Purpose

The purpose of this portfolio is to give you an opportunity to build some of the underpinning skills that support technical skills within Human Factors (aka Ergonomics) that you will need to employ in your subsequent assessment items. Underpinning skills include getting to know each other, communication (verbal and visual), information literacy (academic writing, research and referencing), collaboration, critical thinking, teamwork, and IT competence.

Instructions

There are three tasks that must be completed in Moodle and then submitted for assessment as a single document in the form of a portfolio. The three tasks are as follows:

Task One: Personal introduction

Create a project in your ePortfolio that provides the following about you: 1) where you live, 2) what line of work you do, (3) a visual representation of your team role preferences (based on the results from the Belbin Team Role Quiz provided to you in Moodle), and 4) based on what you have learned about yourself and teamwork, describe one way you will contribute to an effective teamwork effort. To share this with your classmates, tag your project as specified in Moodle.

Task Two: A visual representation of 'Effective Teamwork' 

Create a project in your ePortfolio that visually represents effective teamwork. You can select a medium of your choice, such as: a sketch note, mind map, rich picture, diagram, process chart, or blueprint, or some other audio/visual means. To share your project with your classmates, tag your project as specified in Moodle.

Task Three: Review and discuss Human Factors research

You are required to review one research article that no-one else has reviewed for one of the main domain areas of Human Factors, i.e. physical, cognitive, and organisational. A forum for each of these domains is set up in the assessment block for your convenience. It is recommended that you develop your review off-line before posting it in the associated forum. When you are ready to post your review, go to the relevant domain forum: start a new topic, add your review, and provide the citation of the article in the topic header: e.g. (Smith 2020). This will make it easier for other students to know which articles have been reviewed. In 150 words or less, your post should include:

• The research article review (study aim, study participants, methods, results and conclusions)
• A complete reference and publication number (at the end of the review)
• The attached article (pdf)

In the other two forums, reply to another student's review and discuss the topic at hand in a meaningful way in under 100 words. To be meaningful, the discussion needs to extend the topic. You can do this in several ways, such as:

• relating information from another source 
• illustrating a point with an example 

Ensure you have a contribution in each of the domain forums (1 Review + 2 Reply posts).

NOTE: all reviewed articles must be a published research in a peer-reviewed journal. Therefore, do not review theoretical discussions, chapters, books, white papers, conference papers, workbooks, handbooks, and the like. However, these items are acceptable in a reply post where appropriate.

Out of a possible score of 100, the marks awarded for the Human Factors Portfolio are as follows:

• Your introduction (where you live, what you do for work, team role preferences, one way you will contribute to effective teamwork) 20 marks
• Your illustration that represents 'Effective Teamwork' (free choice: sketch, mind map, rich picture, diagram, concept map, blueprint...) 30 marks
• Human Factors research posts (Review - 30 marks, Reply One - 10 marks, Reply Two - 10 marks) 50 marks

Purpose

An important skill of safety science professionals is to identify work tasks that present Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) risks. This assignment is about developing your understanding of the principles of assessment for human-task interactions while at work.

Instructions

You are required to identify a manual handling task at work (or one at home that can be applied to a working environment) that involves a static two-handed lift. That is a task that does not involve stepping.

You are required to conduct three task assessments using the following human factors analytical tools, namely: 1) a Hierarchical Task Analysis, 2) the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation and the Rapid Entire Body Assessment.

From the findings of your study you are to offer redesign recommendations to reduce the MSD risk identified. Your work is to be presented in poster abstract format. The poster is to be suitable for display at a conference to inform delegates of the physical task you have assessed. Your poster should contain the following:

• The context of the workplace or other setting,
• details about the person who is at risk,
• a description of the task being performed,
• the risk factors found from the analysis,
• evidence of analysis competence,
• a discussion about the significance of the risk,
• task redesign recommendations, and
• a reference list containing scholarly articles.

