Trainex - But better

Introduction & Research Objective

This project aims to gather deep insights into user behavior, motivation, and pain points regarding digital task management and administrative systems used by students and staff at Media University Berlin. Specifically, the study focuses on TraiNex, one of the university's core platforms, and its integration with other digital tools such as Microsoft Teams, PLS, and file-sharing systems.

Goals

• Understand how TraiNex and related platforms are currently used by different user groups (students and staff).
• Identify usability issues, inefficiencies, and pain points.
• Evaluate the need for a unified login system and additional features like shared calendars, event management, and booking tools.
• Provide design recommendations based on findings.

The research is conducted in two waves:

Wave 1: Exploratory interviews and observations of current system.

Wave 2: Focused research on pain points and improvements discovered in Wave 1.

Group Members

• Çağla Sarıga
• Gangin Kim
• Satu Aydın
• Shaun Gear
• Ungwang Mpule Molefe

Part 1: Interviews with Students

The student interviews aim to uncover:

• The most and least useful features of TraiNex from a student perspective.
• Key friction points or confusing areas.
• Suggestions for improving accessibility, clarity, and engagement.
• Their behaviors on mobile vs. desktop platforms.
• Their openness to gamification and new features like shared calendars or social tools.

Interview Protocol

Thank you for joining us today. We're conducting this interview as part of our User Experience and New Media course. Our project is focused on understanding how students use TraiNex and other digital platforms in their academic lives. Everything you share will remain confidential and will be used only for educational research purposes. Your responses will help us improve user experience design in academic platforms. With your consent, we may take notes or record this session to ensure accuracy.

Interview Questions

1. What do you primarily use TraiNex for?
2. Which features of TraiNex do you use the most and why?
3. Can you walk us through a typical session of using TraiNex?
4. Do you prefer using TraiNex on your phone or your laptop? Why?
5. What do you find most frustrating or time-consuming when using TraiNex?
6. Are there any features that are confusing or hard to locate?
7. What features do you think are unnecessary?
8. How do you currently keep track of your tasks, classes, and deadlines?
9. What other tools (Teams, Google Drive, etc.) do you use for university work?
10. What improvements or features would make TraiNex more useful to you?
11. Would gamification elements (e.g., progress bars, rewards for task completion) motivate you to use TraiNex more often?
12. What do you think about these proposed features:
    1. Unified login system for TraiNex, Teams, and file storage
    2. Adding exams and social events to a shared calendar
    3. Toggling between event types (academic, social, personal)
    4. Booking appointments with university staff online
    5. Finding students with common interests for study groups or activities

Part 2: Interviews With Staff

The staff interviews (including administration, professors, and IT staff) aim to:

• Understand how they use TraiNex and related systems in their workflow.
• Identify frequent challenges, limitations, and areas of confusion.
• Gather their suggestions for functionality improvements.
• Learn how they manage file-sharing, student interaction, and schedule organization.
• Discover platform redundancies or inefficiencies.
• Assess receptiveness to consolidated tools and interface improvements.

Interview Protocol

Thank you for participating. We’re conducting this interview for our UX and New Media course, to explore how university staff interact with the TraiNex platform and related systems. The aim is to identify common issues and explore how the experience can be improved. Your answers will remain confidential and used only for academic purposes. If you’re comfortable, we’d also like to observe you navigating TraiNex in your usual workflow to better understand your experience.

Interview Questions

1. How long have you been using TraiNex and how frequently do you use it?
2. What are your main responsibilities/tasks on TraiNex?
3. Can you demonstrate how you use TraiNex in a typical day?
4. Which other platforms do you use for your work (e.g., MS Teams, Moodle, etc.)?
5. What are the most useful functions of TraiNex for your role?
6. What do you find most frustrating or time-consuming about TraiNex?
7. Are there any parts of the interface or functionality you find unnecessary or overly complex?
8. Do you use TraiNex more on desktop or mobile? Why?
9. How do you handle file sharing or communication with students/colleagues?
10. Would a unified platform login help simplify your daily tasks?
11. What do you think about these potential improvements:
    1. Centralized file storage across platforms
    2. Calendar integration (exams, meetings, events)
    3. Student meeting booking feature
12. Are there security or privacy concerns you’d have about using a single login for all platforms?
13. If you could change one thing about TraiNex, what would it be?

Interview Analysis Results

Interviews were conducted in-person, and all transcripts were sorted using Google Forms. With all data gathered in one document, thematic analysis was conducted using MAXQDA.

Key Findings

A. Primary Uses of TraiNex Schedule Checking: Most respondents indicated that they primarily use TraiNex to check their class schedules and access course materials. For example, one student mentioned, "it's the only place to see my schedule and my courses. I use it every day" ​. Accessing Course Materials: Many users rely on the archive feature to download class materials and presentations ​.

