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Do-It-Yourself Usability Testing for eLearning

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Maria Ginsbourg
Maria Ginsbourg

Are learners getting lost while navigating your online course or LMS? Learn how to test and spot the most common usability issues in eLearning.

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Do-It-Yourself Usability Testing for eLearning Maria Ginsbourg Instructional Designer Maria.Ginsbourg@Gmail.com
Agenda Definitions Examples Usability Testing Overview User Testing Heuristic Evaluation
¡°Making sure that something works well: that a person of average (or even below average) ability and and experience can use the thing ? for it¡¯s intended purpose without getting hopelessly frustrated.¡± Steve Krug, author of Don¡¯t Make Me Think What does usability mean?
What does usability issue mean? An aspect of the system which makes it difficult for the user to achieve their goals.
Examples of usability issues in online courses and Learning Management Systems
Inconsistent navigation Submit Quiz Are you sure you want to submit the quiz? . Cancel Submit Submit Quiz Are you sure you want to submit the quiz? Submit Cancel People are on auto-pilot; they will click the button to the right without reading what it says. Designing navigation that follows conventions and best practices reduces extraneous processing, so learners can focus on what matters most: mastering the subject matter.
Ignoring visual standards/conventions This feedback slide contains checkmarks, Xs, and arrows. The arrows do not provide additional information.
System oriented language (not English) These two tabs seem to be saying the same thing. What does ¡®Commons¡¯ mean?
Ambiguous Icons Is that a back button? Can I click on the compass? When the meaning of an icon is ambiguous, the learner can get distracted, confused and disoriented. Add text labels to improve clarity.
Complex To reduce cognitive overload, eliminate redundancy. Each additional link depletes users¡¯ attention because it competes with all others. See: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/duplicate-links/
Usability Testing Overview
Comparison of methods Legend 5 = very useful 4 = somewhat useful Heuristic evaluation and user testing are the most popular and useful usability methods, according to one study. See: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/technology-transfer-of- heuristic-evaluation/
2-5 evaluators separately review the course/LMS and judge against best practices. Heuristic Evaluation User- Testing An evaluator observes 3-5 people use the course/LMS and note what people say, do and facial expressions.
Best practices for usability testing ? Start earlier than you are comfortable ? Get 3-5 test users/evaluators ? Test, tweak, test (it¡¯s an iterative process)
Benefits: ROI Graph shows return on investment for usability testing for web projects. See: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-roi-declining-but-still- strong/
User Testing A test facilitator sits with a user and observes the user complete tasks.
What¡¯s the process? Write tasks Recruit participants Conduct testPrioritize Tweak
Plan it Download PDF: https://www.userfocus.co.uk/pdf/usabilitydashboard.pdf
How to write a task? Task Goal: Look up grades. Poor task (do not provide step-by-step instructions) You want to see the results of your midterm exam. 1. Go to the websiteS 2. Sign in 3. Tell me where you would click to get your grade. Better task (do provide a specific goal) Look up the results of your midterm exams. View a list of tasks for testing an online course & an LMS https://christytucker.wordpress.com/2008/02/06/lms-usability-testing/
Who do you test with? Time Representative Users Internal Staff (different division) Budget Friends, family neighbors Internal staff (Your division) Actual Users Actual and representative users can help you check if the industry jargon makes sense, if the learning activities are useful and contextually- relevant. Internal staff can help you find obvious usability issues.
Test day: ¡°Everything that can go wrong will.¡± Murphy's Law Usability testing is the one day where you want everything that can go wrong, to go wrong. It¡¯s better that usability issues occur during testing, than with actual learners.
Observing users Body ? Fidgeting ? Rubbing head/eyes/neck ? Leaning in Eyes ? Skimming ? Squinting ? Looking around page, confused Hand ? Hovering to see if element is interactive ? Hesitating before clicking ? Clicking randomly ? Struggling with scrolling or dragging
What should we fix first? Users can¡¯t do task Users are annoyed Affect few Affect Many ¡°Focus ruthlessly on only the most serious problems.¡± ~Steve Krug, Rocket Surgery Made Easy
How should we fix things? ¡°Tweak, don¡¯t redesign¡± ¡°When fixing problems, try to do the least you can do.¡± ~Steve Krug, Rocket Surgery Made Easy
2-5 evaluators separately review the course/LMS against best practices. Then evaluators meet and discuss findings. Heuristic Evaluation
Nielsen¡¯s Heuristics https://chatbotsmagazine.com/usability-heuristics-for-bots-7075132d2c92
Heuristic Evaluation Form ºÝºÝߣ # Screenshot Heuristic Notes 2.1 1, 5 Buttons need hover and visited states.
1. Visibility of system status Your Essay is Approved! Grade Good example Learner: I know what¡¯s going on.
2. Match between system and the real world Learner: I don¡¯t understand these terms. Poor example
3. User control and freedom Locked course navigation Learner: I can¡¯t access the info I need, when I need it for my job! https://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/heres-why-unlocking-your-course-navigation-will-create-better-learning/
4. Consistency and standards Submit Quiz Are you sure you want to submit the quiz? . Cancel Submit Submit Quiz Are you sure you want to submit the quiz? Submit Cancel Poor example Learner: I meant to click submit. Why did I hit cancel?
5. Error Prevention Learner: Did I already visit this one? I can¡¯t tell. Poor example
6. Recognition rather than recall Good example Learner: This helps me remember.
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use Good example Novice user: That was easy! Advanced user: That was fast!
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design Poor example Novice: It¡¯s overwhelming. I¡¯m lost and confused.
9. Help users with errors Submit Quiz Are you sure you want to submit the quiz? You didn¡¯t answer question #7. Go BackSubmit Good example Learner: Phew! What a relief!
10. Help and documentation Good example Learner: Cool, I get it!
www.linkedin.com/mariaginsbourg Maria.Ginsbourg@Gmail.com
Great Resources ? https://www.nngroup.com/ ? https://usability.gov

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