Working Title: SciTech Girls

Report Author: Debbie DeRoma

Date: 12/3/09

 

Brief Profile of Users:

Three users were selected for the test. One of the users was an educator who works with the SciTech program. The second user was a member of the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center education staff who is familiar with the program, but does not work directly with students. The third user was a community member with very limited knowledge of the program.

 

Think Aloud Task:

Each of the users was asked to locate information to answer the following five questions:

1.    Where can you find a lesson plan for a solar car activity?

2.    What topics will the students will be working on in the month of May.

3.    Where can you find the location of Kimbrough Elementary School?

4.    Where can you find information about volunteer opportunities?

5.    What qualifications do our educators have?

 

Summary of Think Aloud:

All of the test users quickly located information about the SciTech educators, the school locations, and the volunteer opportunities. Questions one and two proved the most difficult. When asked to locate the solar car lesson plan, two people went to the ÒProjectsÓ page rather than the ÒResourcesÓ page. One user said she would expect to find links to other websites under resources, not lesson plans. The third user went directly to the ÒResourcesÓ page because, to him, ÒresourcesÓ implied materials that are available to outside users.

 

One of the users also had difficulty finding the topics that the girls would be studying in the month of May. She first looked for the information on the ÒAbout UsÓ page before finding the schedules on the ÒProjectsÓ page. The other two users quickly found the schedules – although one person said the title of the ÒProjectsÓ tab was confusing.

 

Summary of Post-test Interview:

Two of the test users suggested changing the name of the ÒProjectsÓ page. The third user really liked the ÒProjectsÓ title. One user thought that the names of the schools in the ÒAbout UsÓ page should link to the schoolsÕ websites. This user also thought that the educatorsÕ bios on the ÒOur StaffÓ page should include information about who is teaching the classes at the various schools. The third user recommended adding drop-down menus to the tabs at the tops of the pages. He also suggested adding anchor links to the ÒAbout UsÓ sections since this page is a bit lengthy.

 

Findings to be Implemented:

á      Create links from the school names on the ÒAbout UsÓ page to the schoolsÕ websites.

á      Create anchor links to the different sections of the ÒAbout UsÓ page.

á      Add information about which educators are teaching at which schools.

á      Change the name of the ÒProjectsÓ page (but only after testing with some additional users).

 

Findings that will not be Implemented:

á      Add drop-down menus. (This will make the site look too Òbusy.)

á      Flip the locations of the ÒScience LinksÓ and ÒOur SchoolsÓ sections on the sidebar.