• Contextual detail of workplace or other setting and the worker involved - 20 marks
• Demonstrates competence when assessing physical tasks - 20 marks
• Risk factors are identified, and the significance of their risk discussed - 20 marks
• English expression, spelling, grammar, and references - 20 marks
• Applies Human Factors principles for poster design - 20 marks

Purpose

This project has three main objectives: 1) to develop leadership and project management skills relevant to design projects, 2) to develop design thinking and user-centred design skills, and 3) to develop reflexive practice.

Instructions

You are required to submit the following items:

1. Team Contract
2. Team Concept Proposal
3. Individual Workbook and Self & Peer Assessment

Team Contract (20 marks)

As a team, you are to develop a team contract to establish lines of communication and rules of process. A template will be provided on Moodle for you to use as well as instructions for forming teams. In 1000 to 1500 words, the contract should contain:

• Team profile and contingencies
• Communication plan 
• Schedule of milestones
• Rules of process and an issues resolution plan

All team members to agree and sign the contract

Team Concept Proposal (30 marks)

As a team, your task is to find a usability problem, more specifically a human-machine interaction problem. You are to take a user-centred approach to assess and resolve the problems found. To assess the problem, you will use various human factors analytical tools. Based on findings and knowledge of human needs, capabilities and limitations, your team is to propose redesign changes to improve use of the problematic product. In 3500 words, the proposal should include:

• Title page
• Executive summary
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• User population
• Methods
• Results and discussion
• Problem definition
• An evaluation of redesign options
• Justification and details of chosen concept
• References
• Appendices

The proposal should be presented in CQUni Harvard Style:

• Single document
• 1.5 line spacing
• Numbered sections
• Total file size cannot exceed 10 MB.

It is up to the individual team members to negotiate how the final proposal will be written. It is highly recommended to have one-person curate (put it together) the final document. After which, all team members should review the entire document to ensure it flows well and is persuasive to a prospective entrepreneur. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, all team members will receive the same grade for team submissions.

Individual Workbook (50 marks)

As an individual team member, you are to keep a record of work done for the team effort. The workbook is to contain project work done by you and to show how you have contributed to the team effort. Each contribution should be accompanied with either a descriptor, explanation of how your work contributes to the project, and/or a personal reflection that includes action for future events based on lessons learned. Students must demonstrate the ability to: 1) be a self-starter, 2) empathise with the user, 3) identify design trade-offs, 4) co-design, and 5) to apply human-centred design and design thinking principles to a human-machine interaction problem. In addition to the workbook, you will be asked to complete a short Self & Peer Assessment to rate the teamwork performance of yourself and your team members. A link to the survey will be sent to you via your student email one week before the due date.

Marks awarded include a team grade (50 marks) and an individual grade (50 marks)

Team Contract (20 marks)

• Team profile and contingencies - 5 marks
• Communication plan - 5 marks
• Schedule of milestones - 5 marks
• Rules of process and an issues resolution plan - 5 marks

Team Concept Proposal (30 marks)

• Integrates human needs, capabilities and limitations into the design - 5 marks
• Analyses the human-machine interaction problem including the environment of use - 5 marks
• Develops a suitable problem definition statement and success criteria - 5 marks
• Systematically evaluates potential concept solutions - 5 marks
• Develops a design concept that meets the problem definition from a human perspective - 5 marks
• Format is consistent with a professional design proposal - 5 marks

The Project Workbook and Self & Peer Assessment (50 marks)

• Demonstrates an ability to be a self-starter (initiative, reliability, time management) – 10 marks
• Demonstrates the ability to empathise with the user and to identify design trade-offs – 10 marks
• Demonstrates an ability to co-design to solve a human interaction problem (participation, cooperation, ideation, and contribution) - 10 marks
• Demonstrates an ability to apply human-centred design and design thinking to a human-machine interaction problem - 10 marks

• Self & Peer Assessment Survey (via email): Demonstrates an ability to be a team player (respectful, positive, communicable, and supportive) – 10 marks