would you pay?
◦ Do you think your parents would pay?
• Would you be responsive to any sort of advertisements texted to your phone?
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah
Suggested advertising on the CollegeBoard and I thought at first he was suggesting the CommonApp.
Nick Schrecongost (#14)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi Nick
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Senior
• What is your major?
◦ Geology and Physics
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ Where you start is you go to your faculty member and they will essentially give you a recommendation of classes to take, he has to go two different advisors. Pretty much follow exactly what the advisors advise. When logging on, you just have to pay attention to what times are what. Just sort of keep it all in your head. Conflicts in community college: in HS, he took a bunch of AP classes, and he had taken AP chemistry, and when he got to community classes, and they didn’t think his credits transferred, but it actually it did. It was more on your own at community college, and it was very stressful.
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ Honestly, 30 minutes - 1 hour if you have a good advisors.
◦ Is that about the amount of time you would have expected it to take? More time? Less?
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ Wish it would show you the times of the classes that conflicted when you tried to register for something and it conflicted. Too much back and forthing.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Generally, pretty smooth. Exception of above.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Talk to an advisor, don’t hesitate to ask them questions about why I should be doing this, why I should be taking this, can I take this next semester rather than this semester, know as much as you can when setting up your schedule.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ Just what’s stated above.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat that required payment, would you pay for it?
◦ Um, if I was not a transfer student and if offered as a freshman, yes I would pay for it.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
▪ I’d ask them if they were willing, but because it’s cheap would be willing out of own pocket.
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
▪ $1-3 / semester. Says that if the website and app were bundled, more likely to pay.
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• If that service were free (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ Yeah, still would. As long as it’s not every day 3 ads or something. As long as not super intrusive.
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ Probably not.
▪ If so, how much?
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ No, probably not. But my majors are really small, so not sure what it’d be like for people in Biology and Chemistry.
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ No, don’t think I would. Already sites like that for free.
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ Yeah, that sounds pretty helpful.
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
▪ Yeah.
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester?
◦ Usually keep the major ones, will sell them if they’re for core classes or give them to friends.
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
▪ Sell through Amazon or Chegg, doing buyback.
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs. Yes, 4.
◦ Tutoring services. Yes, 3-4.
◦ Campus representative positions. Yes, 4.
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, 4. [more as junior or senior]
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. No.
◦ Apps for college students. Yes, 3.
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. Yes, 3-4.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. Yes, 5.
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). No [already have material through departments, but otherwise probably would be interested]
• Would you pay to remove ads from a site you used to search for classes and plan your schedule?
◦ No, if it was actually helpful that weren’t intrusive, like jobs and off campus apartments, so wouldn’t.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the specific universities you were considering?
◦ Yes, was looking at specific courses and professors teaching those courses.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ Yeah, that’d be really cool. And professors.
----- maybe -----
• Is there a product that would help you with anything regarding classes at college that you would pay for? If so, what is it?
◦ How much would you pay?
◦ Do you think your parents would pay?
• Would you be responsive to any sort of advertisements texted to your phone?
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah
Virginia Jacobs (#15)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi Virginia
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Rising sophomore.
• What is your major?
◦ Art education.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ We meet with an advisor, and the advisor tells us what courses to take. Usually, advisor gives suggestions on the elective classes too. Just follows strictly.
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ With advisor, 30-45 minutes. Without advisor, look at planner, make a little planner herself before registration. Usually sketch them out on paper, write in the times. Looks them up on the course search.
◦ Is that about the amount of time you would have expected it to take? More time? Less?
▪ I thought it would take a lot longer. Didn’t know it would be so structured. Some people she knows said “I don’t know what electives to take, what’s an easy elective”, she just thought it’d be like that.
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ I think like waking up at 8am, got to sign up before the seniors because a note taker, harder to plan for the fall because she didn’t have priority and everything fills out a lot faster, all the good times are full by the time you register for the core. Difficult to search for classes because you have to go completely back and choose the term, and go through it all.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Above.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Don’t take really early classes. Plan ahead. Like to stack her classes so that there’s only 15 minute class. Most of her friends have like Wednesday night lectures.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ Making sure the classes that she’s taking are on the right path, don’t want to waste taking a class if it doesn’t help. Taking three classes over summer to get them out of the way. The degree audit could be a bit more clear. Tell us exactly what classes would be for her major.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat that required payment, would you pay for it?
