PARTICIPATION ASSIGNMENTS

Class Participation (15%). A significant portion of your grade will come from class participation. This includes attendance, demonstrating evidence of having completed the readings, and actively participating in class discussions. If you are going to miss a class, please let me know in advance! If you do not participate in class discussions, you will not get an A in this class.

Quizzes (7%). There will be seven, unannounced short quizzes over the course of the semester. Each quiz will be given at the beginning of class. If you come late to class, you will miss the quiz. There will be no makeup quizzes. Each quiz will be worth 1%.

Portfolio of Usability Flaws (8%). Over the course of the semester, each student should contribute two entries to the class's usability portfolio. Each entry is worth 4%. This portfolio will be a collection of products or designs, in real life or online, that demonstrate interesting usability flaws. Each entry should include a description of the design or situation in question (including a picture or screen shot if possible) and answer the following questions: What is the intended purpose of this device? What is the problem with the design? What difficulties could this cause for the user? How would you fix this problem if you were to redesign the product? Each entry should be a separate post to the discussion board "Portfolio of Usability Flaws."

This portfolio is supposed to be a living, growing, shared creation of the class... this will not work if everyone waits until the last week of class and tries to find something unusable to write about at the last minute! I guarantee you that your life is full of unusable items... you won't need to go looking for them, they will come to you! Just keep an eye out, and when you find something unusable, post an entry here! It's that easy!. Note that I considered requiring at least one post by a certain date, but this is supposed to be a fun, spontaneous assignment over the course of the semester--and I refuse to ruin it by being overly prescriptive... So don't let me down!

Final Project Presentation (5%). During the last week of class, each group will present the results of their final project to the class. Each presentation will be about 15 minutes in length. To receive credit for your group's presentation, each individual team member must be present and take part in the presentation session.

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS (Required Format = HTML)

The writing assignments for this class are a combination of individual and group assignments.

• Assignment 1 is the only true individual writing assignment.
• Assignment 2 has three parts (a, b, and c), each of which is to be done individually but within the context of a group topic. By February 4, you must have formed into groups of four (plus or minus one) and chosen a topic (a type of web site such as travel, sports, etc.). Each group member will then analyze individually a different site of that type for each part of assignment 2. You will combine your individual assignments as a group for the next assignment.
• Assignment 3 is a group project that draws upon your individual experiences with assignment 2. As a group, you will choose one site that matches your group topic and then iteratively redesign portions of that site. How you approach the redesign of your site as a group is up to you. However, to receive credit for the assignment, you must send an email to me privately telling me 1) your contribution to the group's project; and 2) your feelings for how the group functioned while working on the assignment.

All assignments should be submitted as a URL linking to an HTML document on your web site. Please make sure your URLs active links... Every assignment (and every group) will have a separate discussion board... You will need to post your URL to the appropriate discussion board BEFORE CLASS on the due date to receive full credit for the assignment.

Assignment 3 will have a separate discussion board for each group. This assignment needs to be submitted by posting a URL linking to your group's redesign to the discussion board so that everyone in the class can observe the findings of other individuals and groups. The best way to learn usability testing is to discuss the usability evaluation process with others, sharing insights and problems.

Assignment 1: Thinking like a novice user... (10%). This is an individual assignment, due September 16. Although we will be discussing the mechanics of user testing later in the course, this is an opportunity for you to perform a very informal user test. It gives you a chance to get your feet wet. Don’t worry if you don’t know what you are doing quite yet--I’m confident you will observe interesting results.

Choose a web site which you use fairly often and know well. The actual site doesn't matter, as long as it consists of several pages so you can observe potential navigation problems. Find someone (a friend, roommate, etc.) who has never seen the site before (or is relatively unfamiliar with it). Ask this person to explore the site while you observe their activities. Try to figure out what they do, what they want to do, and how the two match up. Pay particular attention to what happens when things go wrong. Remember also to look for what they didn't do, but that you might have expected they would do. In general, what did they do that you found unexpected? What problems did they as a novice user encounter that would not have occurred to you as an expert user?

Document your findings and post them to the Assignment 1 discussion group. Your report should describe what your user did and your interpretation of how the interface helped or hindered the user in their activities from the perspective of the novice/expert user difference. Include embedded links to appropriate pages so that we can see the causes of the difficulties you observed. Be sure to include the name, URL, and intended purpose of the site you chose. For full credit, your report must not only say what happened and why, but must also address the novice/expert user problem and provide a thoughtful analysis that draws solid conclusions.

