Evaluating CN ePortfolio's usability & accessibility Platform Through User-Centered Testing

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Evaluating CN ePortfolio's usability & accessibility Platform Through User-Centered Testing

This project involved a comprehensive usability evaluation of the CN ePortfolio platform, an online tool for students to manage and showcase their academic and career achievements. The study aimed to assess the platform's user-friendliness, identify usability issues, and provide recommendations for improvement.

Year

2023

Year

2023

Year

2023

Client

CN e-portfolio

Client

CN e-portfolio

Client

CN e-portfolio

My Role

Product Designer

My Role

Product Designer

My Role

Product Designer

Problem

To evaluate the usability and accessibility of the CN ePortfolio platform, an online tool for students to manage and showcase their academic and career achievements. To assess the platform's user-friendliness, identify usability issues, and provide recommendations for improvement.

Background

Our research centered on three main areas: the intuitiveness of platform navigation, the level of support required for novice users, and potential enhancements for community engagement features.

The goals

Assess ease of use for key features

Identify usability issues for new users

Evaluate & improve community engagement

Gather user feedback and measure satisfaction

Develop actionable recommendations for platform improvement

Methodology

Think Aloud Sessions
SUS Evaluation
Quantitative Analysis
Recommendations

Think Aloud Protocol

We chose the think-aloud protocol for our usability testing, conducting sessions where participants verbalized their thoughts as they performed tasks, to gain detailed insights into the user experience.

Participants

We recruited 10 undergraduate and graduate students, representing the platform's target audience, to assess usability across different academic levels.

Session Setup

Each session, lasting 30-45 minutes, was conducted in person or remotely, with participants using their own devices for a realistic testing environment.

Tasks

Task 1: Sign up for a free account and upload a resume.

Task 2: Join a community and add it to the profile.

Task 3: Post a poll within the joined community.

Level of success measurement

Success with major issues

Success with minor issues

Success

Task 1 usability issues

Difficulty in locating the 'Upload Resume' option, no confirmation after uploading, and no auto fill info based on resume.

Usability Issues & Success Rates

Task 1 success rate:

Task 2 & 3usability issues:

Confusion about community features, no membership confirmation, & unclear visibility options for posting polls.

Task 2 success rate:

Task 3 success rate:

System Usability Scale (SUS) Evaluation

The System Usability Scale (SUS) was employed to quantitatively assess the usability of the CN ePortfolio platform. The SUS consists of ten statements rated on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), allowing participants to express their perceptions of the platform’s usability. The overall SUS score for the CN ePortfolio platform was calculated at 53.3, suggesting considerable room for improvement in user experience and interface design.

53.3

Recommendations

Based on the usability testing findings and participant feedback, the following recommendations are proposed to enhance the user experience on the CN ePortfolio platform/

Simplify the Portfolio Page

Enhance Visibility of Features

Provide Confirmation Feedback

Improve Poll Functionality

Add User Guidance and Support

Incorporate Auto-Fill Features

Gather Continuous Feedback

Virtual Reality Simulation

Gamification of trainings

Interactive courses

Augmented reality environments

VR group therapy