the Human Factors blog

Date

Topic

Readings

01/12/06

Introduction to course

• Syllabus review

01/19/06

What is usability?

• How do you measure usability
• Why is usability important?
• The Usability Lifecycle

UIED: 1-24

UE: Ch. 1, 2 & 4

Ellis, Jankowski, & Jasper (1998)

01/26/06

Understanding users

• Capabilities/limitations of users
• Who are your users?
• Personas as a usability tool

UIED: 37-51

UE: 71-113

Pirolli (1999)

Ehrlich (1996)

5 Things to Know About Users.pdf

Perfecting Your Personas.pdf

Three Important Benefits of Personas.pdf

02/02/06

Understanding tasks/Requirements

• Task analysis
• Gathering requirements

Luczak: 340-376

02/09/06

Interaction styles

• The various ways in which users can interact with a system
• Which is most appropriate?

UIED: 205-220

UE: Ch. 3

02/16/06

Heuristic evaluation/ Cognitive walkthrough

UIED: 57-87

UE: Ch. 5

How to conduct a heuristic evaluation

Severity ratings in heuristic evaluation

02/23/06

Surveys & Questionnaires

UE: Ch. 7

Rousseau, et al.

03/02/06

Other usability methods

UIED: 29-36

Card sorting a definitive guide.pdf

EZsort.pdf

Reviewing website usability.pdf

03/09/06

Rapid prototyping techniques

• Paper prototyping
• Rapid application development

Paper Prototypes_ Still Our Favorite.pdf

03/16/06

Planning/Preparing for a usability study 1

UIED: 423-474;

UE: Ch. 6

“Six steps to ensure…”

Datalogger whitepaper

http://www.userfocus.co.uk/resources/datalogger.html

“Seven common usability testing…”

03/23/06

SPRING BREAK

03/30/06

Planning/Preparing for a usability study 2

UIED: 475-504

04/06/06

Analyzing data: tools and techniques

UIED:

04/13/06

Cost-justifying usability

• Is it worth it?
• How do you know?

Usability return on investment (Nielsen & Gilutz)

04/20/06

NO CLASS

Work on usability report

04/27/06

Communication of results

• Presenting your usability results to your boss

UIED: 419

How to Deliver a Report Without Getting Lynched.pdf