B. User Frustrations User Interface Issues: Several respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the platform's interface, describing it as "old-fashioned" and "not user-friendly" ​. One student noted that navigating through tabs to find information can be confusing ​. Mobile Accessibility: Users reported difficulties accessing certain features on mobile devices, stating that the interface is not optimized for smaller screens ​.

C. Suggestions for Improvement Enhanced Navigation: Respondents suggested that frequently used tabs should be more accessible and clearly labeled to improve navigation ​. Unified Login System: Many participants recommended implementing a unified login system for TraiNex, Teams, and file storage to streamline access ​. Calendar Integration: Adding exams and social events to a shared calendar was a common suggestion to help students manage their schedules better ​.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Based on the analysis, summarize the key insights and provide actionable recommendations: Improve User Interface: Redesign the platform to enhance usability and accessibility. Implement Suggested Features: Prioritize the development of a unified login system and calendar integration based on user feedback.

Thematic Analysis of Open-Ended Responses

Theme 1: Usability

Many respondents highlighted the need for a more intuitive user interface. Comments indicated that users often found the navigation confusing and the layout outdated. For instance, one student mentioned, "the look of TraiNex. Aesthetic. I think it's huh, shitty" and expressed frustration with the difficulty in locating important information, stating, "you need to, like, really dig in to find the information you're looking for"​.

Theme 2: Communication

There were numerous suggestions for improving communication tools between students and professors. Respondents emphasized the importance of having better channels for interaction, with one student suggesting, "adding better communication tools, such as chat or discussion boards, would increase engagement"​.

Theme 3: Accessibility

Several comments pointed out issues with accessing the platform on mobile devices. Users reported that the mobile interface was not user-friendly, stating, "the archive, I think it's pretty weird to access from the phone"​, indicating a need for a more responsive design that accommodates various devices​.

Theme 4: Information Clarity

Participants expressed concerns about the clarity of information presented on the platform. Many noted that important details, such as grades and course materials, were not easily accessible, leading to confusion. One student remarked, "I sometimes forget what leads to what tab. So it's often confusing because it's not explicitly mentioned"​.

Theme 5: Integration of Features

Respondents frequently suggested integrating various features into a single platform to streamline their experience. For example, the idea of a unified login system for TraiNex, Teams, and file storage was mentioned multiple times, with one student stating, "a unified login system for TraiNex, Teams, and file storage" would be beneficial​.

Theme 6: Calendar and Event Management

There was a strong desire for better calendar integration to manage academic and social events. Suggestions included "adding exams and social events to a shared calendar" and "toggling between event types (academic, social, personal)"​, indicating that users want a more organized way to keep track of important dates​.

Personas & Scenarios

Based on the data derived from thematic analysis, the following personas were created.

Staff Personas

Persona 1 : Professor Alex Müller

Role: Senior Lecturer in Psychology

Experience: 15 years in academia

"I need a system that allows me to focus on teaching rather than navigating a complicated interface."

Goals

• To effectively communicate with students and provide timely feedback on assignments.
• To streamline the process of uploading course materials and managing class schedules.

Frustrations

• Finds the TraiNex interface outdated and not user-friendly, stating, "the text-based interface is much of an eyesore"​.
• Struggles with the complex process of uploading documents, which he describes as "lengthy and not intuitive"​.

Technology Use

• Primarily uses desktop applications like Teams and Zoom for communication and prefers to avoid mobile platforms due to limited functionality​.

Scenario

Alex is in his office at media university 20 minutes early before their 9 am lecture. He wants to upload the class material before class so that the student can access it during the lecture. He has difficulty uploading documents at the same time as it requires him to create a topic beforehand and upload each file individually. This process usually takes him at least 10 minutes every time.

---

Persona 2: Staff Member Lisa Schmidt

Role: Administrative Coordinator

Experience: 10 years in university administration

"I wish the system was more integrated; it would save me so much time."

Goals

• To efficiently manage student inquiries and facilitate communication between departments.
• To ensure that students have access to necessary resources and information.

Frustrations

• Often finds it difficult to locate student information quickly, stating, "the search engine requires exact names, which can be frustrating"​.
• Concerned about data privacy and the potential for unauthorized access to personal information​.

Technology Use

• Regularly uses TraiNex, Outlook, and Google Drive for document management and communication​.

Scenario

Lisa is at media university. An international student comes in to get their student id from the administration office. She logs into trainex to search the name of the student but because the name of siad student is not German or English, autocorrect does not suggest their name using the right characters. This usually takes her a few tries checking different combinations and spelling. Thai is all while the student is waiting. She finally manages to locate the students and process to take a picture of them to use on their student id. She is unable to use the on the student has uploaded on their trainex profile. This is often tedious and time consuming. The student ends up having to wait more than 10 minutes to get their sydney id.

