Rachel+Little

Main Page | Ideas | System Map | Benchmark Analysis | Program Info | Prototypes | User Testing

=P3 User Test= P3 User Test | Results | Results | Results | Analysis

The overall goal of this evaluation is for us as designers to see how comprehendible our website is through the navigation, hierarchy and placement of links on the page. This specific evaluation is for students to search for a photography course because students will need to be able to see what courses are available to them in order to build their schedule. So I will be evaluating how easy it is for the user to navigate through the pages and how efficiently they are able to find the information. Are the links straightforward and easily understandable? Is the information on the course website relevant for a student enrolling in courses? I think it would be straightforward enough for the participant to have unstructured exploration because this will help determine how intuitive the website is at this point in the prototyping process. Since there are not very many steps involved with finding the answer, it would be good to see how easily the participant can discover. The practical issue that may ensue in this evaluation is location thus I will make the environment as comfortable as possible for the user. The typical location for this evaluation to be carried out is in my house, or indoor or outdoor location on campus. Another issue could be the users eyesight – do they have difficulties looking at the screen, is the screen too bright, is the screen too close or too far away? The consent form discusses how some of the ethical issues will be dealt with. Thus the user need to know their rights and responsibilities and know that they can stop participating at any time.
 * DECIDE Framework **
 * Determine overall goals of the evaluation **
 * Actionable Questions **
 * Evaluation Paradigm and Technique **
 * Identify the practical issues that must be addressed **
 * Decide how to deal with the ethical issues **

The test is to see how would the participant find what semester 3063 is in. The goal of this test is to make sure that a student knows where to look in order to find out what semester a specific course is in. This is important because they will need to know the time of the course they want to take so that they can schedule it in with their availability. For example, if a student sees this course and wants to take it, but finds out that it’s a full year course, they may not be able to take it if they don’t intend on taking summer school.
 * Results **
 * Overall Evaluation Goals **

What is the fastest way to find this out? What is the easiest way to find out? (There are four ‘sort by’ options by which a student can find out about this course. It can be presumed that the most straightforward option would be to choose either ‘course level’ or ‘semester’. 3063 is a Photography course, so that is another option that could be chosen.) “You have sent your application to York and have been accepted to the Visual Arts Program, specifically Fine Arts. You now have to enrol in first year courses, while keeping in mind that you’d like to specifically focus on photography. You want to find out what photography courses are available, and when. Now, go to the computer and start looking for all level photography courses and availabilities.” User Profile: Non-VISA York Student, age 25
 * Other Questions **
 * Test Script **
 * User #1 **
 * User Path **
 * Selected course information from main page, not from universal navigation.
 * Scrolled down on course information page to ‘sort by course’ and selected 3063 from the list


 * Issues **
 * She didn’t initially understand what ‘6.0 Semester: year’ meant as it appeared in the light box, but eventually realized that 6.0 was the amount of credits you got for the course, which also implied that it was a full year course

User Profile: Fourth Year Art History Major, age 21
 * User #2 **
 * User Path **
 * Selected course information from top bar on home page
 * Clicked ‘sort by course’, clicked photography and then 3063
 * She liked the image and found out what semester the course was in


 * Issues **
 * Confused by having two sets of navigation information, ie the universal navigation and the bar of 3 columns on the first page – suggested having either or, although the universal navigation is necessary for the other pages
 * Also suggested organizing the 3 columns in the top bar on the home page


 * Test Summary **
 * What do you look at first in these pages? **
 * The first thing she looked at was the central image
 * On the course information page, the first thing she looked at was the main image at the top of the page
 * Do you feel that the links are straightforward and clear enough? **
 * Yes
 * She wasn’t particularly interested in the ‘events’ on the home page though


 * How appropriate are the quick links? Do you think these are the most important information? **
 * Very relevant information in the quick links


 * Do you find the website visually appealing? **
 * Yes, she liked the cohesiveness of the images and courses


 * What do you think can be improved upon? **
 * She likes having the universal navigation at the top of page
 * Didn’t understand what ‘news headlines’ was about – suggested changing the picture of the car in the window. She asked if it was art!
 * Suggested putting the most relevant thing on the left, since people read from left to right. Thus if the most important thing is on the left they will see it first
 * Said the most important thing was the course timetables, so she suggested making that more obvious on the home page
 * Also suggested making the ‘for students’ section on the bottom right of home page more obvious
 * On the course information page, she said the visual connections from the home page were weaker because the layout and color scheme was different, however she likes it more because it is more simple with the white background instead of the background image
 * Found that the navigation bar on the left was easy to navigate

User Profile: Second year VISA Major, age 19
 * User #3 **
 * User Path **
 * Clicked on course information on home page
 * Once on course information, she clicked on photography, which lead to the description, not the courses
 * Used side navigation and chose ‘sort by level’ since she knew it was 3063, so she looked in 3000 level courses and found it
 * Issues **
 * None. Very efficient


 * Test Summary **
 * What do you look at first in these pages? **
 * The first thing she looked at was the central image, then the background and the top panel above each picture was useful


 * Do you feel that the links are straightforward and clear enough? **
 * Looked through all the links and found them relevant and useful
 * Said the universal navigation was more useful than 3 columns on the home page – suggested organizing them into sections
 * Liked the fact that ‘Admissions’ was a main category because she said it is hard to find on the current website, even though it’s the most important thing for undergraduates


 * How appropriate are the quick links? Do you think these are the most important information? **
 * Yes
 * Suggested including at gallery of the professors work
 * Suggested another main link should show the studio hours because she never likes to leave residence and walk all the way to the studio if it’s closed


 * Do you find the website visually appealing? **
 * Yes
 * She liked how the background and foreground were separated so it wasn’t very distracting – you could either focus on the background or the foreground


 * What do you think can be improved upon? **
 * Include examples of professors work
 * Include schedule for studios
 * Suggested including some information about student mentoring because it would allow future students to get a more personal description of life as a VISA student
 * Suggested including pictures of student work next to the specific programs on the course information page
 * Suggested having a link to the course information next to the course description, just making it faster to access than selecting it from side navigation bar.