Canvas Usability Proposal Melanie Oringer, Lindsey Marshall, Erica Feliciano, Neil Ball ENC 3250 April 19th

2013

Table of Contents
PROJECT SUMMARY PROJECT DESCRIPTION A) INTRODUCTION B) RATIONAL AND SIGNIFICANCE C) PLAN OF WORK D) SCOPE E) METHODS F) TASK BREAKDOWN G) PROBLEM/ANALYSIS FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT PERSONNEL BUDGET CONCLUSION APPENDIXES 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 7

Project Summary
As students who attend the University of Central Florida (UCF) we are one of the main users of the learning management system provided by the university to engage in online education. We use the website on a daily basis for online and mixed mode courses. We are all undergraduate students with a few years of college credits under our belts. Although the updated system has a lot of new and upgraded features, there are still aspects of the program that us students dont think are meeting our needs. With that being said, we have chosen to analyze the online program, that is called Canvas, to potentially make it more user friendly and overall better for us students. In order to resolve the issues associated with the online program we will set up a focus group with a moderator that we would higher, that is highly knowledgeable in this area of expertise. Along with a focus group we will perform a usability test to address Canvas current issues in hope to make it better.

Project Description
a) Introduction
As students who attend the University we plan to analyze the current online system, Canvas, to improve upon its current design to make it more efficient and user friendly.

b) Rational and Significance

Many students at UCF use Canvas for online, video streaming, and mixed mode classes. Students use canvas to take tests, quizzes, and numerous other tasks. It is very important that it is easy to navigate for the success of the students, which is why it is important to redesign this website. According to Neilsons 10 usability heuristics, number one is the visibility of the system status. While Canvas does a good job of giving us updates, it can be overwhelming when we can receive updates from 300 plus students daily. Another one of the heuristics is consistency and standards, which we see to be a problem with the current website. The issue we find here is that from one class to the next the setup is completely different. The eighth heuristic, aesthetic and minimalist design, also applies to the

website redesign. This is because a lot of options on the website are not listed in order of necessity, and this is an issue. These are just a few of the reasons why the website needs to be redesigned.

c) Plan of Work
The first step in achieving our research goals will be to higher an organization to conduct a focus group based on the current website design. After completing the focus group research we would conduct usability test using a group of volunteers who use the website. After completing these two tests we would make changes the website based on the feedback we receive. After the changes have been made, we would conduct another focus group and usability test with the same individuals to see if the changes were beneficial.

d) Scope
The research that we will be conducting will only involve a few critical parts on the website. It will include the calendar, messaging, recent activity and grades sections of the sire. We will not be covering any other portion of the web site due to the vastness of its parts. We will also disregard the entire teacher side of this website and really only zero in on the issues with the student side. We will be outsourcing with other companies in order to complete the focus groups and usability tests. We will be relying on them to gather random samples and monitor the programs in their entirety. We will do this so that the data is accurate, generalizable, and can be reproduced. Our responsibilities will be to monitor the time frame that will be established for this project, and to keep all organizations informed of what is going. The organization we are proposing this to, will be to accept our proposal and work along side us to complete the website redesign. They will also adhere to a budget that will be established by the amount of work that needs to take place.

e) Methods
The first task that will be completing will be a focus group. We will be doing this first because focus groups tell us, what users want from the system (Nielsen Norman Group). This focus group will allow us to hear, in a natural setting, what users think about the website. This will allow us to make necessary changes to the current webpage design. By conducting a focus group we will be able to gather qualitative data, because it is a qualitative research method (Focus Group Methodology). To execute the focus group we will need to determine how many participants we will need, the key attributes of the group, and then set a time and place where this will happen (Conducting Focus

Groups). Another one of our tasks will be to complete usability testing on the current website to ensure that our proposed issues are consistent with the test group. By conducting a usability test, our goal is to identify any usability problems, collect quantitative data on the participants performance and determine participants satisfaction with the product (Usability Testing). This will be a sound method for studying our website because the site has thousands of participants which can potentially give us a large sample of data which can give us relevant feedback on their satisfaction. We will do the Usability test before and after the redesign is completed to ensure that progress has been made (Usability Research Proposal Template).

f) Task Breakdown
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) Submit Proposal to UCF (About 1 week for response) Hire company to conduct focus group (6-8 weeks for entire process) Hire company to conduct Usability Test (6-8 weeks for entire process) Evaluate feedback from testing (2 weeks) Make necessary changes to website (2-3 weeks) Conduct second round of focus groups (6-8 weeks) Conduct second round of Usability Testing (6-8 weeks) Make necessary changes if needed Final report to UCF with all necessary changes

g) Problem/Analysis
A few problems we see in the process we propose is all parties involved sticking to the timeline. Another problem we might face is finding out that there are more problems with the website than we thought existed. To overcome these problems we will make sure that everyone is aware of the timeline and keeps in contact with each other. If we find out that there are more problems we might have to adjust the timeline in order to fix them.

Facilities and Equipment

The testing groups will take place in the portable testing centers that are provided by the focus group and usability test Company. They will use computers, and video monitoring devices to conduct the research, so that it can be viewed later and evaluated.

Personnel
Our names our Melanie Oringer, Erica Feliciano, and Lindsey Marshall we are students at the University of Central Florida, and are current users of the online program, Canvas. We are all currently located in Orlando, and are all taking professional writing. We are hard workers, and know what it takes to get the job done. In order to make the research a success we will be hiring one company to do both the focus group and the usability testing. The company is called Usability Sciences and they have been in the business for twenty-five years, giving them tons of experience.

Budget
Category Project Management Focus Group Before & After Usability Test Before & After Volunteer Cost Time & Expertise $3,000 Location Cost (X2) $1,600 Technology Cost (X2) $130 Cost per Group (X6) $800 Location Cost (X2) $100 Standard Set-up (X2) $1,100 $0 Total: $13,660

Conclusion
The website Canvas, used by students at the University of Central Florida had several flaws in its design which caused it to be complicated for users. Some of them included problems with the recent activity page, the grades page, and aesthetics. To go about analyzing the problems we would conduct focus groups and usability tests. In order to fix

the problems we would change aspects and the design of the website based on data obtained from the tests. Being that we are all students at UCF and use the program constantly we know exactly what works and what doesnt, which makes us qualified to complete the project.

Appendixes
"Usability Testing." Home. US Department of Health and Human Services, 8 June 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. <http://www.usability.gov/methods/test_refine/learnusa/>. "Nielsen Norman Group." Focus Groups: Article by Jakob Nielsen. Nielson Norman Group, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. <http://www.nngroup.com/articles/focus-groups/>. Kimel, Miriam Bar-Din, Dr. "Focus Group Methodology." Www.fda.gov. FDA, 4 Dec. 2003. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. <www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/03/slides/4007S1_05_Kimel.ppt>. Tortolano, Gessica. "Usability Research Proposal Template." Usability Research Proposal Template. Google, 26 Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. <https://sites.google.com/site/superuserfriendly/templates/usability-research-proposaltemplate>. Simon, Judith S. "Conducting Focus Group:." Conducting Focus Group:. N.p., 10 Oct. 1999. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. <http://www.cse.lehigh.edu/~glennb/mm/FocusGroups.htm>.