Attendance and  rapt attention to all reports is expected!

Written Report:
This report is due at the start of class on December 8th.  It is to be word processed and handed in to the instructor along with ALL completed questionaires from the alpha and beta testing.  This assignment represents 10% of your course grade.

The written report is a detailed usability report that will refer directly to your original usability plan and will be based on both the formative (alpha) and summative (beta) tests that were conducted both in and out of class (you may also refer to the peer review evaluation, but this is not required).  Specific areas identified in the usability plan should be addressed in this report.and should contain exact reference to your questionaires, evaluations, and results while also refering directly to aspects of your site.  Generalities are not appropriate.  If you feel that it will enhance your report, you may want to print out pages from your site and make annotations or other indications as you feel necessary.

The report should include "the good, the bad and the ugly" - as well as the wonderful and beautiful!  It should contain precise and elaborate details of the actual usability studies. What did users find easy? difficult? Where were there problems in finding information? in navigating? in understanding the purpose of the overall site or of specific information?  What did users especially like? dislike? recommend? Following this, you will analyze and apply the data collected  from both studies (and, as you see fit, from the peer review).  The report should include both textual and graphic representations of all evaluations.

Comments made during formative review as well as the statistics that resulted from the questions should be presented.  In concluding your coverage of the formative evaluations, indicate what you did (or would do, given the time) to correct/modify your interface as a result of the observations; or explain and justify why you would not make these changes.

The results and your conclusions from the summative review will be shown and explained.  Summarize your results in several ways using various tabular and/or graphic representations.  Summarize and evaluate your results in verbal form as well.

Conclude your report by making recommendations, based on your research results, indicating any potential enhancements or future follow-on additions or modifications.

Oral Report given in class December 8th and December 15th:

The oral report is a very important assignment and is valued at 5% of the course grade. All reports should be 8 to 10 minutes in length and should be practiced using the actual site so that they are neither too long nor too short.  Reports should be well planned and rehearsed.  Due to time constraints, students will be asked to stop when 10 minutes have elapsed.

Begin by introducing your project with its goal, purpose and intended audience.  Then overview the contents of your site verbally while showing the introductory page.  Briefly explain your choice of metaphor, your navigational strategy, and other design choices.

Next show a representative sample of subordinate pages to which one navigates from the introductory page.  Explain the type and extent of external linkage, but do not access pages external to your site.

Go into the results of your usability tests - explain the main aspects of your site (layout, navigation and content) that you evaluated, and the overall results.  It would be appropriate to make Power Point slides or Excel spreadsheets to show the graphical results of your tests.  These can be linked from a "special page" you have added to your site, or with a separate diskette.  Summarize your results verbally to the class.  Conclude your report by making recommendations, based on your research results, indicating any potential enhancements or future follow-on additions or modifications.

It is expected that you will rehearse the report several times, to include the actual navigation within your site, prior to the presentation, as we are severely limited in the amount of available time.

Attendance and  rapt attention to all reports is expected!