In this lesson, you will learn how to test and evaluate your embedded systems project, and document your work.

You'll also get guidance on report structure, including the design process and ethics. Activities include debugging, peer review, and uploading to a digital portfolio. By the end, you'll have a self-assessment rubric to review your work. It should take about 240 minutes over several sessions. Work at your own pace, and remember to collaborate with your team where needed.

Now that you've built your embedded system, it's crucial to test it for usability. This means checking how easy and reliable it is for others to use. Usability testing helps identify any issues early, ensuring your embedded system is user-friendly, creative, and functional. You'll ask peers to try it out and gather their feedback, then make improvements based on what you learn.

Why Usability Testing Matters: It simulates real users interacting with your system, revealing problems you might not notice yourself, like unreliable sensor responses or inconsistent outputs. This step aligns with good design principles by focusing on accessibility, simplicity, and engagement.

Testing Steps:

• Prepare Your Test: Set up your embedded system for demonstration. Create a list of tasks for testers, such as 'Trigger the input and observe the output' or 'Test the automation sequence', based on your system's features.
• Check Responsiveness: Test how your system responds to different inputs and conditions. Simulate various scenarios to ensure reliability.
• Verify Interactivity: Ensure all inputs and outputs work without errors. Test everything yourself first to catch obvious bugs.
• Gather Feedback: Ask at least two peers (classmates or friends) to use your system while you observe. Have them think aloud about what they're doing and any difficulties. Afterwards, ask questions like: 'Was it easy to interact with?', 'Did the design feel creative and engaging?', 'What would you improve?' Focus on ease of use, creativity, and functionality.
• Analyse and Iterate: Note down all feedback, positive and negative. Prioritise fixes, such as adjusting code for better response times or adding clearer indicators. Make changes to your program, then retest if needed.

Peer review involves getting feedback from classmates to improve your project. By sharing your work and incorporating suggestions, you'll enhance usability, address ethical concerns, and boost creativity in your embedded systems project.

Why Peer Review Matters: It provides fresh perspectives on your project, helping identify issues like unreliable inputs/outputs or overlooked ethical problems that you might miss. This collaborative process encourages iterative improvements, ensuring your system is functional, user-friendly, and aligned with best practices in design and ethics.

Peer Review Steps:

• Prepare Your System: Ensure your embedded system is ready for testing, with all features integrated (inputs, outputs, automation). Share access via a demo setup.
• Select Reviewers: Choose 2-3 peers (classmates or team members) to review your project. Explain the purpose and provide any necessary instructions.
• Conduct the Review: Ask them to test key features, noting strengths and weaknesses. Encourage them to focus on usability (e.g., ease of interaction), ethics (e.g., safety implications), and creativity (e.g., innovative automation).
• Gather Feedback: Observe their interactions and have them provide input on specific aspects, such as reliable sensor responses or potential ethical issues.
• Analyse and Iterate: Review all feedback, prioritise changes, and apply iterative problem-solving to make improvements, such as refining code for better input handling or enhancing safety features.

Documenting your project in a structured report is essential for communicating your work effectively. This emphasises ethical considerations in your embedded systems project.

Why Report Structure Matters: A well-structured report demonstrates your understanding of the project, from planning to implementation, and highlights how you've addressed ethics like safety and accessibility. It helps evaluators see your problem-solving skills, creativity, and adherence to best practices, making your work more professional and comprehensive.

Report Structure Steps:

• Introduction: Provide a project overview and identify user needs.
• Design Process: Detail your planning, including components, inputs/outputs, and automation. Reference concepts from the Algorithms and Pseudocode unit.
• Implementation: Include code snippets and explanations of how features were built.
• Testing and Evaluation: Describe the tests conducted and results obtained.
• Ethics: Discuss issues such as safety, accessibility, and societal impacts, drawing from the Networking and Society unit.
• Conclusion: Reflect on your work and suggest future improvements.

Compiling your work into a digital portfolio is a key final step in showcasing your embedded systems project. This involves organising all your project files, documentation, and evidence of your design process, testing, and ethical considerations for easy access and review.

Why Digital Portfolio Matters: A well-organised portfolio demonstrates your complete project journey, from component integration to automation, and highlights how you've addressed ethics like safety. It allows evaluators to see your problem-solving, creativity, and iterative improvements in one place, making it easier to appreciate the full scope of your embedded system and its real-world applicability.

Digital Portfolio Upload Steps:

• Gather Your Materials: Collect all relevant files, including code (for inputs, outputs, automation), your report, screenshots of key features, test logs, and any diagrams illustrating system architecture or workflows.
• Organise Your Files: Structure them into logical folders, such as 'Code', 'Hardware', 'Documentation', and 'Testing' to make navigation intuitive.
• Choose a Platform: Upload to a service like Google Drive or GitHub for version control and easy sharing. If using GitHub, create a repository and push your files there.
• Verify Accessibility: Test the portfolio link to ensure everything is accessible, files open correctly, and there are no broken links or permission issues.