Website Usability Test
For The Center of Communication Practice (CCP) at RPI
Project Manager & Researcher
This page describes a test plan for conducting a usability test for the website of Center for Communication Practice. The goals of usability testing include validating user performance measures and identifying potential design concerns and deficiencies to be addressed in order to improve the site’s efficiency and user satisfaction.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The Center for Communication Practices (CCP) is a useful tool for many RPI students. It exists to serve those who need assistance with any form of communication- project presentations, essays, etc. It is a valuable resource that all RPI students could afford to utilize a little more. That being said, therein lies the problem: just how easy is it to get in touch with the people at the CCP? The answer is, “Not so easy.”
The usability of the website if CCP has been thrown into question. While it is useful in scheduling the appointments, there are no clear indications of what purpose each section of the interface has. In fact, even scheduling can be a bit of a hassle for the average user. And that is something that will be addressed in the following parts.
GOALS
- Identifying potential design concerns to be addressed in order to improve the efficiency and user satisfaction
- Identifying the completion rate of the system
- Identifying potential deficiencies
PLANS OF ACTION
Roles
The roles involved in a usability test are as follows. An individual plays multiple roles and the test may not require all roles.
Facilitator
Provides an overview of the study to participants
Defines usability purpose of usability testing to participants
Responds to participant’s requests for assistance
Data Logger
Records participant’s actions, comments, and other data.
Identifies problems, concerns, and procedural errors.
Test Observers
Silently observe participants and the system.
Take notes while observing
Assist the data logger
Test Assistants
Provide an overview of the study to participants
Define usability and purpose of usability testing to participants
Assist in the conduct of participant and observer
Research Questions
How do users usually interact with the CCP?
What expectations do users have based on past experience?
What questions do the users want to know the answers to in order to commit to proceeding?
What features do users want to be implemented into the system?
What elements can we introduce which would provide a more persuasive experience for users?
Evaluation
Participants’ actions would be evaluated through:
Did the participant successfully complete the single task?
Did the participant successfully complete all the tasks?
Did the participant need guidance to complete the task?
How many mistakes did the participant make before completing the tasks?
How much time did the participant use to complete the task?
Usability Test Procedures
Ask the pretest questions
Do you know the CCP?
Have you used the website to schedule an appointment?
If so, what were your experience?
Give participants certain tasks to complete
Register for an account
Log in to CCP
Update the Profile
Choose the date
Limit the searching result
Make, modify and cancel an appointment
Attach a file to an appointment
Change the password
Log out
Start an online meeting
Observe and Record the participant’s actions
Have the participant speak his/her thoughts out loud and record them
Ask the participant for feedback about the test
CHECK THE FULL TEST PLAN HERE
TEST RESULT
We went through the test with 5 different users and get these results:
During the Pre-Test, only two users know what CCP is and none of them has any experience with CCP. This shows that compare to other communication services at RPI like ALAC and CCPD, CCP needs more activities or advertisements to be known.
When interacting with the website, most users did well in most quests, but they have some trouble when we ask them to update profiles, make an appointment and attach files. As these are some key features for a communication service, these parts definitely need some updates.
For the post-test, users were questioned about a few topics includes eye movements, ease of navigation, and expectations to CCP.
You can view the full record of the test here.
CONCLUSION and OUTCOME
Based on the test results, we brought out several conclusions to make CCP better:
Add a legend and set of instructions for the appointment scheduler
Add a contact tab on the website
Use Facebook instead of Twitter since most RPI students use Facebook more often
Advertise better on campus by hosting more activities and post more emails and posters
Change the name into a more attractive one
Now CCP changes its name into Center for Global Communication+Design with a new designed website. With its special language and culture supports like Chinese mentor program, more and more students and staffs at RPI knows and interact with it.