1. Usability Report for Ionicviper.org
Michael Gough michaelgough@depauw.edu

2. Presentation Overview
Overview of usability evaluation strategies
Usability testing methods
Usability testing results
Linking inspection defects
Recommendations
References
3. Evaluation strategies
4. Usability testing methods
Tested 5 key goals
Learning about the site
Creating an account and comment
Looking for content
Sharing content
Discussion
5. Usability testing methods
Synchronous testing at a distance
Testers first asked some basic background questions
Used Skypes screen sharing feature
Testers were recorded and timed
Debriefing and post interview
Technical issues did cause for a few glitches
Lost video for two tests
Bandwidth varies
6. About the testers
13 testers from 12 colleges and universities and 1 high school
7. About the testers
8. Scenario 1 - Learn about the site
1. Find out what the goals of the site ionicviper.org are.List one of the goals.
2. Learn what a learning object is based upon the sites definition.List the definition.
3. Find out how to contribute learning objects to the site.What do you need to do before you can contribute to the site?
Users had to guess that goals would be on the Who we are page
Learning object is not a common term
Also hard to find definition on the site
Sites security certificate expired
Tasks
Problems found
9. Quantitative analysis
10. Scenario 2 Create an account and comment
1. Sign up for a new account.
2. View the Sites Recent News and click on the 2010 Nobel Prize in chemistry article and leave a short comment.
3. You decided you didnt want to comment after-all.Delete your comment
Additional privileges should be explained
Email notification was missed by some testers
Users cannot delete comments
Tasks
Problems found
11. Quantitative analysis
12. Scenario 3 Looking for content
1. Find 3 learning objects that are both in-class activities and appropriate for the second year of study.
2. Find a lab activity on Main Group Chemistry that either has no prerequisite or only lists general chemistry listed as a prerequisite.
3. Log out
Not convenient to sort by course level
Course levels are ambiguous
Visited hyperlinks dont change color
Logging out is not obvious
Tasks
Problems found
13. Quantitative analysis
14. Scenario 4 Sharing content
1. Log in using the following test account
2. Create and share a 5 slide presentation
3. Delete your slides from the site
Site does not accept .pptx files
Site stopped allowing file uploads
Users confused about the submit for publishing option
Users couldnt find their content to delete it
Tasks
Problems found
15. Quantitative analysis
16. Scenario 5 - Discussion
1. Check to see if there is already a discussion on the topic (iPad in teaching).
2. Add a thread or comment about your iPad app.
3. You learned that someone already shared information about your app, so you want to remove your comment.
4. Log out
Forum search is broken
Cannot delete comments
Tasks
Problems found
17. Quantitative analysis
18. Linking problems with inspection report
19. New problems found
20. Inspection elements did not effect users
21. High priority Recommendations
Content level
Learning object change to learning resources
Create a page to list course goals
Link from the create content page to a page that explains draft management
Technical problems
Configure site to allow .pptx files
Allow users to delete comments
Make sure the site is accepting file uploads
22. High priority Recommendations

Design level

Add course level to browse content tables
Make the email notification easier to notice perhaps use a red background
23. What users said about the site
All users said they would use the site in the future (for non-chemists it was a hypothetical question)
Users in general felt they liked the site and that it was a good idea
Most users felt that the site could be improved, but the site is still useful
Some felt the site took a while to learn, but once you learn your way around it works well
24. References
Nielsen, J., & Mack, R. L. (1994).Usability Inspection Methods. John Wiley and Sons.
Stone, D., Jarrett, C., Woodroffe, M., & Mincocha, S. (2005). User Intervace Design and Evaluation. San Francisco, CA: ELSEVIER.
Triacca, L. MILE+ (Milano-Lugano Evaluation method). Annex A_1: Library of Technical Heuristics, 2005.