◦ Yeah, my boyfriend goes to Vtech, and her boyfriend uses CoursePickle. She’s trying to check every single. Would definitely pay.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
▪ No, probably pay herself. This semester she needed it because she woke up a bit late to sign up.
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
▪ Per class.
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
▪ $5/class.
• If that service were free (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ Yeah, probably. Probably once or twice a week at most.
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ No, probably not.
▪ If so, how much?
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ Yeah, definitely. $2-3/class. $7/semester.
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ I don’t think I would pay. Because Rate my professor exists. But would be cool if you could see what other students were saying.
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ Yeah, I would use it, probably. I don’t know, because I don’t buy a lot of textbooks.
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
▪ Yeah, probably just to find the best price.
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester?
◦ Just rented her textbooks. Don’t give them back, because they’re still useful.
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs. Yes, based on area. 4.
◦ Tutoring services. [free through university]. No.
◦ Campus representative positions. Yes, 5.
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, 5. [even as a rising sophomore, like to keep up with what’s necessary to get job]
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. No [moved to house, maybe like coupons though]
◦ Apps for college students. Yes, 3.
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. Yes, 3.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. Yes, 5.
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). Yes, 5.
• Would you pay to remove ads from a site you used to search for classes and plan your schedule?
◦ No, wouldn’t pay.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the specific universities you were considering?
◦ Yes, I did. Went through the catalog, and looked at different things. Looked at the degree audit and read reviews about those classes. For her specific major.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ I don’t know. Only really considering Radford and one other schools (maybe for people who have more options)
----- maybe -----
• Is there a product that would help you with anything regarding classes at college that you would pay for? If so, what is it?
◦ How much would you pay?
◦ Do you think your parents would pay?
• Would you be responsive to any sort of advertisements texted to your phone?
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah
Nancy Hauser (#16)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi [name]
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• Went to App State, and Armstrong State.
• What year are you?
◦ Graduated.
• What is your major?
◦ Psychology and nursing.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ Basically just used the major requirements, the course catalog that shows you everything you need to . Just use the manual catalog, look through each . Figured out what interested me, then figure out it if it fit time size. Usually just write it out on paper.
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ Maybe an hour, to hour and a half.
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ Being able to just type in the course name instead of having to drill down through a bunch of pages.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Time to select the classes when planning for registration (searching).
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Plan it out on paper, make it fit your schedule.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ Knowing what I wanted to do when I got to colleg.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat, would you pay to use it?
◦ “That’d be great”. Probably not, unless desperate.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
▪ No, don’t ask my parents to pay for stuff like that.
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• If that service were free (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ Yeah, as long as it wasn’t bombarding me with ads. Once or twice a week.
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ Probably just delete the app if it got on her nerves.
▪ If so, how much?
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ Um, depending on fee. Reasonable fee: $3-4 one-time..
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ “Isn’t there a website like that, like RMP?”, no wouldn’t pay.
◦ If so, how much would you pay?
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon (and Chegg, Abebooks, etc) and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ Yes.
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
▪ Definitely.
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester is over?
◦ At App, they just lend the textbooks for free for each semester. But the books for the other degree, she kept them.
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing as advertisements on the site? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs. Yes, 4.
◦ Tutoring services. Yes, 2-3.
◦ Campus representative positions. No.
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, 4.
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. No.
◦ Apps for college students. Yes, 5.
◦ Study abroad programs. Yes, 5.
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. Yes, 2.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. Yes, 4.
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). Yes, 3.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the universities you were considering?
◦ No, she didn’t.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ Yeah.
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah.
Ryan Glance (#17 - married, older, not right demo)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi Ryan
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Going into second year at Truman.
◦ Went to community college before.
• What is your major?
