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Usability Testing Part 1
I was part of the group that was asked to participate in a usability test dealing with the College of Education at Eastern Michigan University.
Task 1: You are a prospective EMU student. After thinking about your career interests, you’ve decided that you would like to pursue an education in teaching. You’ve come to the EMU College of Education home page. Apply to the undergraduate program.
User Response: When I first landed on the College of Education homepage to apply for the program I wasn’t sure where to go. I expected to see somewhere on the page that said, “apply.” I noticed a menu list on the left side of the screen and decided to start with the top link labeled “about the college.” When the page opens there is a bright green button that says “apply now” on the right hand of the screen that is hard to miss.
Task 2: You’re a current student at EMU about to begin student teaching. You need more information on it. Find the student teaching handbook pdf.
User Response: Starting from the College of Education homepage the first place I looked was at the menu list on the right hand of the screen. There I found a link that was labeled, “Forms, Manuals & Handbooks.” When I clicked the link, it took me to another page where I found a link labeled “student teaching” and clicked it. This brought down a list of other links and about half way down I found the link to the student handbook PDF.
Task 3: You are about to graduate from the undergraduate program in the COE, and you want to make sure that you have completed all the requirements for your program of study. Navigate the website to schedule time with an advisor.
User Response: Starting from the College of Education homepage I found in the menu list the link labeled “advising.” Clicking on the link it took me to the advising page. I noticed immediately a bright green call to action button labeled, “book now.” I would like to add a side note to this task. Also, I noticed that right below the call to action button there is a way to self-audit an undergraduate degree. I feel that if someone has been at Eastern Michigan University for a while they have probably run a self-audit on their degree. I suggest that there should be a disclaimer that says something like, “to be certain you are ready for graduation you book a consultation with an advisor.”
Task 4: Your daughter is about to start her first year at EMU. You would like to learn more about how she may apply for financial aid. Find information about the cost of tuition and the different options for financial aid.
User Response: This task took me all over the College of Education homepage and child pages. I went through each page one by one starting with the link labeled “scholarships.” I started with this link because financial aid and scholarships usually fall into the same category. Finally, the way I completed this task was going to the quick links tab and clicking on the pull-down menu. Next, I found the link to the financial aid office and clicked it. This took me to the homepage for the financial aid office where I could easily see the link labeled “applying for aid” and clicked it. This took me to a list of different financial aid options. I found the link where I could apply for financial aid through the FAFSA website.
The way this task is laid out to the user, I would assume that I would be able to complete the task from the College of Education’s homepage. I feel that if I was really put in this situation I would realize that the College of Education and Financial Aid are different departments and I would have to find financial aid information through that department.
The College of Education homepage is not a bad website. The design is clean and most of the information is laid out rather nicely. I found the first three tasks that I was asked to complete rather simple to complete. The last task proved to be a bit more challenging and took me well off the College of Education’s homepage.
Remote usability testing can be a tricky thing to tackle. This was my first time participating in a remote test. I found that I really needed to stay on task but found that difficult at times because I was taking notes as to what I was doing during each task. Usually, the person conducting the test will take notes or there is some sort of screen capture or eye tracking software being used to help record the results. I think that remote testing can work with simple tasks like the ones that we were asked to do. There are the more intense tasks that require more attention from both the user and the administrators.
I am curious to see other results my team members share. I’m particularly interested in how well people did with the fourth task and if they were able to complete a different way then I found.
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