A Professional Learning Experience

Course Usability and Feedforward

Guiding Questions

How are your stakeholders/peers able to navigate the Introduction/Overview/Start Here section of your course? How are they able to navigate to and engage in a short activity from the first module?

Within the Google Form that I shared with them, I provided a link to the Google Classroom for them to join as students.  The topics on the Classwork page of the Google Classroom are clearly named with the material and resources each provides. I also ensured they found the activity I wished them to complete by also providing a direct link to the assignment on Google Classroom within the detailed instructions.

How long will your usability test last?

The usability test should have taken about 20 – 25 minutes.

What are the criteria for the activity that you want your testers to do?

I picked the activity in the first Module to serve as a preview of the learning that my course would be expected to give my participants.  It was a pre-assessment of the topic.  The responses to the quiz were positive and completed my intended.

How will your testers report back (i.e. screen capture tools like Screencast-O-Matic, Camtasia, etc., or direct observation or response)?

The participants will share their responses on the Google Form I gave them.  I was also able to speak with a couple of my participants and answer their questions.  I also got some feedback through an email, along with the Google Form.  My fourth stakeholder gave me some feedback through social media via a direct message.  

Whom are you planning to participate in the usability testing? What are your alternate plans?

I had inquired with some of my colleagues at the beginning of the summer holiday about helping me in my course design and development.  I did not have specific people in mind due to the timing of the assignment. I made a post on social media asking my colleagues that were willing to help reach out to me by text, email, or DM.  In the end, I had a teacher, instructional coach, C&I specialist, and an administrator look through my course and submit a form.

Reflect on who you were able to have conducted the usability testing? Were you able to get the right people? Why or why not? What can you do to better improve this in the future?

When I was deciding who to reach out to for feedback on my online course, I decided to utilize social media due to it being summertime. I was able to get three of my colleagues in various roles to join my Google Classroom and look through the course.  I provided a Google Form as a means for documentation of their feedforward and comments.  One of the stakeholders that assisted me is one of my district C & I specialists. She is about a year from experiencing brain cancer.  She had several operations and has had to relearn a lot for her job.  It was invaluable to get her perspective on my course.  She needed a little bit further clarification than my other two stakeholders.  It was good that she did, as we were able to discuss how she was “seeing” the content. I will definitely go to her in future for her unique view of learning material.  Another one of my stakeholders that provided feedback on the usability of my course was a SpEd Coordinator.  It was great to get his comments and concerns from an accessibility perspective.  

I think it is imperative if I am developing a PL that I do so before the summer break.  It is difficult to get assistance during that time as most teachers, specialists and even administration are not as readily available. I also know that I will not be developing and designing a learning experience alone.  I work within a community that encourages collaboration.  I am grateful for the support of my peers in the ADL program as collaborators in this course (and all the other courses as well).

What impact did your platform (LMS, Google Docs, or other digital sharing) have on the testing and results?

The platform I used served as an asset in the testing and sharing of results.  My school community relies heavily on Google G-Suite. I encountered no issues or concerns using Google Classroom and other Google resources in the design and delivery of my course.  

What were the lessons you learned from the usability testing feedback?

I learned that I need to make a more detailed schedule of the PL.  Expectations of meeting requirements with mentorships and PLC was not defined clearly.  It was also suggested that I add some instructions to the Stream page of Google Classroom. 

What have you done to your design to address the usability issues revealed in the testing? What have you added or taken away?

I have added a post to the stream with instructions on how to navigate the Classwork provided for the course.  This is also where I shared a tracking document with more clearly defined expectations for meeting suggestions.  

How has the testing impacted your alignment of outcomes, activities, and assessment?

The biggest impact is to the activities and making the expectations for those collaboration sessions.  I also will look at the assessment opportunities and make sure they align to the collaborative sessions. Educators are great at mutually collaborating and are always reflecting on their practices.  I feel the opportunities I provide will be utilized more than I even recommend.

How will you address the infrastructure, system, and support needs and issues the learner may face?

I am fortunate to have access to help with technology on campus.  I will make sure that I have established a line of communication with our IT support and campus instructional technology specialist.  Also, I did provide a direct link for my learners in Google Classroom to the district help desk.

You will find my Google Form results shared in the PDF below.