evision Review Project - Engagement Simon McLean, Head of Web & IT Support Information & Data Services.

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1 evision Review Project - Engagement Monitoring Simon McLean, Head of Web & IT Support Information & Data Services.

2 What is Usability? Why Bother? Types of usability testing Usability Testing in evision Report findings

3 What is Usability? Definition from Wikipedia: Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human- made object. (Physical or Virtual) Usability includes methods of measuring usability, such as needs analysis and the study of the principles behind an object's perceived efficiency or elegance. usability studies the elegance and clarity with which the interaction with a computer program or a web site (web usability) is designed.

4 In E-Commerce - it could save millions based on speed/transaction times alone. In Education It could improve the Student Experience. We go beyond it works functionally to perhaps that helped me achieve my objective in the easiest possible way. Staff Efficiency/Speed of operation for routine administrative tasks + Positive User experience/intuitive. Provide consistency. Highlight areas which need further work on that would otherwise not be picked up on by conventional testing. Pick up any real klangers before a live launch. Note the need to separately address Novices (public web access) from Experts (Staff who use for administrative duties regularly)

5 A selection of methods available: Cognitive Modelling (pre-design stage) Eye Tracking Cognitive Walkthrough Heuristics (single person can test) Think Aloud Scenario Based tests Interviews Grounded Theory Observation Heuristics (Nielsen) -Visibility of system status -Match between system and the real world -User control and freedom -Consistency and standards -Error prevention -Recognition rather than recall -Flexibility and efficiency of use -Aesthetic and minimalist design -Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors -Help and documentation

6 E.g. Nielsen F-shaped pattern - Users first read in a horizontal movement, usually across the upper part of the content area. This initial element forms the F's top bar. Next, users move down the page a bit and then read across in a second horizontal movement that typically covers a shorter area than the previous movement. This additional element forms the F's lower bar. Finally, users scan the content's left side in a vertical movement. Sometimes this is a fairly slow and systematic scan that appears as a solid stripe on an eyetracking heatmap. Other times users move faster, creating a spottier heatmap. This last element forms the F's stem. (Source: Website link above) See also Wired Magazine for other uses of Eyetracking e.g.

7 Usability Testing on evision Testing performed independently of the Portico Services group (objectivity) Scenario based testing plus Think Aloud Method (Lewis & Rieman) Minimalist approach resource was 1 laptop with Recording Mic, one meeting room. Environment is artificial it is not the workplace. Camtasia software recorded screen & audio. It takes only five users to uncover 80 percent of high-level usability problems. (Jakob Nielsen). Range of administrators tested for Eng. Mon. Permission to record granted (permissions forms used) Interview questions combined with the testing process to make it more fluid. Analysis included audio transcription & axial coding (grounded theory)

8 A permissions form is signed to allow recording of data These normally follow a script that is used during the test process. The script should follow a realistic scenario of usage. The tester should state what they are doing during the test (think aloud) For evision related with student tests we moved away from prescribed scripts since the test setup was close enough to a real environment.

9 Camtasia Studio software used. Transcribe + Observe.

10 Grounded theory can tell you a lot about the field of expertise, peoples emotional state, process and other criteria you wish to look for. Key Emotional Environment Productivity Part of Interview Transcript Audio Record -> Transcribe What about those sites that is good? They are very logical and very user friendly. I don t find myself getting frustrated with them. How does Evision compare? It has a function and most of the time I can use it as I need to Sometime I get frustrated with it. It loggin you out for no good reason I find frustrating I spoke to someone in Portico serv recently who said it was to do with the number of tabs. And it never occurred to me before but yes sometimes it won t acutally tell you why there is a problem. If you re trying to get a report and can t get any data it doesn t tell you just says confined (bus objects issue) I don t see why there is a timeout.

