Platform Development

Lesson: Simplified directions improve understanding.

Challenge: Students had difficulty reading and following directions to adjust the computer screen. The original directions were lengthy, and the format of the directions was complex. Many students either skipped the directions or took longer than two minutes to complete the task.

Solution: The format was redesigned to present one instruction at a time, and a recorded voiceover of the instructions was added. Designers also included a prompt to click a “Completed” checkbox, ensuring that students viewed the page before moving forward. Students took on average 63 seconds to read the instructions on the redesigned page.

Lesson: Simplified directions improve understanding.

Challenge: Students did not spend enough time reading the general directions. 32 percent of students in the usability study clicked through the original screens for general directions without reading them completely.

Solution: The general directions screens were rewritten using fewer words and were also read aloud for students automatically.

Lesson: Prominent and well-labeled tools enhance ease of use.

Challenge: In the original design, a drop down menu provided access to the full array of word processing tools students could use, while a toolbar displayed icons of only the most frequently used tools. The usability study found that students rarely used the drop down menus, and therefore were not accessing the full array of available tools.

Solution: In the redesign, more icons were added to the toolbar, text and icons were both enlarged, and rollover labels were added to the icons.

Lesson: Prominent and well-labeled tools enhance ease of use.

Challenge: In the original design, 68 percent of students had difficulty locating the writing panel located at the far right side of the screen. Many would click “Next,” navigating away from the screen on which they could type their response.

Solution: The buttons marking the writing panel were enlarged so that students could easily locate it.

Lesson: Prominent and well-labeled tools enhance ease of use.

Challenge: In the original design, 25 percent of students misinterpreted the function of the original text-to-speech button. The illustration of a person with a speech bubble seemed to indicate it was intended to open a chat window or respond to an e-mail.

Solution: The button icon was changed from a person with a speech bubble to an ear with sound waves. Rollover text describing the feature was also added.

Lesson: Prominent and well-labeled tools enhance ease of use.

Challenge: In the original design, 32 percent of participants found the "Reset" button in the Survey Questions section confusing. Students mistook the button to mean that all prior answers would be erased or that it would take them back to the beginning of the survey.

Solution: The button was relabeled as "Clear Answer" to clarify that clicking it would delete the answer to the question on the screen only.