Penn State University Libraries - Usability Test Tasks

Task 1 - initial impressions of ScholarSphere homepage w/out clicking on links

This is the homepage of ScholarSphere. Please give me your initial reactions to this page. Feel free to explore this page as you normally would. You can scroll around with your mouse, but please don't click on anything just yet.

1. Without clicking on anything yet, please give me your initial impressions about the layout of this page and what you think of the colors, graphics, etc.
2. Again, without clicking on anything yet, if you were exploring, what would you click on first?
3. What do you think is the purpose of this site?
4. Who do you think this site is intended for?

Task 2 - exploring and clicking on links

For the next five minutes or so, feel free now to explore the site. You may go anywhere you would like to go on the site and click around. As you do so, please remember to "think aloud," so we can get a sense of your impressions. 

Also, as you’re clicking around the site, let us know if the links you click on make sense - that is, when you click on those links, are you given information you expect?

Task 3 - finding information about using ScholarSphere

1. You're looking for information on what kinds of materials can be uploaded to ScholarSphere. See whether you can find that information on this site.
2. You're wondering if there's guidance in ScholarSphere on metadata, which is information you'll need to input about whatever you upload. See if you can find this information on the ScholarSphere site.
3. You've encountered a problem using ScholarSphere and would like to report it and get help with it. See whether you can locate the place on the ScholarSphere site to do this.

Task 4 - browsing for content

This task will test the browsing capabilities of ScholarSphere, using both the "recently added" feature and the faceted browse on the left navigation bar of the site. Things to test:

1. Do the facets make sense? Are there any you would like to see that aren't there?
2. Do the labels sufficiently explain themselves? Are they confusing in any way?
3. What else do you notice and have comments on?

Task 5 - searching for content

This task is about searching for content in ScholarSphere. First, identify where the keyword search bar is on the site. Is it easy to locate and understand, or was it difficult to find on the site?

Now, do a keyword search

Task 6 - logging onto ScholarSphere

Now, I’m going to ask you to authenticate into ScholarSphere - that is, log on with your Web access ID and password.

As you familiarize yourself briefly with this site, please also make sure you click on the tab that shows your Web access ID (the tab where you originally logged on to ScholarSphere).

Task 7 - depositing a file (no restricted data)

You've brought a file with you on a jump drive. You'd like to get that content into ScholarSphere. Try depositing the file into ScholarSphere, creating metadata in the form you'll see in the user interface.

When you feel you have completed this task, please say so.

Please provide feedback for the following:

1. What was hard about the deposit process?
2. What was easy about it?
3. Any suggestions for improvement?

What does the user interface currently look like on your machine?

Task 8 - getting familiar with My Dashboard

This task is about exploring a part of ScholarSphere called the dashboard.

To find the dashboard, if you're not already there, go to the upper right corner where you see your Web access ID/login tab, clicking on the tab, and find "my dashboard."

Here, we're seeking your impressions of this user interface - such as the following (but not limited to this):

• What do you think this part of the site is for?
• What can you do on this page?
• Do the icons you see make sense? What do you think they mean?
• What do you think the + is for? Does it result in what you expected? If not, what were you expecting?
• Where on this site can you tell how many pages of item records you have?
• What can you sort this list of records by?

Task 9 - more searching

Now, perform a search for the item you loaded to ScholarSphere in Task 7.

Questions for feedback:

1. Were you able to find it? 
2. Do all of the fields necessary to identify an item appear in the search results, or is there anything missing? 
3. Any other impressions?

Task 10 - editing metadata about a file

If you haven’t already, navigate back to the home page of ScholarSphere. Please tell me what you see under the heading “Recently Added.”

Tell me whether you see the name of the file you just uploaded.

Please provide your general impressions of this user interface.

1. What makes sense on this page?
2. What looks confusing?
3. Is there terminology that doesn't mean anything to you, and, if so, what is it?
4. What other improvements could be made?

Now, edit the metadata for the file you just uploaded. You may edit that metadata however you like.