Syllabus 2008/2009 MAM120

Syllabus academic year 2008/2009
(Created 2008-07-17.)

USABILITY EVALUATION

MAM120

Higher education credits: 7,5. Grading scale: TH. Level: G2 (First level). Language of instruction: The course will be given in Swedish. Optional for: C3, C3da, D4, E4, I4. Course coordinator: Senior lecturer Joakim Eriksson, Joakim.Eriksson@design.lth.se, Ergonomi och aerosolteknologi. Recommended prerequisits: MAM061 Human computer-interaction or MAM041 Man-Machine-System. Assessment: Project in combination with a written test. Home page: http://www.eat.lth.se.

Aim
The student will gain practical and theoretical knowledge about Usability, and how to evaluate a product concerning this matter.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

Gain knowledge in various evaluation methods, with special emphasis on user-testing.

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

Be able to produce a test plan, as well as carrying out a user-test.

Contents
Lectures and a project.

Overview of different approaches in user studies and evaluation methods:

Approaches on how to know the users and their needs
Usability engineering vs. Contextual design
Formative vs. Summative evaluation
Analytical vs. Empirical evaluation

Methods and techniques:

Questionnaires, interviews, observations, task analysis, etc
Conceptual testing, heuristics, checklists, cognitive walk-throughs, empirical testing, field trials, follow-up studies, think-aloud techniques, activity logging, attitude investigations, etc
Analysis of evaluation results

Project work, where the students plan, execute and analyze the results, using various evaluation techniques.

Literature
Rubin, Jeffrey & Chisnell, Dana: Handbook of Usability Testing (2nd edition), John Wiley & Sons Inc (2008).