◦ Chemistry.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ Have to grab a notebook, put the days out on the notebook, and go through and find which courses fit that time table. It’s really luck based, because sometimes I’m not sure how I got good schedules at all. There are just so many different classes going on all the time. Pencilling in the times when the course is, then cross it out if it doesn’t work. For this semester registration, wrote up the days and times, until 7pm in 30 minute increments, and went through his classes and took down the times they were all down, took down the course ID and, whichever ones matched up they’d try to put them all in there.
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ After about an hour or two.
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ I like being able to pick math or science, and then it takes me to those. But it just doesn’t seem like it’s not intuitive enough. It’s just an all around pain to work with. Nice that you can do it online though. There are so many different clicks to go through. Blue link to click the credit requirements. Why can’t they just have a course description above the section. Too many clicks.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ It’s just the pretty high learning curve. Takes a while to get used to it. I guess finding exactly what courses you’re looking for, you know, sometimes you were going to do college algebra, I’ve always considered physics to be a math, but physics is in its own category. I just would be looking for a course and wouldn’t be in the right section for it. Finding courses would be hard sometimes if you just don’t know they’re categorizing courses. Having to click several times.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Get a notebook, make out a timetable for all the different days, get the different classes that they want this semester lined out, have all the times lined out, and then go about what kind of schedule that they want. Because I’m in Chemistry, I have at least two science courses each semester, and two labs too, the labs make it hard to figure out the schedule I’m going to have. I think if I didn’t have the labs it’d be a little bit easier.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ Definitely think that having a good academic advisor would be important. He didn’t have an advisor until last semester. He was calling the shots as to the classes he was going to take, but that made him worried that he wasn’t taking enough classes, he was too few classes each semester it turned out. Now he’s catching up. He didn’t know.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat, would you pay to use it?
◦ I think if it was included in college costs, if you could opt in. He would do it. He doesn’t think he would pay out of pocket.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
▪ Since I’m married, not really.
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• If that service were free (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ Definitely would if it had ads. Max reasonable: as often as it wanted to. He does think it would lose its efficacy if it was like 2000 texts a day.
◦ Definitely would be more effective if it texted you on time. He had been on the waitlist for a class, but he got the email late. They’ve been having problems with TruVu for a while. If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ I don’t think so.
▪ If so, how much?
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ Already provided by the waitlist, I guess if I really needed to get into this class, if my life depended on it, then yes. Like $5/semester.
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ I would not pay to see a course review. If there was an online forum; he would just look at reddit which would be useful (like a tab on reddit for truman classes, he thinks it would be useful for incoming students to see the quality of education students are seeing at Truman), that would be useful. He would just talk to someone who had already taken the class.
◦ If so, how much would you pay?
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon (and Chegg, Abebooks, etc) and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ He likes that idea. He does uses grants to pay for his books. Would be totally useful for people who don’t have the grants.
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
▪ For sure.
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester is over?
◦ Depending on what course I take, yes and no. If it doesn’t have anything to do with the field I’m going into, then yes. Sold all first and second year books. Keeps all the stuff for his major.
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
▪ Sell them on eBay. Got $6 for a biology book at the bookstore. $200 for that book.
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing as advertisements on the site? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs. Yes, 1.
◦ Tutoring services. Yes, 3.
◦ Campus representative positions. Yes, 1.
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, [full-time] 2.
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. Yes, 2.
◦ Apps for college students. Yes, 3 [depending on what it was]
◦ Study abroad programs. Yes, 4.
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. Yes, 4.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. Yes, 3.
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). Yes, 4.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the universities you were considering?
◦ Looked at the majors that were available. Asked if there was a public listing for people who weren’t at Truman. Things particular courses are more important than the major.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ Yeah, definitely think that would have figured into college selection.
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah
Chemistry degrees isn’t available online. Lives an hour away from school. He would really like to see Chemistry being offered online. Feels like people at Pheonix pay for their degree. Wants to see the whole industry goes online.
Talked about some crazy stuff. Manually collecting for 7 months every single compound and its side effects good or bad from the internet into a spreadsheet. Thousands of entries. Will release on Facebook after he can’t think of any more compounds.