Assignment 2: Group Topic. Before beginning assignment 2, you must have formed into groups of four (plus or minus one) and chosen a topic--that is, a type of web site (e.g. Retail, Travel, Sports, Universities, Jewelers, Healthcare, etc.). Each group member will analyze a different specific site within that topic (e.g. for Travel: Travelocity, Expedia, AirTran, etc.) for each part of assignment 2. Each group member will complete assignments 2a, 2b, and 2c individually; assignment 3 will be done as a group. In this way, each group member will have analyzed three different example sites of the group's topic before beginning the final assignment as a group (providing a built-in competitive analysis of similar websites!). In the ideal case (which may not be possible for each topic), every group member will choose completely different sites from each other group member for all three parts of assignment 2; in this case, a group of 4 students would have 12 usability experiences to draw upon as they complete assignment 3!

I need to know what group you are in and your group's topic no later than September 23.

Assignment 2a: Heuristic Evaluation (10%). This is an individual assignment due September 30; each group member should choose an example site that matches their group's topic and perform a heuristic evaluation of that site. Use Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics (Nielsen & Mack, pg. 30) for your evaluation. Systematically evaluate different interface features of your site, checking to see which features violate any of Nielsen's heuristics. Your goal here is to produce a fairly specific list of recommendations that could improve the site, where each recommendation refers to an individual, specific flaw that in your opinion violates one of Nielsen's usability heuristics.

Your report should include:

• a description of the site being evaluated,
• a discussion of how you approached the site with respect to the usability heuristics,
• a detailed list of usability flaws you found for this site (along with the heuristics each flaw violates),
• and a statement of your overall findings and recommendations for design.

For full credit, your write-up must provide a thoughtful analysis that draws conclusions about the site that go beyond a simple list of problems cross-referenced with usability heuristics.

Assignment 2b: Cognitive Walkthrough (10%). This is an individual assignment due October 7; each group member should choose an example site that matches their group's topic (different from your choice in 2a) and perform a cognitive walkthrough of that site. Choose one feature/capability of your site that you would like to evaluate; this feature should include a certain level of detail/complexity (i.e. it should be a multi-step task). Once you have decided upon this feature, document the exact steps the user would need to take to complete a representative task successfully. Decide what kind (or kinds) of user you have in mind. Perform the cognitive walkthrough by taking each step at a time and considering the potential problems your typical user(s) would have at any given point by developing a credible story of success or failure. Stay on track during the walkthrough. Even if there is a major problem with one of the steps, assume that that step will be successfully completed and move on to the next one. Use the results of your walkthrough to determine design recommendations and other fixes.

Your report should include the following:

1) Introduction. The description and purpose of this site. What is this site for? How was this site intended to be used? Why did you choose this site for your analysis.

2) Inputs to the Walkthrough.

• The task you chose to analyze. Describe this task. Why did you choose this task? Is this task representative of the site as a whole?
• The typical user or users you had in mind as you performed the cognitive walkthrough. Describe these users? How did you choose these users? Are these typical users of the site? What were the benefits or drawbacks to the users you chose?
• The complete list of actions necessary to complete the task you chose. What is the "correct," step-by-step method of using this site to perform this task?
• The interface of the web site. What are the features of the interface? Is it primarily graphics or text? Is there a main menu? Lots of submenus? A search feature? Provide a clear description of the nature of the interface.

3) The Cognitive Walkthrough. For each step in the list of actions necessary to complete the task, describe at least one "believable" story/scenario of use that explains why your user might (or might not) choose that action. Be sure to identify whether this is a success or failure story. Defend your story by answering the following four questions. Remember that a believable success story must address each of these four questions; a failure story need fail for only one of the four questions.

• Will the users try to achieve the right affect? That is: Will they be trying to do the right thing?
• Will the users notice the correct action is available? That is: Will they notice the way to do it?
• Will the users associate the correct action with the effect trying to be achieved? That is: Will they understand that what they just noticed is in fact the way to do it?
• If the correct action is performed, will the users see that progress is being made? That is: Do they get appropriate feedback letting them know they have been successful?

