I’ve been studying the book “Paper Prototyping” by Carolyn Snyder, and it has a really interesting chapter on Task Design for Usability Testing. The chapter lists 6 steps towards creating tasks that can help me learn more from the usability tests I conduct. For this blog post, I’m going to follow these tasks:
Task 1: List User Goals
I’ll take this information from the ethnographic research I conducted in DM7920 (where relevant).
- Access learning resources online [from anywhere e.g.: on-set] for revision/refresher purposes
- Have an active involvement in training (to hopefully remember the content)
Task 2: List Your Questions
- How can the app cater for students wanting the revise anywhere/anytime? The app enables asynchronous learning, but what else can be done?
- What accessibility barriers exist in the app currently? Can these be resolved?
- Do users expect the tests to play automatically? (Previous usability test indicates not).
- Is the hamburger menu system intuitive? Does the user navigate to it, guessing that they may find what they need? Or do they feel certain that that is the way?
- What settings do users need within the app?
Task 3: Prioritise your Questions
- Is the hamburger menu system intuitive? Does the user navigate to it, guessing that they may find what they need? Or do they feel certain that that is the way?
- How can the app cater for students wanting the revise anywhere/anytime? The app enables asynchronous learning, but what else can be done?
- What accessibility barriers exist in the app currently? Can these be resolved?
- What settings do users need within the app?
- Do users expect the tests to play automatically? (Previous usability test indicates not – will rank this lowest and include a setting in the app)
Task 4: Create a Task
Thoughts: I could combine the top two questions in the priority list, as the usability tester could be required to access the menu system several times. Below I have attached my plan.