Kudos to Library Interns Brianne Briggmann and Emma Medina, who presented “Usability Testing: Testing the Functionality of Library Research Tutorials,” at SUNY Geneseo Great Day 2019. Brianne and Emma developed online tutorials for citing information and IDS services, using the LibWizard application. They then conducted usability tests in order to make the tutorials more user friendly.
Brianne and Emma developed a qualitative test to determine the overall ease of going through the tutorials–the structure, grammatical issues, design format, and general troubleshooting; and a quantitative test to determine the educational results, such as tutorial effectiveness and the students’ understanding of the concepts. Both of these tests were conducted with a sample of 8 undergraduates at various stages of their academic careers. The results allowed Brianne and Emma to indicate the areas of the tutorials that need improvement, which can enhance the tutorials that were used in this testing process, and also aid in the development of future tutorials.
Brianne Briggmann is double majoring in English Literature and French. Emma Medina is majoring in English Literature. Brandon West, Head of Library Research Instruction, is the faculty sponsor for this project.
