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Paul launches FourPlan and a wizard begins asking him questions about his preferences for scheduling, citing reasons why these questions are relevant. Questions include previous classes he has taken, intended major, what classes he wants to take that fit the degree requirements, and other questions that the constraint solver thinks are useful. If Paul doesn’t want to answer a question or thinks it will be irrelevant later, he skips it. A typical question might look like figure 3-1.
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!Screen shot 2011-03-06 at 1.39.35 PM.png|border=1!
{color:#000000}Figure 3-1: Example Multiple Choice Search Question {color}{center} |
A different template will be needed for different types of question such as “Yes/No”, “Yes/No/Maybe”, “Select X of Y”, “Search for X from BigY”, “Enter X”, but there is a small finite list of these question types that can be used with dynamically generated data from a constraint solver. All elements in these questions that refer to definitions or external links should provide links to definitions (like the term “AUS”) or use a mouseover display to display information about a course.
After a while the system thinks it has enough information to plan out a schedule Paul will like and Paul is shown a proposed schedule in a new interface. For each course, Paul can see a list of reasons why the system thinks each class should go where it suggests, showing other options for where it can go. Paul decides to make some preference changes so he uses a direct manipulation metaphor to drag and drop classes from one semester to another, but the vast majority of his schedule has already been generated to his preferences. Viewing his schedule looks something like figure 3-2.
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| {center} !Screen shot 2011-03-06 at 1.39.25 PM.png|border=1! {color:#000000}Figure 3-2: Schedule Review Interface{color}{center} |
A year later Paul decides to use FourPlan again and is asked some questions about the events that have happened in the year between his last plan and the current date. FourPlan alters its internal state to reflect the courses that were completed and updates its plan, asking a few questions to resolve new issues that have arisen due to a conflict. Paul makes a change using direct manipulation based on his outside knowledge of courses that work well together.
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