Dave Stanley (#18)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi [name]
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Drexel, June 2015.
• What is your major?
◦ Mechanical Engineering
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ Used a plan, so there used to be a thing called term master planner. Little website that hooked up to the registar’s office. You could plug in the courses you wanted and it would generate 60 different possible schedules with you. They stopped maintaining it, it wasn’t generating the right schedules for the last two years. Then they had to go through each class. He would built it in Excel, and then pick the times that he wanted. Randomly generated time ticket for registration, within each class. It was a huge pain. Will send link.
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ Probably, a couple hours. 4-5 hours. You’re trying to get classes with your friends. Seeing what classes your friends are taking. They do quarters, rather than semesters. When the website was working, it was like an hour. Little bit less, like 40 minutes.
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ Basically have to go through three different pages, first to see the CRNs, then to see if . The classes were more up to date on the banner web (internal, at least).
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Really just the time tickets were just a huge pain. Like when that third-party software didn’t really work, it was just a pain because you go through all this process. Annoying thing was that if you didn’t get into one class that was in your schedule, then your entire schedule was messed. The first two years, everyone woke up early, and register at exactly their time ticket because they wanted their classes. If you wait one minute, your class will be closed.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Definitely go with Term Master Schedule, then pick out your classes and the times that you would want, and make three different schedules in Excel, and know which one is what, and take note on which classes I would register for first. If there was one class that only had 5 seats left, I would go back and do the other one. Then come time ticket comes around, have priority of which ones were first. You can do batch CRN groups, I can enter in all 5-6 classes I want. So just taking the time to type in all 5 classes you might miss the one that has a few seats left. Until the time ticket hits, you’re completely locked out.
◦ Asked about a browser extension that typed in the CRNs and submitted for you would be sweet.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ He did an accelerated review, did a B.S. M.S., registration was actually a pain for him because he was taking 20 credits a term. He was using DegreeWorks, and the advisors are at the point where all they were doing really were using DegreeWorks to advise, and didn’t have any advice beyond DegreeWorks. He essentially said the advisors were really just useless.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat, would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ Probably not. (probably not even with no ads, he said the waitlisting made it not as useful) [there was no integration on how full the classes were when you were going about registration. He never had to do the refresh thing, but he knows that other students have had that.]
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ If so, how much?
• If that service (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), required you to pay to use it, would you pay?
◦ No.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ I don’t know. Probably would have for his first year, not after first year. Probably only like $1-$2. [definitely every semester if it were free]
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ Yeah, he did that a little bit. He said he did use that for Koofers, he would look at user reviews. Probably wouldn’t pay for it. Koofers was free, had to login. He did find Koofers useful, because of the reviews on Koofers. Avoided some professors because of Koofers.
◦ If so, how much would you pay?
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon (and Chegg, Abebooks, etc) and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ Definitely, yeah. Yeah absolutely. [He would pay for that, but he would share it with his friends so that his friends wouldn’t have to pay. $5/semester or $20 /academic school year]
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
▪ Yeah.
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester is over?
◦ Some of them. Dependent how important they were for career moving forward.
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
▪ Only through craigslist, word of mouth. Only did that once, because he wanted money for the weekend.
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing as advertisements on the site? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs. Yes, 4.5.
◦ Tutoring services. [would be cool integrated for the students, like them offering services for each other, if rated] 4.5/5 if integrated.
◦ Campus representative positions. No.
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, 2. [because they have a nice local area job finder integrated with Drexel]
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. No.
◦ Apps for college students. Yes, 1.
◦ Study abroad programs. Yes, 3.
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. No.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. No.
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). No.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the universities you were considering?
◦ No, not when he was applying. More just like word of mouth, then just looking at the full department and what projects they were working on.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ In hindsight, yes, but I don’t know if 18 year old me would have cared. But he thinks it might not be appreciated by high schoolers.
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah
Thinks being able to tab through each of the possible schedules is good, because of how some classes have 6 sections, liked how schedulizer.me did it.
