ABSTRACT
Usability Evaluation Methods (UEM) are critical to both practitioners and researchers of the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community. UEMs are often used to evaluate interface usability, uncover functional problems and bring forth design defects. According to Olson and Moran, UEMs are likely to fall after needs assessment and before beta testing in the software life cycle [1]. UEMs are widespread and commonly used in evaluating interactive systems in industry setting more than in academic institutions.Administrative Portals (AP) used in institutions of higher education has gained very little attention, if any at all - in regards to usability testing. This paper however, will not examine why that is. It will rather focus on discussing a new method that was especially designed for evaluating APs of institutions of higher education. The method is called Functional-Driven Heuristic Evaluation (FDHE) as it expands the boundaries of the traditional usability heuristics to encompass a functional context by combining some of the concepts of a cognitive walkthrough. This paper will provide a quick summary and comparison of the traditional heuristic evaluation method and the cognitive walkthrough. Then explain the theoretical framework of the new FDHE and it benefits.Lastly, the paper will provide a synopsis of future work that is intended to put this new usability evaluation method into the test to validate its claimed benefits and confirm its efficacy.
- Olson, J., & Moran, T. P. (1995). Mapping the Method Muddle: Guidance in using methods for user interface design. Proceedings of a workshop on Human-computer interface design: success stories, emerging methods, and real-world context: success stories, emerging methods, and real-world context. Pages: 269--300. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Gray, W. D., & Salzman, M. C. (1998). Damaged Merchandise? A Review of Experiments that Compare Usability Evaluation Methods. Human-Computer Interaction 1998, Volume 13, Pages: 203--261. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Molich, R., & Nielson, J. (1990). Improving a Human-Computer Dialogue. Comminucation of the ACM, 33(3), Pages: 338--348. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Nielson, J., & Mack, R. L. (1994). Usability Inspection Methods. New York: Wiley. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Nielson, J., & Molich, R. (1990). Heuristic Evaluation of User Interfaces. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing. Pages: 249-- 256. New York, ACM Press. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Hornbaek, K., & Frøøkjær, E. (2004). Usability Inspection by Metaphors of Human Thinking Compared to Heuristic Evaluation. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 17(3). Pages: 357--374.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Spencer, R. (2000). The Streamlined Cognitive Walkthrough Method, Working Around Social Constraints Encountered in a Software Development Company. The Future is Here - CHI Letters. 2(1). Pages: 353--359. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Lewis, C. & Polson, P. (1990). Theory-based Design for Easily Learned Interfaces. Human-Computer Interaction. 5(2). Pages: 191--220.Google Scholar
- Lewis, C. & Polson, P., & Wharton, C. & Rieman, J. (1990). Testing a Walkthrough Methodology for Theory-based design of Walk-up-and-use Interfaces. Proceedings of CHI 1990, April 1-5. ACM, New York Press. Pages: 235--242. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Functional-driven heuristic evaluation of administrative portal systems used in institutions of higher education
Recommendations
Finding usability problems through heuristic evaluation
CHI '92: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsUsability specialists were better than non-specialists at performing heuristic evaluation, and “double experts” with specific expertise in the kind of interface being evaluated performed even better. Major usability problems have a higher probability ...
Heuristic Evaluation as a Complement to Usability Testing: A Case Study in Web Domain
ITNG '15: Proceedings of the 2015 12th International Conference on Information Technology - New GenerationsUsability testing is one of the most used methods to define the level of usability of a software product. However, there is always uncertainty to determine the best method that complements user testing in a depth usability assessment. Nowadays, the ...
Heuristic evaluation of a mentoring portal
TEEM'21: Ninth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality (TEEM'21)Usability evaluations are a fundamental factor in the quality of any web page and in the educational and teaching/learning sector it is essential to know what tools such as these offer in the usability of those evaluated. For this reason, several ...
Comments