I think our pilot testing exercise in class went really well yesterday. I hope you were able to work out the bugs in your usability test protocols. If you have not already sent me a copy of your final protocol, please email me or share the document with me on Google Docs by tomorrow evening (Saturday). Once I have approved your protocol, you can begin administering your tests. Ideally, you should complete all of your tests (8–10 subjects) before Easter break, which will allow you to focus on writing your report after the break.

Next week we will only meet on Tuesday, and we will focus on techniques for analyzing your raw data and making recommendations to your clients. Before you come to class, please read two usability reports from WordPress (PDF) and the University of Washington Library (PDF). In addition, please find one additional example of a successful usability report and post a link to it in the comments section of this post. (You can find great examples of usability reports by searching for “usability testing report” or similar phrases.)

Although we won’t meet on Thursday due to Easter break, you should meet with your teammates before everyone leaves for the long weekend to make sure that specific tasks have been distributed to each member of your team. When we return on April 10th, we will be in serious crunch mode to complete these projects, so it is very important that we get a lot done during Week 11.