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Student Personas

Persona 3 Master Student Julia Becker

Role: Graduate Student in Sociology

Experience: 2 years in the program

"I just want to find my grades without having to click through multiple tabs."

Goals

• To keep track of class schedules, assignments, and important deadlines.
• To collaborate effectively with peers on group projects.

Frustrations

• Finds the navigation of TraiNex confusing, especially when trying to check grades or access course materials​.
• Expresses frustration with the mobile version, stating, "the archive is pretty weird to access from the phone"​.

Technology Use

• Primarily uses a laptop for coursework but occasionally checks schedules on her phone​.

Scenario

Julia is ona vacation in Spain during the school holidays. She gets an email on her phone that grades have been published on traunex. She has her mobile phone on hand and her laptop is back home as she doesn't travel with it. She uses her phone to log into the media university trainex and due to buffering her log in attempt does not work the first time and gives her a 404 error message. She logs into the trainex again and she is at the home page. She presses the menu tab buttons several times trying to locate her grades but after 5 minutes she switches to the website version of trainex only then is she able to see the grades section and is able to see her grades after 5 minutes.

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Persona 4 Bachelor Student Max Fischer

Role: Undergraduate Student in Business Administration

Experience: 1 year in the program

"If I could just see everything I need on one page, it would make my life so much easier."

Goals

• To stay updated on class announcements and deadlines.
• To easily access course materials and communicate with classmates.

Frustrations

• Often forgets where to find important information, saying, "I keep forgetting what leads to what tab"​.
• Wishes for a more straightforward way to access grades and feedback​.

Technology Use

• Uses both laptop and mobile devices, preferring the desktop version for better usability​.

Scenario

Max is in class at media university. The lecturer just instructed the class to log into trainex and click on a link for a class activity. Max uses his ipad to do so but as he switches tabs to take notes trainex logs him out he has to log back in. While he is on the main page he finds it difficult to locate the archive and has to press all of the tabs before locating this link. It takes him more than 5 minutes and the lecturer often has to send him a personal email with the link so that he does not delay the rest of the class. He finally locates the link after the lecturer has just sent him an email and the rest of the class is 3 minutes ahead on the task for the day.

Requirements Collection

• One-link login
• Customizable menu
• Automatic title creation
• Direct link to attendance from calendar
• Error correction suggestion
• Calendar export
• Attendance progress bar
• Making appointments and/or booking rooms
• Button to switch language
• Button to switch to desktop version
• Filter function for job postings

Focus Groups

Structure of Focus Group Session

Part 1: Warm-up / Icebreaker

Purpose: Help participants feel comfortable sharing information.

• Can you tell us your name and one interesting thing about yourself?
  • Organisers must go first, provide guidance in terms of time
• What’s your major and how many semesters have you attended MU?
• How familiar are you with trainex ?

Part 2: General Attitudes / Awareness

Purpose: Understand baseline knowledge, perceptions, or needs.

• Can you try to add an event [stammtisch] on the calendar using your phone? How easy or difficult is it?
• What do you currently use or experience scheduling ?
  • follow-up, if applicable) Why do you use this specific one?
• When you think about a calendar, which ones come to mind?
• Could you please rank the calendars that are listed?
  • where does trainex lie?
• Is trainex included in your top 3 ?
• Regarding your preferred calendar which functions
  • Do you like / dislike
  • What would you like to see
  • What would you remove
  • What would you add

Part 3: Core Discussion

Purpose: Deep dive into the main subject—features, opinions, motivations. Link the discussion to trainex and compare them

• Would you consider using the trainex calendar over your preferred calendar? Why or why not?
• What do you like/dislike about the trainex calendar when compared to your preferred calendar ?
• How does this compare to similar products you’ve used? (i.e your preferred calendar)
• Please suggest functions that you want implemented in Trainex.

Part 4: Evaluation / Ranking

Purpose: Prioritize or compare options.

• Of the ideas you’ve seen, which is your favorite and why?
• Rank these in order of importance/usefulness.
• Categorise the functions into respective groups.
• Which features are must-haves vs. nice-to-haves?

Part 5: Wrap-up / Final Thoughts

Purpose: Capture anything missed and end positively.

• Is there anything else you'd like to add that we haven’t covered?
• What would be your one piece of advice to improve the trainex calendar ?
• What’s the biggest takeaway from this discussion for you?
• Simplifying - removing ideas/ functions that were suggested
• Review where they would now rank the new and improved trainex prototype calendar

Additional Notes Regarding Conductance of Focus Groups

• When facilitating try to make the transition into each section seamless rev up the discussion and adjust based on reponses
• Keep it shorter than an hour
• 1 facilitator taking care of the process
• Facilitator should not participate
• Findings from contextual inquiry can be presented to the group (short presentation or summary and then ask for their opinion) can give a direction for the discussion
• Video / audio recording should be taken

Results of Focus Groups

Focus Group Transcript

Transcript

BK : Hey my name is BK. I am studying business psychology, in my second semester and I have been part of MU before so I have used TraiNex before this as well.