11 Full Report of Findings will be made available on PUG Meetings system Measurements: Average time taken to undertake the task For Engagement Monitoring: Slow system responses Lack of system feedback Insufficient Help Wording/Labels unclear on some screens (see picture) Assumptions about the UI sometimes incorrect

12 Increase font size Produce a standard method of use for buttons size, location, and wording. Increasing the size of buttons makes it easier for the user to navigate/move the mouse to. Labels need to be more consistent and clear (standardise) Distinguish clearly hyperlinks from buttons in context Too much text content on screen can this be minimised into a help link? Some graphical cues suggested (pictures/icons at key points) More feedback to the Administrator for them at key points of submitting form data. Provide status messages when core actions have been submitted. All Administrators indicated that it would be useful for a longer timeout, to be able to keep the system logged in for longer in the background for task switching to during the day. Other issues: Exams and Progression Calculation although unrelated to Engagement Monitoring, seemed to be causing difficulties and had been raised with the Portico Services group. Another was that of reports on a particular degree course in which there was insufficient applicant data on the system to utilise report functions.

13 Contact: Books on Usability

14 Slides Beyond this point are informational/were not shown at the PUG meeting

15 Heuristics (Nielsen) Visibility of system status Match between system and the real world User control and freedom Consistency and standards Error prevention Recognition rather than recall Flexibility and efficiency of use Aesthetic and minimalist design Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors Help and documentation Nielsen:

16 Interviews provide an opportunity to gain advice from experts in the field. They can also be part of the process for scenario based testing e.g. Evision Administrators you might want to record their screen actions. Novices are often used for Scenario based testing to reveal new issues they should be in the target web audience group e.g. students. You can combine Scenario based tests with interview techniques and record the results. Screen capture software (e.g. camtasia studio) can be used to track paths users take later as well as audio. Interviews generate a lot of data that you can examine later if recorded. Beware of response to recording/what people will reveal under interview conditions.

17 Usability results from a range of methods cover different types of testing from different perspectives. Triangulation of results helps confirm findings. In practical terms the usability methods employed might be restricted by time and budgetary constraints. These are largely qualitative measurements. To measure the success of the changes to websites based on usability findings you might e.g. measure number of user accesses or perhaps a reduction in helpdesk calls or other ways to gain the information You need to be specific about what you want to address through the usability study.

18 Cognitive Walkthrough Eye Tracking (e.g.nielsen F ) Cognitive Modelling Q & A o/ break before continuing?

19 Walking through the tasks After the task analysis has been made the participants perform the walkthrough by asking themselves a set of questions for each subtask. Typically four questions are asked: 1. Will the user try to achieve the effect that the subtask has? Does the user understand that this subtask is needed to reach the user's goal? 2. Will the user notice that the correct action is available? E.g. is the button visible? 3. Will the user understand that the wanted subtask can be achieved by the action? E.g. the right button is visible but the user does not understand the text and will therefore not click on it. 4. Does the user get feedback? Will the user know that they have done the right thing after performing the action? By answering the questions for each subtask usability problems will be noticed.

20 Cognitive Modelling examines areas such as Task analysis the hierarchical breakdown of subtasks to achieve goals. It allows us to predict some of the human processes which occur. Measuring task completion times: -Cogtool (Open Source) is a downloadable tool for working out times taken to achieve tasks such as searching a website. It simulates the effect of an expert user on your designs. Changing the Interface design in the prototype and re-modelling can be done to reduce these times. -Cognitive Modelling applied within Cogtool follows KLM-GOMS Task Analysis model that predicts the times taken to move the mouse, type on the keyboard, think and select items within a screen. -Cogtool is in the design stage for prototyping -It is also possible to predict or reduce Human Error through website re-design and Error Theory such as Just in Time indicators that point to the final step in a sequence of web tasks that have been defined in the interface.

21 Usability tests to perform should be based on Experts (Administrators) and Students/Other casual users (Novices). Suggest that budget and time constraints would mean a more qualitative approach taken. Define what we wish to improve. There are a lot of aspects to examine such as design related (use of colour, navigation, visibility of options), navigation, user experience. Suggest working out some scenario based tests for both administrators and end users. Use of Screen Recording software and audio record. Note/understand the constraints on how we can define websites and structure within the SITS interface. Heuristics are useful as an individual starting point as this can be done before the test participants are available.

22 Designing Web Usability Nielsen The Design of Everyday Things - Norman Interaction Design Beyond HCI Helen Sharp The Elements of the user experience Jesse James Garrett Don t make me Think Steve Krug