Kiros Lema (#19, foreign, hard to translate the meaning of the questions, very short answers)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi [name]
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Just graduated.
• What is your major?
◦ Biology.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ I was helped by my advisor, advisor gives the courses they want. Just registered for those courses.
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ 30 minutes.
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ Not really.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Not that much.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ Not really.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ Work hard.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat, would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ Didn’t have trouble, just went with a course that was open.
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ If so, how much?
• If that service (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), required you to pay to use it, would you pay?
◦ N/A
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ N/A
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ Don’t think so, might ask one of his friends about info for a course.
◦ If so, how much would you pay?
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon (and Chegg, Abebooks, etc) and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ He already uses Amazon. He tries to look at many websites. N/A. Yeah, it would be helpful.
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
▪ Definitely.
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester is over?
◦ He just rents them.
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing as advertisements on the site? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs. Yes, 4.
◦ Tutoring services. Yes, 4.
◦ Campus representative positions. Yes, 4.
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, 5.
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. Yes, 3.
◦ Apps for college students. Yes, 4.
◦ Study abroad programs. Yes, 4.
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. Yes, 3.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. Yes, 4.
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). Yes, 4.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the universities you were considering?
◦ Yes, he did.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ Yes, he would.
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah
Maddie White (#20)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi [name]
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Rising Junior
• What is your major?
◦ Sports administration
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ We register by grade, we go talk to an advisor to figure out what classes we need to graduate on time and we get a pin number, and at 7am and put in the CRNs for each classes. Usually do it in excel. Make a couple different schedules because I can’t always get into my classes.
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ Some classes only offered in the fall, so you have to take that into account, and make sure that you take. Over an hour for sure, definitely going over it frantically the night before.
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ A lot of the time you click on the class. When you click “back”, it goes all the way back instead of to the previous page.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Not like waking up that early to register. Anxious that everyone is also frantically doing it at the same time.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ University peer instructor, help all her students with registration. Plan it out really carefully, need to have a lot of backup schedules. And make sure you have your PIN number, which the advisor provides in order to register. Some advisors really aren’t helpful.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ Definitely talking to her advisor. Going on degreeaudit and seeing for herself what she has to take and taking into account prerequisites.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat, would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ Yeah, definitely.
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ Probably.
▪ If so, how much?
• If that service (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), required you to pay to use it, would you pay?
◦ No probably not.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
▪ Probably not. She will look it enough herself.
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ Probably not. [definitely would be useful though]
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ Um, probably not. Use Rate my professor already.
◦ If so, how much would you pay?
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon (and Chegg, Abebooks, etc) and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ Probably not, she can go look herself.
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester is over?
◦ She rents them from Chegg. Has sold in the past.
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
▪ Sold them to the bookstore.
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing as advertisements on the site? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs. Yes, 4.
◦ Tutoring services. Yes, 3.
◦ Campus representative positions. Yes, 3.
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, 5.
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. Yes, 3.
◦ Apps for college students. Yes, 4.
◦ Study abroad programs. Yes, 4.
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. Yes, 2.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. Yes, 3.
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). Yes, 2.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the universities you were considering?
◦ Radford was the only school I applied to. But she knew they had a really good sports program.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ Yeah, probably. Could have been helpful.
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah
Juliette Jacobson (#21)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi [name]
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Freshman.
• What is your major?
◦ Early childhood education.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ I made an appointment with advisor, and has a program of study for every semester. And she would do that for. Just register for the courses that she suggests. Can email her for alternate courses.
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ 40 minutes.
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ Searches for courses isn’t a problem. But the problem is that courses are already full.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ The fact that classes are already closed. If one is closed, looks at program of study and look if the course is distance learning or online and if she can take it over the summer.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ They should really meet with their advisor and get all the recommended classes first. Don’t go all the way to 18 credits. Had backup classes for electives on first semester.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ Take classes in the summer at home.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat, would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ Yeah, probably. 1/day is reasonable.
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ No.
▪ If so, how much?
• If that service (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), required you to pay to use it, would you pay?
◦ Probably not.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
▪ She would ask but they wouldn’t and would tell her to do it herself.
