ITECH3001 Evaluating a System

You will select one of the websites provided (the list is available on Moodle). You must notify your tutor which website you have selected as each website can be evaluated by only one person. The assignment involves conducting a usability test on that website, interpreting the results and writing recommendations in the form of a report on any changes needed. A copy of your report will be ready to be submitted to the charity.

Each of the charities listed have requested a usability evaluation of their website. The written component of the assignment should contain the following:

A discussion, based on the literature, of the different approaches for assessing or testing usability with more detail on the use of usability testing for evaluating systems or websites.

A brief description of the website selected for the usability evaluation. This should include the purpose of the website, the audience and the objectives of the organisation with respect to their website as determined by the charity.

For the usability test you must:

Describe how the usability testing was conducted, and rationale for the approach. You may use the usability instrument provided on Moodle or a modified version (but improved version). The description should include a justification of the number of

users, selection of users, the instrument you used for your test (that is the questions), the task you set the users, the scenario etc.

A critical discussion of the method (good or useful aspects, difficult or poor aspects).

A page summarizing your recommendations for changes to the website with supporting evidence. Think about what you think key personnel in the charity will want to know about how well their website is performing.

It should be noted that this is not an exclusive list but suggestions of how you might approach the assignment. Presentation to the charity
You are required to do a presentation for the charity. This is an assessable component of your assignment. Your presentation will be a summary version of the full assignment and should contain recommendations regarding changes to the website. The presentation will not contain all the information you have in your written assignment. Consider carefully what you think the charity will want to know that will be useful to them. It would be helpful if you imagine you are reporting your evaluation results to your boss who has only about 10 minutes for you, and your career or promotion depends on your success on this reporting. Start with key points (must haves), followed by blurbs (additional info) and then with elaborations on each of the key points (nice to have).