BK : L can you say something real quick?

L : Hi, good day. My name is L.

BK : Okay could all gather around the phone or move it closer? Yeah that works, yeah.

SG : Hey, my name’s SG. This is my second semester. I am a business psychology major so I’ve also used TraiNex for a year now.

L : Hey, my name is L and I study MEM and I am in the first semester and I’ve only used TraiNex for about 3 months now so I gotta say my experience isn’t really a lot.

VH : Hi I’m VH, I’m doing graphic design and I’m also in my first semester so I've also been using TraiNex for about 3-4 months now.

GB : Hi my name is GB and I am also doing media event management, second semester though and i've been using TraiNex for one year almost in the winter. Plus I also work at the university so I also have special access to TraiNex for employees.

KD : Hi, KD and I have been pursuing my masters in international marketing and media management and it's been more than a year since I've been using TraiNex.

VU : I'm VU and I've also been using TraiNex for about 3 months, not more than that.

SG : Okay that's perfect. So we’d like to get you guys started off with planning an event in your calendar.

BK : So there’s an asta event, there's an asta party planned for the 25th of July. Do you want to quickly pull out your phones and add that to the calendar?

SG : Your phones, your laptops, whatever you guys usually use and whichever calendar app you usually use on a regular basis. Just pull that up and add that in. The Asta party for the 25th of July.

(Participants start to do the exercise)

SG : Once you’re done, please write which calendar you used along with your name on the post it note and hand it to us?

(Notes are collected once each participant is done)

BK : could you also write down what made it easy on one post it note, and if any, write down any limiting factors on another post it note. Maybe the calendar was very accessible or the layout was confusing.

(participants begin second step of exercise)

(notes are collected one by one)

SG : Okay so everyone's done? Cool, so these are the pros and cons that you guys have for the primary calendar app that you use, correct? Okay can you think of any other calendar apps that you guys have seen or heard of? Or have used before?

UM : Yeah, like a top three that you could give us?

BK : yeah right now there's google calendar or apple calendar on the board, what else can you guys think of?

GB : Outlook calendar.

L : The one on my windows laptop, like it has one that's inbuilt.

BK : Okay so an inbuilt microsoft calendar.

VU : Thunderbird and Stratos.

SG : Stratos? Like the stratosphere?

VU : Yeah correct.

SG : Okay so we have a list here, so if you guys had to pick one of these, let's forget about whether you have an android or an iphone or whatever, if you had to pick one of these, which one would it be?

GB : Apple.

VH : Apple.

L : Google.

VU : Thunderbird.

UM : Okay so we have two for Apple, one for Thunderbird.

KD : I'll also pick google.

UM : Okay so two for Apple, two for Google and one for Thunderbird.

SG : Okay so that's great, now if i had to force you guys to include TraiNex somewhere on this ranking scale, where would you put in the rankings? You guys can add blank numbers in the list as well.

GB : As the last one.

L : I think I'd put it just below outlook.

VU : I have a question, where is the calendar in TraiNex?

SG : I think there's a calendar icon, it’s under lectures I think.

UM : VH, where would you place TraiNex on this list?

VU : Okay so my complaint is that I can't find my calendar.

UM : Okay so last ranking for you as well then.

SG : Okay now can everyone explain why you put it as the last rank on this list, you can take as much time as you want and voice any complaints you might have.

VU : I cannot find it.

VH : I don't use the mobile version because i don't like it, I use the desktop version even on my phone, it’s just kinda complicated so yeah.

BK : Okay, but why?

VH : Because when you go to the calendar it shows only like, on the desktop it shows only the dates and I don't like that because I see the whole week but not the days, just the dates and that's confusing sometimes.

UM : So the look sucks.

KD : I can mention that the overall UI is so old school and I find it very boring. I have to search for every small thing so it's not user friendly in my perspective. I use my own calendar and I only use TraiNex to check my lectures and other than that there is no motivation to use TraiNex.

BK : It's uninviting.

KD : It’s boring, yes.

L : I mean I haven't put it last but I think it could be like a better overview of things. I’d also like it to be scheduled for the whole week, right now it only shows the dates and the courses I have and it's not like regular. Like i cant compare between weeks, it just shows a list of all my things. Like a timetable that you’d use for school, I'd like that.

VU : You don’t have a weekly view?

L : Not on the mobile version, which is what I use for looking up what I have to be at. VU : Fair enough because I can change that, like I can have different views. SG : That's only for desktop views I think.

L : I see, but that's weird that that isn't the regular option you know.

BK : Anything that you like about the TraiNex calendar?

