Both the heuristic evaluation and the cognitive walkthrough depend on you knowing the users and the context of use. Use the results from your previous report. You may choose to focus on one segment of your users.
It is important that group members individually perform the heuristic evaluation before discussing the usability of the application as a group. Use the guidelines in Table 2.2 of the handout. We will go over the heuristic evaluation and this table in class.
Once your group has individually evaluated the application, discuss your individual findings and consolidate them in a guideline-by-guideline summary. With discussion, your group may decide to omit or alter items from the individual reports. Depending on your evaluation, each guideline should have a finding ranging from a couple of sentences to a couple of paragraphs.
Perform a cognitive walkthrough using an appropriately chosen task for your application. We will cover the cognitive walkthrough in class. Instead of using the four questions suggested by Lewis and Reiman, use the two questions suggested by Rick Spencer. Otherwise, follow the instructions in the Lewis and Rieman online text. While it is important to keep your information short and concise, make sure you answer and document Spencer's two questions for each user action. Good, thoughtful answers discuss the user's knowledge and relate it to the interface and the needed action. Simply responding "yes" or "no" is not adequate!
Based on your evaluations, your group should prepare a list of at least three possible recommendations for changing the interface. In some cases, for applications producing a good evaluation, you may decide against any recommendations. In these cases, you should still discuss possible changes and why your group decided against them. Order your list from most important to least important.
For submitting your assignment, submit either a hard copy or the URL of your group's HTML-formatted report. If you choose to create an HTML-formatted report, make sure that the report is on only one Web page. That is, avoid frames and links to additional sections of your report, although links to the notes from the individual evaluations is fine. The report should include the following:
Generally, any project that closely adheres to the above instructions will receive at least 16 (out of 20) points. Projects that are thoughtful, well-edited, systematic and concise will generally receive 18 or 19 points. A truly outstanding report will receive 20 points. Note that a long report is not necessarily a good report!
I will use this grading sheet to help me review the project.