Usability

    Many times in our lives we will have to learn how to do something new. We generally learn by following direction whether they be written, oral, face-to-face, or video. We can usually tell when the instructions are good, because we can finish our task without any trouble. This is similar to the way we can tell if a website is good after we've tried to use it. This is called usability. We want our instructions or websites to have high usability. In my case I will be testing the usability of a script for an instructional video that will be made soon.

    Usability is usually checked through usability tests or surveys, which ask a series of question about the material. It may seem obvious, but the question choice plays a very large part its ability to provide useful information about the subject. The questions should guide the user's feedback into something meaningful for the creator that can be used for improvement. I drew inspiration for my questions from this website that had some examples. The three main questions I chose for the usability test because they were the ones most fitting to my script wereI:

• What was your first impression after reading the script?
• Were you able to understand where the new pieces of the example were coming from? If not, which parts and why?
• What would you change about the script specifically?

   Normally it would be best to perform a usability test on my target audience of people that had the baseline knowledge necessary for understanding my script, however since we conducted the tests in class only some of the testers understood what was happening in my script. That being said, I was still able to gather some useful feedback for making my video.

    The test I conducted was on my script which outlined the basics of the fprintf function in MatLab, a programming language designed primarily for large calculations. It can be confusing for many of the engineers who take the class because they don't usually have any programming experience. I want be able to show my viewers how to use the function step-by-step, while pointing out its interesting features. The test was supposed to be able to show me how to do that more effectively.

    The script that was reviewed was mostly the final draft, aside from alterations that came from the usability test. It was reviewed by three classmates during class time. Two of the testers had taken MatLab; the other had heard of it but had no experience with it. The testers were first asked to look at a consent form to understand what was being asked of them, and then they were told to read through the script editing it as they read through it with comments. Next they were asked five questions: the three listed above, one asking for any recommendations for the video, and the last one was a confidence test. It asked the tester if they felt they could use the function along with some given information to create a desired result by referencing the script.

    The result I gathered were quite helpful. The tester that had no experience with MatLab said that he felt that the script seemed like a good set of instructions, but since he had no prior knowledge, he was still confused as to how everything worked. This was to be expected though, and had little impact on revising the script for the video. The first of the two testers that had used MatLab mentioned he had struggled some while in the class for MatLab and that was showing here. He said that to him reading MatLab instructions is always confusing, but felt that I had done it well enough that he could mostly follow them. He also said that video format will be much better for my instructions. His final comment was that I should provide a better introduction for the function, and be more specific about when someone would use it. The last tester also had experience with the program. He said that he found the script very easy to follow, but that again video would be much better for these kind of instructions.

   From the testers feedback, I have gathered three main things. The first is that video is going to be the best way to share my instructions, but I have to make sure that I show everything step-by-step because MatLab can be confusing. The second is that I have to provide a better explanation of what the function I am discussing can be used for so that people stay and finish the video. The last thing is that my script is a good baseline for making the video, though it will need minor alterations as previously mentioned.