ACRL Website Usability Course

Oh, the things I have learned! :)

Week 1: Getting Started

• The main gist of the first week was the idea of only needing to test 5 users per user group. For example, 5 undergraduates, 5 graduate students, 5 faculty, 5 librarians. 5 has been found to be the optimal number, more than five and your results become redundant. "5 users...find 85% of the usability problems"

• One short reading that I found useful was:
  • “Why you only have to test with 5 users” Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, March 2000. 

• I completed the following assigments in which I wrote
  • A study proposal for an OPAC Usability Study URStudyProtocol.doc
  • A recruitment plan Recruiting_Test_Subjects.doc
  • Test Information 15MinuteTestInfoSheet.doc
  • IRB Exempt Study Proposal ExemptStudyTemplate.doc

Week 2: Conducting Testing

• Test questions, of course, will vary. But it may be useful for us to also conduct some very basic usability testing - can users find a book? a dvd? Along with testing new features such as the browse function, printing,etc.
• The main readings were about how to conduct the test - making sure the user is speaking aloud with why they are doing certain things
  • Chapter 10 "What To Do If You Are A Facilitator" from “Don’t Make Me Think”, Steve Krug, first Edition  - An Excellent Reading for Anyone Who Will Actually Be Conducting Testing

 Week 3: Recording Testing Results and Reporting Results

• An easy way to take notes on the participant is a ClickPath Chart clickchart.doc (That one is from a Rochester Catalog Usability Test).
• Be sure to record the participant as well as the screen the participant is using/clicking, as well as taking notes.
• Need one person to be Facilitator, one person to be Note Taker