A lot of work has happened in recent weeks connected with the usability study. In early September Tammy, Michael, Cait, and I sat down for a meeting to discuss potential areas for the students in Michael’s Advanced Professional Writing course. There were a number of concerns that were brought to the table: concerns relating to navigation, the splash page, connecting users to resources, presenting resources to users, and the functionality of our contact forms. What was beneficial was having two members of the research team from the last round of usability studies present, as they could speak to what we’ve done before, what we chose to address at that time, and what might be worth reexamining. Having the technical coordinator present also opened up new areas for discussion, as she deals most often with the OWL’s innards—the code that keeps it soaring, ready to swoop in and assist users in need.
One issue that was brought up was how users experience the OWL. Currently, we have what some have derided as a 1990’s-esque splash page, and certainly its actual usefulness is something that ought to be questioned. But, during the course of our discussions that day it was pointed out that perhaps the splash is even less effective than we had hoped. One of the meeting members pointed out that we need data on how people actually use the OWL, perhaps many people bypass the splash page all together. Here’s an anecdote for illustrative purposes:
I use the OWL a lot for my own personal reference as I write for publication and the job market, activities not even remotely related to my position as the OWL coordinator. Now, when I’m looking for information on Academic Cover Letters—for those increasingly rare tenure-track jobs—I don’t go to owl.english.purdue.edu. Rather, I go to Google and I type in, “ ‘Purdue OWL’ + ‘Academic Cover Letters’”. The very first hit is the opening page for the Academic Cover Letters resource on the OWL. Then I start to click, click, click away.
To be honest, there are some days that I completely forget that the splash page exists. The argument for it being there is that the OWL isn’t just the collection of writing resources; it’s not just the Orange OWL. It’s the Purdue OWL Family of Sites; it’s the Orange OWL, it’s the Purdue Writing Lab site (green pages), it’s the Purdue OWL News Service (purple pages).
We also discussed the intersections of content development and usability. The Purdue OWL, over the years, has developed its own written identity. This is something that has been passed down orally from one content coordinator to another during training and on-boarding sessions. It is then something that is highly negotiated during between content coordinator and their developers during the content development process. The discussion with the students in Michael’s course became, what can we do to crystalize certain elements of our style into a Purdue OWL Style guide, a document that will help to streamline certain elements of the development process and that will also concretize institutional memory and best practices?
At a meeting of members of the usability teams and Purdue OWL leadership, I was given a list of areas in which the student-team working on the Purdue OWL style guide would like to focus their work. I must admit that I’m both impressed by the thought that is going into this document and hopeful for the lasting contribution that it can make to the Purdue OWL—and perhaps to OWL designers and content developers working in other contexts. The student-team plans on not only solidifying the most salient points of OWL style, but also on redesigning the current OWL content developers manual to be more effective in transmitting information to the content development team members.
During the course of the various meetings and conversations that have been had at the OWL about usability in the past two months, another key item has arisen. Designing and implementing usability studies can take time. We’re making plans that will carry use well into the 2015-2016 academic year.
However, when you’re working with graduate staff this can present new challenges. Both myself and Cait are likely to complete our Ph.Ds. before the start of the next school year. This means that two individuals that have played some role in this round of testing will be exiting Purdue before it’s over. This means that we must consider how we will hand this project off to the incoming content and technical coordinators. This is a key consideration when working in any context that has this kind of turnover. Ensuring continuity becomes important in order to maintain quality and to provide the best service to our end-users. For us, we will rely heavily on the experiences of both Tammy and Michael—this is their second round of usability studies on the OWL, and we will also allot additional time to bring the new coordinators up to speed regarding the usability study, how it impacts their work at the OWL, and how they might contribute to this intensive practical and scholarly endeavor.. This will likely include a healthy stack of documents and intermediate reports, but it will help us to ensure that the new coordinators will be adequately prepared not only to join the OWL family, but also to continue to contribute to our usability studies and eventual revisions.
Usability and the Purdue OWL Content Coordinator
We have been internally talking about usability studies for quite some time, since shortly after I came onboard as the OWL content coordinator in the summer of 2012. At the time, not discussion was had as I needed to acclimate myself to my new role. As the newest member of the Purdue OWL team, I had a lot to learn about my position. The content coordinator is responsible for overseeing content development for the Purdue OWL, as well as for interfacing with user's of the Purdue OWL. This means needing to identify and hire talent to develop our new content, revising existing content in response to user feedback, and sorting through thousands of link request from schools, universities, and government bodies from all over the global. It is, at time, a rather large job that is constrained to only ten hours per week. So, at the time very little was said about usability studies. However, it did remain at the fringes of our collective attention during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 academic years.