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ No. [probably not useful even if free]
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ Yeah.
◦ If so, how much would you pay?
▪ Not sure. $5/semester.
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon (and Chegg, Abebooks, etc) and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ No, because she does it by pen and paper.
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester is over?
◦ No, she rents hers. [from Half.com, and Amazon, and university bookstore]
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing as advertisements on the site? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs. Yes, 5.
◦ Tutoring services. Yes, 5.
◦ Campus representative positions. Yes, 3.
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, 3.
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. Yes, 2.
◦ Apps for college students. Yes, 3. [Radford mobile app is pretty useful]
◦ Study abroad programs. Yes, 1-2.
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. Yes, 1.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. Yes, 4.
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). Yes, 3.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the universities you were considering?
◦ No, didn’t really looking at the courses first.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ Um, yeah. Maybe the professors and the reviews, like Rate my professor kind of that.
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah
Tracie Dixon-Stanley (#22)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi [name]
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• Graduated (May 2014).
• Truman State University.
• What year are you?
• What is your major?
◦ Biology.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ There’s a catalog for certain majors, outline which courses you should take, prereqs you need. Friends who gave advice. Using both paper and excel. First thing was write down course number, then you have multiple professors. Did excel graphic organizer with the times, monday - friday. Planned priority schedule number one, 2 etc.
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ Over two hours easily at least. One of the courses that she had to take was at the same time with another course.
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ They overlapped classes that you needed to take. The software you needed were 7am. If you didn’t reload at the exact time, then that could be the difference between getting into a course or not. Student athletes didn’t get special treatment at Truman.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ The sheer amount of students trying to get the exact same classes at the exact same time. Liked to get my first pick of courses at the best time, but that’s an unrealistic expectation. Frustrating that whether you got into a class would be the difference between graduating on time.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ I would say, try to make as many possible combinations as you can and have those course numbers written out so that you can easily try. and hope for the best.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ Making sure that you take enough credits each semester. Averaging 13 credits each semester, or you take a class or two over the summer.
◦ If there was a program that would do all the manual work for you that would have helped. Wrote a program that allowed you to put in information that said I need to take course XYZ. Even the elective stage it was hard to get into classes.
◦ She really wants 4-year planning, that seemed to be really good.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat, would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ She’d be fine getting an ad with the course availability, but once the first week of classes. Real work great if no ads, but that’s okay.
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ Personally would not.
▪ If so, how much?
• If that service (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), required you to pay to use it, would you pay?
◦ No, just do it herself.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
▪ No.
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ Probably not.
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ She’s bias, already had that for free. One was rate my professor. Already see all that data (truman made).
◦ If so, how much would you pay?
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon (and Chegg, Abebooks, etc) and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ Yeah, definitely would.
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
▪ Probably once she figured it out and if it showed the cheapest option yeah.
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester is over?
◦ Some of them she did, some she kept.
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
▪ Sold them to back to the bookstore.
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing as advertisements on the site? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs. Yes, 4. [student athlete, so not as much time]
◦ Tutoring services. Yes, 5.
◦ Campus representative positions. Yes, 3.
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, 5.
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. Yes, 3 [just for freshman]
◦ Apps for college students. Yes, 3.
◦ Study abroad programs. Yes, 3.
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. Yes, 1-2.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. Yes, 5. [rating landlords would be good]
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). Yes, 5.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the universities you were considering?
◦ She did, but was pretty sure she knew where she was going to go.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ Yes, she would have thought that would be cool. [doesn’t think an average student would use that. Parents would really like that]
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah
Tracie Dixon-Stanley (#23, adult, online, not right demo)
Pre-Interview:
• Hi [name]
• How are you doing?
• Thanks again so much for your time.
• I’m just going to ask you some questions, mostly pertaining to course registration.
• If you ever don’t want to answer a question or don’t have an answer, that’s perfectly fine and you can just say that you’d prefer not to answer.
• Any answers you provide are completely confidential and will not be shared or published, even anonymously.
• Does that make sense?
