Usability Testing of the Indiana University Education Faculty Web Forms.

The usability test team examined design problems that limit the ability of instructors at the Indiana University to use data entry forms on the School of Education Web site. The forms permit instructors to publish information about themselves and about courses they teach on the School of Education Web site. Faculty and graduate student instructors were asked to perform typical tasks with the Web forms under observation. Participants were asked to describe what they were thinking and feeling as they attempted to perform the task. From these observations, several key design problems were identified that prevented or frustrated the participants. Solutions are recommended to eliminate these problems. The paper concludes that the designers of this Web site should address the following problems in future versions of the site. First, the recommended procedure for adding an HTML-formatted syllabus to the School of Education Web site fails to produce satisfactory results. Designers should find tools that produce reliable results, or eliminate this option. The School of Education may need to make organizational changes such as employing specialists to assist instructors in preparing electronic versions if this feature is desired. Second, the Personal Information page causes problems for uses due to its length and complexity. At a minimum, the form should be separated into two pages, one for required information and one for optional information. In addition, the designers should make sure that all multi-line text fields handle carriage returns properly. Third, the designers should add navigational elements to the Web forms that provide users with indications of what steps they have completed and what steps they still need to complete. (Author/AEF)