(Colleen-- this is a substantial unit in a web development or technology course and it naturally fits into the info fluency idea. My biggest question is how we can transform this to make it relevant to a broader base of students who do not have access to modify the usability issues they might find. How is understanding and evaluating usability useful to the general student who would be taking an Info Fluency course? Ah, I have an idea! How about working usability into the design of their presentation materials, since they may be creating two different presentations in different formats/tools (see Jodi and Eve's pieces)--Chris Lott)
Chris - this is great advice. I looked it over with the intention of making some modifications prior to our Sitka meetings, but I think it would be easier to talk to Eve and Jodi in Sitka to see how this lesson could be adapted to fit in with their pieces. -Colleen
Usability Lesson/Activity
Area:
Critical Thinking/Presentation
Summary:
This unit includes reading materials, lecture notes, and an activity designed to introduce students to concepts of usability, including basic principles, an informal testing method, and evaluation of findings in a class discussion.
Reading Materials:
- Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, August 25, 2003: Usability 101 from Useit.com
- 14 Website Usability Guidelines That Keep them Coming Back for More from searchengineguide.com
- Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005 from Useit.com
- Usability Tip: Test Early, Test Often from Netmechanic.com
- First Rule of Usability? Don't Listen to Users from Useit.com
- Why You Only Need to Test With 5 Users from Useit.com
Lesson:
Lecture notes are detailed in a PowerPoint presentation. Major concepts are as follows:
- Definition of usability
- Three major principles of usability
- Qualities of Usable Design
- Web Usability
- Usability Testing
Activity:
Create a Usability Test:
- Divide into an even number of small groups (two to four members per group)
- Assign half of the groups to one web site (ex. http://www.dynastar.com) and half of the groups to another web site (ex. http://www.subaru.com)
- Each group will create a list of five usability tasks for their assigned web site.
Conduct the Usability Test:
- A group a students assigned to one web site (Subaru) will be matched with a group of students assigned to the other Web site (Dynastar)
- The Subaru group will conduct their usability test on a member of the Dynastar group
- From the Subaru group, one student is assigned to be the questioner, and another is assigned to take notes. Other students can observe.
- The Dynastar group then conducts their test on the Subaru group in the same manner.
Guidelines for Questioner:
- Read the first task to the user
- Encourage user to think out loud
- Repeat for each task
- Do not help users
- If the user does not get the answer in five minutes…. move on!
Guidelines for Recorder:
- Note where (and why) user encounters difficulty
- Note where user completes the task successfully
- Note user frustrations
Class Discussion:
Once the tests are complete, lead a class discussion on the findings. Look at findings from both web sites, and discuss ways that the sites could be improved upon to increase usability.
Notes:
Because the students are likely to be new to concepts of usability, this activity works best with Web sites that have obvious usability flaws. When I last taught this lesson, both the Subaru and Dynastar Web sites were especially difficult to use. The Subaru site has improved, while the Dynastar site is currently still ridiculously difficult to navigate. Before proceeding with this lesson, look for sites that have obvious usability flaws.
I taught a version of this unit over three, 1.5 hour class sessions. The unit was broken down as follows: 1st Class Session: Lecture and creating tests 2nd Class Session: Usability testing 3rd Class Session: Discussion
For the Information Fluency class, I assume that dedicating 4.5 hours of class time to this lesson would be too much. I hope to get feedback and ideas of ways to trim this lesson during our meetings in Sitka.
