Completed for English 515, Advanced Professional Writing: Usability, Spring 2006
By H. Allen Brizee
Ph.D. Student in Rhetoric and Composition
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
Email: hbrizee@purdue.edu

Return to Academia Page on Allen's Web Site

Table of Contents

Introduction

Background

Second Generation Test

OWL Prototype

Expected Results

Conclusion

Works Cited

Appendix A: OWL Usability Report

Appendix B: Second Generation Test Material

Purdue OWL

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Contact Information:
H. Allen Brizee
Heavilon 209
Department of English
Purdue University
500 Oval Drive
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2038

Introduction

This report outlines the background of the usability tests conducted on the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) to date, the recommendations stemming from these usability tests, and the requirements, materials, schedule, and criteria for the second generation of tests to be completed during the summer of 2006. At this point, the Purdue IRB has approved the second generation test, all test materials are complete, and key personnel have organized a test schedule. We plan to post flyers to assemble participants within the next two weeks. We expect to begin testing in early May, transcribe and correlate the data no more than two weeks following testing, and complete the second-generation usability test report no later than the middle of June.

To summarize, pilot usability tests conducted in February 2006 revealed potential limitations in the redesigned OWL navigation features, information architecture, and text-graphic interaction. A full usability test (see Appendix A) conducted in late February/early March 2006 showed that participants prefer design features the new OWL does not offer. In addition, the test showed that it took participants an alarming amount of time to complete tasks—some tasks could not even be complete. Further, the test showed that the number of mouse clicks participants were forced to use to complete tasks was very high. Finally, the test showed that the majority of participants found the new OWL difficult to use. The majority of participants felt lost and confused when using the new OWL. The importance of these results cannot be underestimated.

Based on the data from the pilot test and the full usability test, our team developed recommendations to help reduce the amount of time it takes users to access and use writing material they need on the redesigned Purdue OWL. Our recommendations also work toward reducing the number of mouse clicks needed to complete tasks on the OWL. The list below outlines our solutions:

1. Design links and pages around the types of visitors accessing the OWL (user-based links)
2. Move the navigation bar from the right side to the left side of the OWL pages
3. Add a search function
4. Incorporate logos in the OWL Family of Sites homepage
5. Conduct a second-generation test to measure the effectiveness of the solutions.

This report includes the OWL prototype we built based on the data-driven recommendations from the first generation test. This report also details the requirements, schedule, and criteria for the second generation test. The next section outlines the background of this project and the work completed to date. > Background.