Transcript Responding to User Experience in the Design of Interactive Tutorials Robert Vander Hart and Peg Spinner University of Massachusetts Medical School October Conference for.

Responding to User Experience in the
Design of Interactive Tutorials
Robert Vander Hart and Peg Spinner
University of Massachusetts Medical School
October Conference for New England Librarians
Dartmouth College - October 25, 2001
About the Web Site
• Site aims to teach principles of evidence-based
medicine (EBM)
• Collaborative project between the Lamar
Soutter Library and the Department of Family
and Community Medicine at UMMS
• Funded through the Medical School’s
Innovations in Medical Education Grant (IMEG)
program
What is Evidence-Based Medicine?
• EBM movement began in 1970s (1)
• EBM integrates best research, clinical
expertise, and patient concerns (2)
• EBM emphasizes keeping up-to-date with
the latest research findings
Design Principles
• Give clear goals for your tutorials
• Know your audience
• Realize that people generally scan, not read,
text on the web (3)
• Give users opportunity for review
• Consider implications of linear versus non-linear
presentation
Goals for Our Tutorials
• Define a clinical question
• Translate a clinical question into a
searchable question
• Decide on the best type of study to
address the question
• Perform a literature search
Our Audience
• Medical students
– Second-year epidemiology class
– Third-year clerkship program
• Residents
– Family practice
– Internal medicine
– Pediatrics
• Faculty and community physicians
• Nursing students also show interest
Usability Testing
• Can be as simple or complex as you wish
– Simple: get five volunteers and observe them using
your site (4)
– Complex: build a laboratory with one-way glass and
video cameras
• Provides immediate and useful feedback in a
“non-scientific” manner
• Ideally should be performed before a site is
made public
Simple Testing Procedures
• Three separate testing series
• 4-5 volunteers for each series
• Observer form that included
– Brief instructions read to the volunteer
– Section to record demographic information
– Sections for recording observations, start/stop times,
volunteer’s comments and actions for each task
• Open debriefing period if time permitted
Test Results and Experiences
• Results recorded on a spreadsheet
• Nature of our audience became apparent
– No time to spare
– No patience to peruse information
– Expect information to be presented concisely
– These characteristics require a design response
• Direct observations had greatest impact on our
decisions to make revisions (more than surveys
or evaluation forms)
Before. . .
Actions Taken
• “Tightened up” wording of instructions
• Broke up instructions into separate, concise
steps with bullets
• Bolded important words
• Changed font
• Provided in-depth help in separate links
• Included review section for those who skip Help
After. . .
Current Status
• Completed two tutorials
• Working on a third tutorial
• May include a PubMed (free MEDLINE) option
for literature search section
• Interest expressed in parallel series of
tutorials focusing on pediatrics
• All new projects will be subject to more
usability testing
References
1.
Levin A. “The Cochrane Collaboration,” Ann Intern
Med 2001; 135(4): 310.
2.
Sackett DL et al. Evidence-Based Medicine: How to
Practice and Teach EBM. 2nd ed. New York: Churchill
Livingstone, 2000, 1.
3.
Nielsen J. “How Users Read on the Web,”
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
4.
Nielsen J. “Why You Only Need to Test With 5
Users,”
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000319.html
For Further Information. . .
Contact:
[email protected] OR
[email protected]
Web Site:
http://library.umassmed.edu/EBM/tutorials