MyEd

MyEd Start Page

The elearning portal for the University of Edinburgh is easy enough to find. Not too much text. But should Xaio go for "Getting Started" first?

The login button seems to be the only choice so Xaio clicks it. But he's a bit nervous about EASE. What does that mean in this context? Why is it represented differently from the rest of the button text?

EASE

Xaio is now at the EASE login screen. It looks quite different from MyEd, why? Is this secure, still part of the University? At least there is a little University logo in the top left corner.

There is a lot of text here for a login page. Why is it all in capital letters? That's harder to read. Some of it gives access to help, if Xaio needs it, and can manage to decipher all the English words. How about a "help" or "info" icon here then?

MyEd Main Page

Xaio logs in and gets the MyEd Main Page.
There's a lot to read here. Xaio has no idea which is the important stuff so he settles down to read it all.

Announcements

This looks like the place to start.
But as Xaio reads down the list he finds it mainly contains Student Union events and IT notices. Nothing about his course or studies. He looks across at the "Welcome to MyEd" panel but it contains a list of indecipherable acronyms "EEMeC", "EEVeC", "WebCT" and "Library Resources (Athens)". Xaio is beginning to feel like he's missed something.

Xaio also finds the links confusing.
They seem to be mostly in blue (a very old but reliable convention). But some of the links have underlines when hovered over...

...while others don't.

Some links are the same colour as the text and don't have underlines either.

Some buttons look like they lead somewhere and he should click them. But when hovered over there is no change to the cursor or the button.

While other icons look like they should be clicked too but nothing happens when you do.

At least the top (tabbed) menu behaves as expected.

Maybe his course is under one of the tabs.
But which one would it be?
His course could be part of "myStuff", or maybe "myServices" or "Studies"? So he tries them all.

myStuff Page

At least Xaio recognises some familiar details on his myStuff page. But what is the rest of it about?

Does he need a Wiki? Does he have to work this out before he can proceed? If he works out that he doesn't need a Wiki right now will this panel go away? What happens if he might need one later?

Xaio doesn't understand the ePortfolio panel. It seems to be saying that he can launch ePortfolio from the button but it also says it's available only through WebCT.

There is a little panel in the corner that seems to be about courses. It has "My Courses" as an option. But after searching for a while he can't find his course and the ones he does find seem to be short courses only.
So off to another tab.

Studies Page

Xaio lands on the "Studies" page. This looks promising. He has heard that he is supposed to use WebCT...

...but which of the two links should he use?
He starts at the top.

WebCT

Another page full of text. The first time he sees this Xaio has to spend a lot of time translating it all and working out what is relevant to him. Subsequently he learns that not much of it changes and he can safely ignore it. He just needs to use the link to his own course.

At last home sweet home.

His course site in WebCT looks like an oasis of calm compared to MyEd.