4) Analysis/Summary of Findings/Conclusions. Discuss the results of your walkthrough. What problems did you find? Were these problems related in some way? How would you fix the problems you found? If you could only fix two or three things, what would they be? Include any final design recommendations you would make to the system designers based on the results of your walkthrough. For full credit, your write-up must provide a thoughtful analysis that draws solid conclusions based on your findings from the cognitive walkthrough.

Assignment 2c : User Test (10%). This is an individual assignment due October 21; each group member should choose an example site that matches their group's topic (different from your choices in 2a & 2b) and conduct a user test on that site. This is an actual user test using an actual user of your site. Choose one of the formal methods of user testing described in class. Make certain that your tasks are clearly identified ahead of time and that you are very familiar with the site being evaluated. Post the results of your user test to your group's discussion board.

Your writeup should include:

• a description of the site being tested,
• the characteristics of your user(s),
• a description of the tasks you assigned to your user(s) with a discussion that explains why you chose those tasks,
• a discussion of the method you used during the test,
• an analysis of what happened during the completion of each task, and
• a summary section where you make specific design recommendations for improving this interface based on the results of your user test.

For full credit, your write-up must provide a thoughtful analysis that draws solid conclusions based on your findings from the user test.

Assignment 3: Iterative Design Project (25%). Using the results of assignments 2a, 2b, and 2c, gather your collected insights and design recommendations as a group and begin the process of improving the interface to ONE of your group's sites. This is a group project to be continually revised throughout the last six weeks of the course.

This is the final project of the class and should clearly demonstrate the things you have learned throughout the class. Begin your report with a discussion of the site you are planning to redesign: what's wrong with it, why, and how you are going to fix it. Obviously you will not be able to fix everything wrong with your chosen site! So be sure to identify the most important things to fix and explain why you chose those things. You can do this by page, by feature, whatever makes the most sense for your site. For each thing you decide to change, you need to show me your redesign and explain why you think your redesign will solve the problem.

Note that you do NOT have to create a working version of the interface, just a prototype design. You can use any type of design program to develop this prototype (e.g. HTML editors, Photoshop, Visual Basic)--just be certain you have something visual to show and say "this is what our interface looks like."

Work together to redesign your interface--each time you make a change, be sure to explain why you made that change and what problem you think it will solve. Your writeup will include a series of design changes and rationales, accompanied by illustrations. By reading your report, it should be possible to follow the iterative redesign of your site from start to finish. Your report should include evidence that you have understood and can apply the concepts of the course, and that you can discuss their effectiveness in the design process. How and why the design changed over time is just as important as what your final version looks like.

You will naturally go through a variety of different ideas as you do your redesign. Feel free to show me as many "early" designs, crazy ideas, whatever as you want. I want to see your design process so that I can understand your final redesign better. The more you show me about your design process, the better I understand what you've learned from the class.

Write your report as one continuous narrative. By reading the final version, I should be able to understand step by step how you started with the original site and proceeded through your redesign, including why you made the changes you made! One way of handling the report would be to organize it into the following sections:

• Introduction. Discuss your site in both general and specific terms. Drawing upon the results of assignment 2, explain 1) the overall problems with this type of site and 2) the specific problems you found with the site you have chosen to redesign.
• Usability Problems. Explain which problems you will be addressing in your redesign and why you chose those problems in particular. You do not need to go into great detail here.
• Iterative Redesign/Design Rationale. For each problem you address, include a series of design changes and rationales, accompanied by illustrations. Your rationale should explain why you feel the changes you have made will solve that particular problem. As you develop more ideas and receive coments from the class, you will iteratively expand your design rationale. Obviously, it is this section which will comprise the largest portion of your report.

Your initial pass at redesigning this interface should be posted no later than November 4. Successive iterations of your design should be posted over the next four weeks. At a minimum, you need to have two iterations by November 18, and three iterations by December 2. It is not a good idea, however, to think about this project in terms of three discrete iterations. You will have a far superior end product, with many more than three iterations, if you simply keep working on your design, trying out new ideas and writing up your design rationales over the course of the project.

Finally, each group is required to comment on the designs and rationale of the other groups throughout the process. This will ensure that each group has constant feedback from other class members as their design process evolves. This will be done using the discussion boards.

Remember: You will be required to do a short (15 minute) presentation of your project to the class during the final week (which counts for an additional 5% of your grade).