L : Yeah it does show me what my appointments are.

UM : So it actually works.

L : Yeah, like it does show me the information I need most of the time.

BK : And like it's easy to find what you need?

L : yeah like i downloaded the app and opened and pressed the calendar and it showed me, it does the job yeah.

BK : It does the job.

GB : Another thing I like about the calendar is that it shows the starting times and length are noted.

VH : Like when the course starts and it ends.

GB : Yeah like you can see how long the block is and it's decently detailed.

L : And I just saw on the mobile version you can import your appointments to your phone's calendar, like you press here and it says import or something and it writes everything down like time and what course it is. Doesn't say what room though? Oh no wait it does say the room.

BK : Okay does anyone else also want to talk about anything else about the calendar? L : Just the calendar?

BK : Yeah, just the calendar function.

GB : Not a positive but a negative, i just tried to transfer my course notes to my phone's calendar. It doesn't work

L : I also like that you can just click on the week.

VH : Yeah that's also something I was about to say, but again, desktop version. L : Yeah.

UM : Okay now for our next activity, I'm going to ask you to suggest things from other calendars like functions and features that you’d like to see in TraiNex. Like, think of the calendars that you use and what parts of it make you want to use it over TraiNex. Those are like the features that I'd like you to keep in mind so we can see what suggestions you’d have for TraiNex.

VU : I just had a thought about the other way around, like a feature of what TraiNex has that I'd like in other calendars. So if there's a class that's cancelled, they update it and there's a class cancelled thing that shows up for everyone on the calendar.

KD : Are we talking about just the calendar or other features of TraiNex as well. BK : Just the calendar.

SG : Yeah if we have to talk about TraiNex as a whole that would be a lot to talk about. L : Um id like some color coding .

KD : Yeah and reminders for deadlines.

GB : And maybe emoji’s for separating the color. Like if you have things you want to separate the things under the same color you can maybe add emoji’s.

BK : Like filtering.

GB : Yeah filtering.

KD : How about also having exam timetables on TraiNex, as in now we have to click on an external page link to check our timetable.

VU : Apparently there's this feature which goes into the positives again, where you can add notes that you can make for the students. Like the students can view it.

BK : What? That's crazy.

VU : Yeah ive never used it either.

L : Yeah I doubt anyone knows about it.

VU : Yeah that's probably why when the class is cancelled they just put it in the notes thing for the course of that day. I don't know, but it's still color coded and someone said that was something they wanted, its color coded in red kinda?

BK : Huh yeah I guess.

UM : Anything else?

L : Yeah maybe being able to edit or add or remove appointments or courses. BK : Adding your own events. Or adding and removing your own events. VU : It’d be nice if everyone could add their own attendance.

BK : Add their own attendance? I’d abuse that hahahaha.

L : Or like maybe you put in whether you were there or not and then the lecturer has to check through it and verify.

VU : Yeah something like that, that's how I'd imagine it because it's a pain for me to click all these buttons to get there.

VH : A lot of teachers don't actually know the names of the students.

BK : Yeah we were talking to another professor and he mentioned that it is a pain in the ass to add attendance.

VU : Yeah yeah i know, the problem with that whole system is that it's so tedious to get to what you want to do and you tend to make mistakes.

SG : Yeah it’s like three to four clicks to get to simple features.

VU : Correct, and once you submit it and it's wrong, it color codes it as it's entered but the emails are already gone and then if i have to change it i have to change what's been entered and then another email goes out to the student, it's a little ridiculous. So yeah it'd be nice for each lecture, each person could sign in on the calendar and so i would just have to check and i can unclick whoever was not there if they clicked it.

VH : Like a check in at the hotel with the punch in card.

BK : Anything else? Anything from Google calendar, Apple calendar or Thunderbird that TraiNex calendar does not have?

VU : I mean the one thing is that the email system is not connected to the calendar so if i want to send out an email to everyone i have to go through an entirely different window and its not through the calendar which is normally how these other ones like google or thunderbird are set up because i have to first click on the appointment and then send emails out to everyone who is part of that group.

BK : So, like better compatibility between the calendar and the emails.

SG : TraiNex does have an email system but it's not really used ever and it's separate from Google and i dont think anyone is migrating from gmail to TraiNex.

SG : Also you guys can criticize the overall look and feel of the calendar. All of these things add to the experience so it's not just about the functionality issues.

GB : It looks like it was made in 2007.

SG : That's generous.

L : Yeah if I use it on my phone, it's just like a screen with text. You can't press anything. Like I'd like to maybe allow me to click on the course and see things like who's my lecturer or what room it's in or maybe have a room plan or some notes that I can add in or like a summary of the course. Any interaction with it because of all the tabs, right now you can see just the basics and I'd maybe like to see what the course is about, like just some integration between the different things might be nice.

BK : Absolutely.

