Friday, last homestretch of the conference.
Collaborative Usability Evaluations with IDEA Online
Rachel Smith
(Comment- this is a very cool, Carl Berger “cooooool”, resource. Sign up, submit designs, and join their evaluation group. The system itself is well designed)
Asked for hand raises of faculty, staff, who designs online content or learning objects. Then… asked for who had professional training in interface design (one hand raise).
Hence reason for the IDEA Online project – a web site resource for getting feedback on interface design from any submitted site. Currently has 60 members.
Started as paper based checklist… ended up being 60 pages! Seemed more efficient to move online.
Why Evaluate User Interface Design?
– discover design flaws easily
– improve usability
– important for education where focus is on learning content not the tool
Usability Inspection
– informal evaluation of interface design
Heuristic Evaluation
– based on guidelines
– ours is from Jakob Nielsen (1993)
– easy cheap and fast
— evaluator may find a few problems
— 5-10 may get 80-90%
How does IDEA Online work?
– any web site, even CD, paper materials, template for web page, database architecture as long as the material or even a picture of it can be submitted
– options to check type of evaulation (e.g. accessibility) and this used to assign evaluators
– evaluations done online by invitation and preview
– reports are made available to submitter
Community based- people who submit designs become evaluators
IDEA Online
http://idea.csusm.edu/
register online, create profile with demographics, checkbox for skills e.g. “accessibility, digital video, interface design”
View is “workspace”- lists designs submitted, designs to evaluate (assigned),
For designs submitted can see name or numerical random ID of evaluator (their choice to be public or not), status, report link, an option to delete project, and a deadline
Design to evaluate:
See info about project, link, intended audience, areas of concern, includes optional task scenario
Reviewer choice- review, review anonymously, decline
Now guarantees 2 reviews.
Evaluation Form- 12 steps- can be saved and returned to later.
– ratings 1 to 5, free response comment fields
Design Submission (5 steps)
title, URL, desired deadline, design stage, expected computer level of users, design contraints, task scenario
Report- See a summary, link to send anonymous question to evaluator, response added to a personal message center.
Not limited to California schools… Open to anyone to submit and evaluate, curerntly reviewers in Norway, other places far from California
(Comment- I will rave again… this is resource made worth coming to the conference for… the thiing you slugged through PowerPoint parades to get jazzed about)
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Virtual Instructional Designer (VID)
Christene MacDonald, Indiana State University
(Comment- free VID mouse pads, I need one)
24/7 instructional support system, open to anyone
http://thevid.org/
Create password, account online. Personal space. Dynamic what’s new areas, spotlights feature people who have used VID.
“My Features”
– Users can create notes attached to specific pages of the site.
– You can also bookmark specific sections.
– VID plans
Create different VID plans for different courses or projects.
Faculty Needs Survey- simple questionnaire that guides the resources VID provides you, builds customs set of links.
Jump Start-
Overall resource for online course quality, web design,
provides step by step guidelines, useful planning documents, examples
