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Wolverine Access: Faculty Center School of Information | University of Michigan Tiffany Chao, Saurabh Koparkar, Jane Loegel & Megan Morrissey 18 April 2008
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 2 Presentation Outline Product Overview – User Population Methods – Persona and Scenario Findings and Evidence Recommendations
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 3 Product Overview Faculty Center functions as an online University course management system for faculty and graduate student instructors (GSIs) to conduct administrative duties Currently known as ‘Teaching Support’ Some new features are: – Class Search, Faculty Search, Browse Catalog – Also offers more customization capabilities, improved interface, and visual icons
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 4 User Population Faculty Center serves both faculty and GSIs – Faculty (full-time/part-time): 5,542 – Graduate Student Instructors: 2,234 Our target population was very specific and therefore the pool of available and willing participants was limited
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 5 Methods Generalized Transition Network Personas and scenarios Comparative Analysis – 2 indirect competitors Heuristics Evaluation – 4 evaluators; 10 heuristic components Online Survey – 50 respondents Usability Testing – 3 GSIs, 2 faculty: 5 tasks Vocabulary Analysis – Metaphor analysis, object/action analysis, & general vocabulary analysis Preparing for the Usability Test
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 6 Persona & Scenario Charles Shein, Assistant Professor – Comparative Literature, English Department Single, enjoys old war movies Uses Dell PC laptop computer to type assignments and check email
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 7 Scenario Time: Beginning of the semester Professor Shein wants to download class and photo roster for the two classes he is teaching Needs to print off both rosters to bring to class Logs onto University wireless network with his laptop
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 8 Summary of Findings Successes – System provides useful functions – Improved interface compared with predecessor Areas of Improvement – Finding 1: Inconsistency in terminology throughout system – Finding 2: The meaning of visual icon functions were inconsistent – Finding 3: The interface contained layout and color issues
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 9 Finding 1- Inconsistency in Terminology Inconsistency in function of terms used – Learning Management tab and the Learning Management icon – The two have the same name but represent two separate functions which causes confusion for users LM tab - takes user to external resources LM icon - takes user to CTools Evidence: – Heuristics Evaluation of the Faculty Center System (violation of ‘consistency and standard’ heuristic)
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 10 Finding 1- (contd.) Confusing vocabulary Evidence: – Usability Testing: user responses to task Class Search – a search function for finding courses Browse Catalog – a course catalog indexed alphabetically Both tabs essentially perform the same function
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 11 Finding 2- Inconsistency in Visual Representation of Features Icon does not convey function – 'download class roster' icon Evidence (Usability Test): – Substantial amount of time required to find the icon – A tester’s comments - "This is ridiculous!” – The icon was identified only after the icon tool tip was encountered
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 12 Finding 2- (contd.) Lack of consistency among icons – Same icon is used for two different reasons: 1) to show that a class has a waitlist 2) to show that an error has occurred Evidence: – Heuristic Evaluation of the Faculty Center System (violation of ‘consistency and standard’ heuristic)
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 13 Finding 3- Aesthetic Value Usability is compromised by poor visibility – Teaching Schedule and Exam Schedule tables difficult to distinguish based on same color scheme. Evidence: "I wouldn't have known that was the exam schedule, it looks exactly like the class schedule." - A user from the Usability Test
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 14 Summary of Recommendations Recommendation 1 – Establish a visible ‘Help’ feature Recommendation 2 – Enforce visual and vocabulary consistency across the system Recommendation 3 – Improve the visibility of icons and color differentiation of features
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 15 Recommendation 1 Establish a visible ‘Help’ feature for users Short-term goals – Visual ‘Help’ icon or link – Create a Glossary with explanations of features ‘Learning Management’ Differentiation between function of ‘Browse Catalog’ and ‘Class Search’ Long-term goal – Creation of a tutorial or information session for new instructors
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 16 Recommendation 1- (contd.) Current System Faculty Center
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 17 Recommendation 2 Function of icon should be effectively conveyed: 1) Include the 'download' icon in the icon legend 2) Use the typical University email attachment download icon; this would achieve consistency Download Roster
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 18 Recommendation 2 - (contd.) Enforce consistency among icons: 1) Use unique icons for different functions 2) Use standard error message icon for consistency
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 19 Recommendation 3 Use a different color scheme to differentiate between Exam Schedule & Class Schedule Make icons larger and more brightly colored to increase visibility and transparency
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SI 622: Wolverine Access- Faculty Center Slide 20 Conclusion Overall, an improved user interface compared to Teaching Support Some usability issues such as inconsistent visual representations, aesthetics and terminology exist Short term recommendations: – Improve the terminology inconsistencies – Change the color scheme to help differentiate the features Long term recommendations: – Modify the visual icons – Implement ‘Help’ feature
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Thank You! Questions?
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