• Okay, so let’s get started.
Interview questions for User Customer segment:
• What year are you?
◦ Junior.
• What is your major?
◦ Criminal justice.
Interview questions for User regarding problem hypothesis.
• Can you describe the process you use to go about planning your course schedule?
◦ I have an academic advisor who sets up a 10 week quarter plan, and just select from the ⅔ courses she advises for that quarter. Sometimes do have issues getting into courses. Because she’s an online student, she’ll look ahead at the advisor plan and try to take one of the ones she recommended for the future.
• About how much time do you spend every semester planning your course schedule?
◦ Probably more like an hour or two. She’ll give the recommendations.
Interview questions for User regarding solution hypothesis.
• What are the most bothersome qualities of the course search software you use?
◦ Most bothersome is that it’s not that user friendly, the finding process is very tedious, so many places to look.
• What is most bothersome about the course registration process in general?
◦ Locating the courses and then being able to register. Having to copy the CRN and paste it into a new page, that’s tedious.
• What would you recommend to a new student who is trying to plan their schedule?
◦ She would recommend that they talk to the academic advisor, have the advisor help them step by step with the registration process. Trying to do it the first time is very hard.
• What would help you most to ensure that you graduate on time?
◦ More than likely need to increase the availability of the classes online students need. So the availability of the courses doesn’t match what she needs. Only one quarter. Regarding the registration process, if they made it easier, if they had a direct link then you would be able to register for that course, instead of having to copy the CRN number.
Interview questions for User regarding price hypothesis.
• If there was a service that would text you when a class you want has an available seat, would you sign up for it if it also texted you advertisements every so often?
◦ Yes, probably would. Sucker for alerts.
◦ If so, would you pay to remove those advertisements?
▪ Possibility, depending on the fee.
▪ If so, how much?
▪ $.99-$2.00.
• If that service (the one that texts you when a class you want has an available seat), required you to pay to use it, would you pay?
◦ Still probably would. Less than $3.
◦ Would you ask your parents to pay for it?
◦ If so, how do you think you/they would want to pay (on a semester basis, per class, or one time)?
◦ If so, how much do you think you/they would be willing to pay (per semester, class, or one-time)?
▪ One-time payment.
• Would you pay to know how likely it is that you’d be able to get a seat in classes you’re interested in (so, for instance, being able to see the number of other students who are also trying to get into that class)?
◦ Wouldn’t pay for that.
• If there was a site that you used to search for classes and plan your schedule, would you pay:
◦ To see course reviews made by other students as well as the difficulty/workload rating of each course?
▪ Probably not.
◦ If so, how much would you pay?
• If a website listed textbook prices from Amazon (and Chegg, Abebooks, etc) and compared those prices to your university bookstore prices for each class, would you use that service?
◦ Yes, would definitely.
◦ Would you go there every semester and use it to buy your textbooks?
▪ Yes, would.
• Do you currently sell your textbooks after the semester is over?
◦ No, usually rent.
◦ If so, how do you try to sell them?
• Imagine a non-university course search that also helped you plan your class schedule. For each of the following, which would you be interested in seeing as advertisements on the site? [for yes’, ask for a rating of interest from 1-5]
◦ Part-time jobs. No.
◦ Tutoring services. No.
◦ Campus representative positions. No.
◦ Post-grad jobs. Yes, 4.
◦ “back to school” items or dorm furnishings. No.
◦ Apps for college students. No.
◦ Study abroad programs. No.
◦ Books related to the classes you’re taking that semester. Yes, 2.
◦ Off-campus housing listings. No.
◦ Graduate school prep books (like LSAT, MCAT, GRE). Yes, 3.
• When you were applying to colleges did you look at the specific courses offered by the universities you were considering?
◦ No, not specific courses, moreso the online flexility, and had a good program she was interested in.
◦ Would you have been interested in a tool that allowed you to compare classes across multiple colleges?
▪ Probably not. Only because I’m an adult.
End of Interview.
• Thank you so much for your time.
• I can explain a little bit about why we’re asking these questions and what we actually do.
◦ We have two services… blah blah blah