With the Advanced Professional Writing course that Dr. Salvo is teaching this year, the time is right for a new round of usability studies. Since starting in 2012, I have wondered what role I might be able to play in this project. While I am no tech novice, I'm far from the power user that I used to be in high school, when I was studying how to program routers and switches--how to make the internet work. And while usability and user experience design aren't often talked about in my field (applied linguistics), I'm hopeful that I can learn enough to be useful through following the 515 course readings and sitting in on the classes when I'm able. That being said, I do feel that my time both developing content for the Purdue OWL, and sitting in the OWL's nest helping to keep her soaring will be helpful in the completion of this project. I believe that I can help to offer additional perspective. It may also be that my previous OWL research, focusing on L2 writing teacher's use of the OWL and on content development best-practices may be helpful in the endeavor on which we are about to embark.
Creating a Plan
At the beginning of summer, Purdue OWL leadership and Dr. Salvo met to begin early discussions on how the next round of usability studies might unfold and on what our goals for this round might be. That was in early to mid-May. After that, Dr. Salvo and our associate director left the States for a summer study abroad and research trip to Scotland. Shortly after their return, we held our second strategizing meeting. It was a fruitful meeting, one of those meetings where you could see the progress bar fill a little more. The kind of meetings that make you feel good about meetings.
During this meeting, Dr. Salvo and I discussed the direction his class will take in the fall, which included a list of readings and planning the sequencing for two of the course assignments. The reading list is unlike most reading lists that I see in English department classes, even disciplinarily focused ones. The readings for this course are predominantly on usability and design principles, useful readings for students at Purdue. I must admit that I’m a bit excited about these readings, too. Any time that we can create a space for students, especially graduate students, to engage with new readings--readings potentially outside their interest or their disciplines--we are providing students and young professionals with the opportunity to learn to read in new ways and to find possible interfaces between disparate bodies of knowledge.
We covered a lot of ground in this meeting. We began sketching out a multi-tiered usability test with both large- and small-scale tests and sub-tests. Currently, our ideal-targets include a large-scale demographics survey (10k target) and three smaller online usability tests (~100 ea.). this will be followed up by a number of in-lab usability tests (~50). There will be some similarity between select online and in-lab tests. For example, we plan on having both web-based and in-lab card sort activities. These activities will be similar to what the OWL and Dr. Salvo did a few years ago, allowing participants to reorganize components of the OWL, e.g., the landing page. It is possible that the web-based and in-lab card sorts will yield interesting results when compared to one another. Some of these tests will also include working with our new eye-tracker package. We’re fortunate to have a very energetic student working with us on this part of the testing. We’ll also be looking into shoestring testing--testing on budget--and distance testing. The findings here may be of particular use to scholars in the social sciences and the humanities.
Professionalizing Graduate Students
Something that is of particular interest to me is the opportunity to foster professionalization of graduate students. During the meeting we discussed the possibility of having selected graduate students work as team leaders on the sub-test materials developments. They will sit in on the proposals presentations, and they will consult with the students and guide them through their materials creation. To me, this is a vital opportunity in a number of ways. First, it gives these graduate students an opportunity to gain leadership and project management skills. These are two skills that I think every academic needs to have. They’re also useful if one chooses to exit the academy for either industry or government. Also, this would represent the opportunity for the team leaders to test their leadership skills in an academic environment. Before entering the academy I had spent a few years in leadership roles in the retail and entertainment sectors. Taking a leadership role at OWL was a wake up call as to just how different leadership in the academy can be. It’ll be good for the team leaders to try on new hats. Second, if we are able to link the tests that they oversee to their personal research interests, it is likely they may be able to get some publications or presentations out of this that will increase their capital on the job market.
We’re certainly moving forward, and linking this to a class is allowing the OWL to tap the energies and experiences of individuals we might not get to otherwise. It’s always exciting for these collaborations to happen. Over the coming months, it’ll be interesting to see how the project comes together and how all parties involved, especially the relative novices--like myself--develop over the course of the projects.