VU : Alright, someone spoke about how it's nice that there is the weekly thing on the side. Like you can click on each week to see what events are planned. I just think it’s really bad design to have the week number and the actual dates. It's very useful but I just think it looks like crap and it could be done so much better.

L : Yeah absolutely.

UM : Okay now what we’d like you to do is narrow it down to a top two must have specific features that you absolutely want to make it better.

L : Reminders.

GB : Color coding.

VU : I have color coding, like is the text not in different colors for you guys? L : Yeah but like it is on google like you can color code the events yourself. VU : Oh I see, yeah.

UM : Okay and what else would you pick, like one or two features that would make it better. L : I think for me it would be adding and removing appointments.

GB : Okay wait what else did we have on the list?

UM : There's like color coding, the emoji function, the exam timetable and the adding and removing of personal events, adding your own attendance, layout and integration of tabs.

GB : I think I'd also like to add a point to the thing where we put in our own personal events. VH : Reminders and maybe also deadlines.

GB : Yeah that would be great.

L : I think that would fall under personal events.

BK : I think in adding and removing own events, that would count no?

VH : Moving your own appointments, what L said, the adding and removing own events. KD : Same.

VU : I have a question, how is adding and moving your own events so important to you guys?

UM : Like adding our own deadlines and college events into the TraiNex calendar so we can keep track of our own college duties on TraiNex.

VH : That and also for us in film and post production the teachers were not there and they were trying to reschedule the class but it's not there in the calendar.

VU : Oh okay because there's a whole process where the request gets sent to certain people in the university and then it gets sent to the IT team and they put the appointments in and out of the system.

L : I think I had the experience where I started in dual studies and I was moved to classic mode and it took a week for them to update my schedule.

VU : The process happens via email, so you email that one person and when that person is in office and then they have to maybe email people further and then the work gets done so yeah maybe by the time the whole process gets done it might take much longer.

UM : So professor, what would you like integrated the most?

VU : So for me it's definitely the attendance thing that I'd like to see the most. SG : You can double vote for that if you don't care about the other stuff.

VU : Wait, what are the others? Uh okay better look and design is my second vote. KD : Could you change my vote from reminders to better layout.

SG : I was surprised that you guys didn’t care about the look that much honestly. L : Yeah I mean it's about functionality.

VH : Yeah at this point we just want it to work first.

GB : Plus we only have two votes to cast.

L : I think you can gloss over aesthetics if it works.

BK : Yeah.

SG : Also with the current calendar apps you guys use, with regards to the look and design of those apps, what exactly do you guys prefer in those apps compared to TraiNex? Because Google does it differently, Apple does it differently but they all have common overall design choices that they make which we’re trying to narrow down to see where TraiNex is lacking.

VH : Well I use the apple calendar and everytime i open it I color code everything so say red is a birthday and red are assignments and I also get reminders, like I can put an alarm for 8 or 9 and I get a reminder.

L : First of all I like that I can do dark mode and I can set the view mode and I like to set it to the whole month and it shows every week.

UM : That's google calendar right.

L : Yeah google, and it shows every week of the month and it shows every appointment you put in for each date.

BK : In colors as well right?

L : Yeah in colors and chronologically and it can stretch over multiple dates and you can swipe over to the next month or you can adjust to like a weekly view and then also it has an action button right here where you can add the dates.

GB : This is for google calendar right?

BK : Yeah for google, and you can swipe for different months and switch views for each week or day.

L : Yeah I mean just the streamlining of having it touch based I guess is what makes it easy. BK : Absolutely, so all right.

VU : I mean the point of having the weekly and the monthly views are important because the type that TraiNex provides is like a joke, like if i put like a bi monthly view i can see six weeks all together and its the same thing just below each other and i dont get how that serves the purpose of having a good overview of the month all together so i dont think it works at all.

BK : So, we did gather some interesting data here. Is there anything you’d just like to add that we have not talked about. Maybe something you had in your mind that we did not mention in any way.

SG : This doesn't have to be about the calendar thing, if you guys just want things to talk about go ahead.

KD : About TraiNex?

SG : Yeah.

KD : Not being able to click the back button.

BK : Oh yeah that's my biggest problem too.

VH : And when you leave the tab open for a while it gives you the 404 thing.

L : Yeah, cos it's like a session. But doesn't that make sense for websites that have many many users? So the servers aren't overloaded? Like how many people are using TraiNex?

VH : You can even see how many people are using it at a time and it's usually never that many. BK : The max I've seen is like forty.

L : We should have powerful enough servers I think for that.

BK : I hope so.

SG : The server is powered by a hamster on a wheel or something.

BK : You can also talk about one piece of advice to improve the TraiNex calendar.

