NISO Fall Assessment Training Series, Session Six, UX and usability at a distance, 10.23.20

The Open University is an entirely distance learning institution, so our students are located all over the UK and in Europe, and most never visit the campus. Our Library is focussed on online provision of resources and support. User experience research and usability testing are essential to understanding how best to deliver and improve student satisfaction and success and we conduct the majority of our studies remotely. We will talk about the methods, techniques and tools we have used to carry out our UX studies, as well as how to gain informed consent, make your remote participants comfortable with the technology you’re asking them to use; and how to facilitate remote interviews. Methods covered will include interviews, diary studies, touch stone tours, mystery shoppers, usability interview with screensharing, and un-moderated usability testing such as first click and tree-testing.

Event

41 Videos

NISO Training Series

NISO runs two, eight-week online training series each year, typically designed to provide early to mid-career information professionals with guidance on specific aspects of their roles, which they can then put into practice in their day-to-day work. Each session is recorded, shared immediately with participants, and made openly available after two years.

Speaker

1 Video

Caroline Barratt

Engagement & Insight Officer, Library Services, The Open University (UK)

Caroline works on insight activities for the OU Library to inform service development and improvement by performing qualitative and quantitative research at a distance. Before moving to the UK, she was a teaching librarian with library management responsibilities at a large research university in the US. She has published research on student and faculty information-seeking behavior, on collaborating with faculty in the writing classroom, and even one article on steampunk.

Speaker

1 Video

Keren Stiles

Senior Library Manager, Engagement and Insight, Open University

Keren has been undertaking various forms of user experience studies since 2009, starting by building up expertise in website usability testing, and gathering user requirements to inform development and improvement of the library’s online services. As a distance learning university it was always difficult to recruit a representative range of students to participate in studies on campus, so accepted UX techniques were adapted to enable them to participate remotely. Keren now leads the team responsible for supporting and coordinating user experience studies and other insight work.

Speaker

25 Videos

Martha Kyrillidou

CEO, QualityMetrics, LLC

Martha Kyrillidou runs a consulting company, QualityMetrics, LLC, from Silver Spring, MD. She consults in management, evaluation, assessment and R&D activities. She helps libraries respond to customer needs through the development of user-focused services and culture that enhance the user-experience. Martha holds a PhD in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MLS and an MEd with specialization in evaluation and measurement from Kent State University.