Implementing Usability Testing in Introductory Technical Communication Service Courses: Results and Lessons From a Local Study

Abstract

Introduction: This case study examines students’ and instructors’ experiences with usability testing in technical communication service courses. Research questions: 1. What prior experience do students and instructors have with usability testing? 2. What are their challenges with implementing usability testing in technical communication courses? 3. What are their recommendations for improving their efforts? About the case: This study was conducted in 2012 at a small Midwestern university where students and instructors in four sections of technical communication service courses participated in the study. Situating the case: Most technical communication scholarship focuses on usability practices, methods, or tools, and rarely explicitly addresses its pedagogy, especially the practical challenges faced by our students and instructors . Methods/approach: Data were gathered through preliminary and post-project student surveys and instructor interviews. Thematic coding was used to analyze the data . Results/discussion: Students faced the usual practical challenges such as time and resource constraints and collaboration with users. They found strategies such as using in-class activities, readings, and examples, and working directly with users to be helpful in their usability efforts. Instructors expressed the need for better preparation. Conclusions: Instructors should not only be required to take a usability course that will prepare them to be more effective usability instructors, but they should also incorporate readings and examples that will help students collaborate effectively with users and clients. The study is limited to research participants at one institution. Future research should involve larger, ethnographic studies of diverse students and instructors to address more aspects of usability pedagogy.