L : Someone said how it's not user friendly to have to click and search for every single thing because there’s a, there are tabs on the left on the desktop version and some on the top but they don’t really make sense because it says private and attendance or something. Like you

could just have icons for that or have i guess have more tabs and it has tabs and undertabs but there's enough space on the desktop version for more. Like i was in another university and they had a hub page where there was an overview of every single thing you can do which like TraiNex has a hub page but like its more about whats going on and not really about what you can use the page for. I think you could have a better overview of the most important things, maybe you could pin certain tabs like your calendar and your email or like your courses or something and I guess customize it a little.

VH : It could definitely use some color because it has a lot of text and they’re all the same color and they could be separated by color.

BK : The information is hard to find and then also hard to distinguish between, like what’s in a certain tab and what's not.

VU : This is also mentioned that you have a different UI for different devices and anyways on mine it doesn't work that way because everything is on the left, and then almost half of the page is almost empty, and that's very annoying but one of the most annoying things and im not talking about the calendar but in general TraiNex, like the logo is really badly designed because it has a white background and it’s kinda grey and its not sized according to the panel. Looking at that everyday is an eyesore. Like its logo at the end of the day so it feels very jarring.

UM : Okay for our last question, what is your takeaway from this discussion? L : Biggest takeaway?

UM : Yeah.

L : I guess I just put up with it because like this is not something that I can change and I just use my calendar because I can use that and put everything up there.

VU : I think one thing that I like about the calendar because I just discovered it is the notes because its not a notes thing thats linked to your email, because most other calendars that you change events in sends an email to all other participants that goes out and its not a bad function but im guessing because there's no email link with TraiNex this just shows a tiny link on the calendar, so it's a quick update.

L : My thing said that something was cancelled today so the note thing works. BK : So it is visible.

L : If that’s what it is then yeah.

VU : So it's an access that I have for example so it's something I can use to inform people without going through the whole process of emailing the university person who can then make the changes and so on and so forth.

SG : Alright I think that’s it and thank you all for participating.

Participant Information

• 3 Bachelor's students
• 1 Master's student
• 1 staff (lecturer)

Focus Group Results Whiteboard 01

Focus Group Results Whiteboard 02

Participant Responses

Texts written in Italics are summaries of the responses.

Calendar Interviewees used for adding events:

• Google Calendar x 4
• Apple Calendar x 1

Participants tended to use Google Calendar for general calendar management.

Ranking in order of usage

• Google Calendar
• Apple Calendar
• Microsoft Teams
• Outlook
• Windows default calendar
• Thunderbird
• Stratus
• TraiNex

As previously established, Google Calendar was dominant. Other calendars were quite indifferent. However, participants unanimously agreed TraiNex was the least used (since it's only used for academic purposes

Strengths of calendar participants chose

• Familiarity
• Ease of use
• Quick

.

• Accessibility
• Easy to create calendar entry

.

• Action button knows the day
• Title is the first thing to fill out in events
• it goes from x time to y time
• reminder function
• colour coding

.

• colour coding
• emojis to mark events

Participants tended to prefer the accessibility, ease of use & event creation, reminders, categorization

Weakness of calendar participants chose

• nothing

.

• Short space to read the event title

.

• Limited functionality
• Cross-platform limitations

.

• Can't automatically add events, have to do manually
• No search function
• Confusing to find events

.

• Reminders are standardized and have to manually adjust
• Action button needs a separate clock to choose compartment or trashing
• lack of colours

Participants stated various calendar-specific limitations, without any commonalities

Ranking of TraiNex

• 4/5 participants ranked TraiNex as the worst calendar
• one participant ranked TraiNex as 4th

There was a near unanimous opinion that they do not enjoy the trainex calendar experience.

Strengths of TraiNex

• It works - the bare minimum
• There is a class cancelled function

for professors, there is a note option for classes that is directly displayed onto students calendars

• It displays times for classes and courses

Strengths focused mostly on core functionalities that are described as "bare-minimum"

Limitations of TraiNex

• Functions are hard to locate
• It takes time for calendar requests (if there are inaccuracies) to be implemented
• Looks very outdated
• Inputting attendance is a long process and error-prone; it sends emails before it can be corrected
• The layout of mobile version of calendar does not show all information and requires more clicks
• The schedule view is bad; weekly and monthly view should be included
• Integrating TraiNex calendar into personal calendar sometimes doesn't work
• There are too many unnecessary clicks to access certain functions

Limitations were approached with more passion from participants. Many limitations are focused on low usability, inconveniences and lack of optimization.

Suggested Functions of TraiNex Calendar

Asterisk = student vote
Dollar sign = staff vote

• Adding and removing personal events ****
• Event reminder **
• Better look / design of weekly views *$
• Colour coding *
• Students adding their own attendance $
• Emoji labeling
• Integrating exam time
• Better layout and integration of tabs

Adding and removing personal events took the majority vote by a far extent. suggested functions were quite "basic", seemingly because TraiNex is lacking primary basic functions. For instance, when participants were talking about the calendars they are already using, there were specific functions to discuss, however in TraiNex' case, those are obsolete, therefore suggestion of basic functions.

