A Usability Study of a Community College's Testing Center Website

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to design and evaluate a website for a testing center at students at a community college in Hawaiʻi. To design the website, the researcher applied principles of user-centered design to ensure the target audience—community college students—would be able to find information about the testing center quickly and easily. Using Gestalt principles, the website was designed to work to help students by being functional and user-friendly. To evaluate the website, a usability study was conducted with 18 (n = 18) college-aged adults. During the study, the participants completed three usability tasks designed to measure the website’s usability. Specifically, the study evaluated if the participants found the site to be navigable, satisfying, and interesting. The usability study evaluates the participants’ navigation, satisfaction, and interest. Data were collected through questionnaires and think aloud sessions. The results suggests that the new website was easy to navigate, satisfied with the content, and interested in using the website.