Miscellaneous Discussions & Advice & Takeaways

• Not being able to use the "Back" function due to an error is a huge issue
• Extended log-in time leading to log-in timeout is also inconvenient
• Using tabs and visual information would be good
• Separation of segments is needed
• There is a lot of dead space within the website itself
• The logo placement is terrible, size is terrible, and background is terribly matched
• Participants severely dislike TraiNex, however "puts up with it"

Results

This project topic was selected because the students running the project had their own individual problems with TraiNex and its functionality for their own purposes. In the course of running individual and group testing, a variety of other problems that other people (students and staff) were uncovered which was only possible through interviews with other people (semi-comprehensive, comprehensive testing would probably result in more usable data which would need to be parsed through). The original aim of the study was to understand how the current users of trainex utilize the platform, identify pain points and design flaws that users found with the UX of the current (2025) version of trainex and what the most wanted changes were. The study was conducted in two major phases during which analysis was conducted based on findings of the first phase to refine and change questioning and focus for phase two.

The first phase consisted of individual interviews of both multiple students and a professor who used trainex, after which phase two was built around the findings of phase one. This new build was centered around common problems between students and teachers and phase two was decided to be an attempt to try to focus the problems of the two groups into the most major ones that affected both and find mutual solutions for the two (An important thing to consider is that this this decision was made because the study group was advised to narrow the focus of their study into a manageable workload, a more focused study into UX fundamentals could uncover more insights).

The first phase interview questions were made by just talking amongst the study group members about their rough grips with TraiNex and what they think would be the problems other users would run into based on their own personal experiences. The result of this questioning answered a few questions that the study group initially came up with but also uncovered many more that they had not considered, e.g :- the time a person had been using trainex, their roles and responsibilities with it, potential areas of improvement and theoretical features that they’d enjoy having, etc. When these questions were used in an interview format with individual participants the key findings were that most used it for basic scheduling to see what courses they had on a given day and for how long and when the courses were. A number of them also used it to access course materials. But a number of problems they had with TraiNex were also found and these problems seemed consistent across the interviewees. These common problems were the basis of forming the next phase of questions for the focus group and pinning down key features that were the biggest focus of the user base that they would like improved, i.e functions being easier to locate, layout and look, a better schedule view and schedule changes being implemented faster, etc.

The conclusion to both phases of testing were that TraiNex obviously had many problems but the users stuck with it to get the class schedules and then mostly migrated those schedules to other calendars (Google calendar was the top choice). It was noticed that most people had many issues with the functionality of the website and the functional drawbacks were prioritized over the aesthetic ones when asked about what they would like changed. They wanted easy of use before they could think about the outdated look. Basic issues such as the inability to hit the back button on the browser without the site giving an error message and the multi-click pathway to get to basic things like the calendar and course material spoke towards basic UX design flaws.

Reflections

In hindsight, many things about this project went smoothly but many problems were also encountered during the execution phases of each interviewing stage. Initially it was easy to set up interviews with individual people and to talk to them and get their thoughts about TraiNex. The biggest challenge at this stage was usually getting them comfortable with the conversation and guiding the interview in the correct direction without influencing them too much, but overall this was not much of an issue. The second stage of testing was much tougher as getting four students and a professor to be free to devote an hour or so of their time to a focus group proved to be difficult to schedule. Whenever people were at college, they were usually there to attend classes or to have lunch in between classes and they would usually leave when they were done with the day. It took a couple of weeks of frantically trying to set up a time for everyone before it came together finally. This is a hurdle which could have been crossed much smoother ideally. Another part was the fact that initially the group planned to try and focus the interviews (both individual and group) on the entirety of trainex but this idea was turned away from when we were informed by the professor that this was too large a project to feasibly complete within one semester as we would also have other classes and their workloads as well. This was a smart call as just focusing on the calendar aspect of TraiNex and some other minor aspects took us a large amount of time to complete, so narrowing our focus and staying with that was a good takeaway for future projects.

For the focus group itself, some adjustments could be made to do it better in the future. A better questionnaire could always be developed, or at least one that is more explanatory to the participants so they don’t feel as overwhelmed or confused. A better recording set up was definitely something to be improved upon as some participants and interviewers were barely audible over the recording. Also due to things like windows being open, there is a lot of background noise which makes transcribing things much harder. Finally, a slightly more refined system of exercises could also be worked upon as there were a few moments where the participants did not know, or were a bit confused, as to which aspects of the calendar they should be focusing on criticising. Overall, even with the scheduling issues, which was the toughest thing to manage, the group worked well together and pulled through.