User Experience Walkthroughs of uPortal, Moodle, and Sakai

What are UX Walkthroughs?

UX Walkthroughs are a combination of usability and accessibility [heuristic evaluations|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic_evaluation] with [cognitive walkthroughs|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_walkthrough]. The goal of Fluid's walkthroughs is to identify current user "pain points" in uPortal, Sakai and Moodle and ultimately to prioritize user interface improvements that will address these issues. \[[_More info..._|What is a UX Walkthrough?]\]

The protocol and guidelines are organic and will continue to be refined as we learn from doing the hybrid inspections/evaluations.

How Can I Get Involved in the Walkthroughs?

Everyone is welcome to help out with the walkthroughs. The Fluid UX walkthroughs can be a great way to learn more about usability and accessibility while experiencing first-hand the UI issues and strengths of your application. Here is how you can get involved:

Join a walkthrough working group. There are active groups looking at uPortal, Sakai, Moodle, and accessibility.
Learn more about our walkthrough process:
- Take a look at our heuristics checklist to learn about the criteria we use when walking through an application
- Read our walkthrough protocol to learn about the steps we take during a walkthrough
- Check out the reporting template to see how we record our findings
Attend a walkthrough meeting and meet other walkthrough participants
Start evaluating your application of choice!

The UX Walk-through group meets every other Friday at 8am PDT / 10am MDT / 11am EDT / 4pm GMT.

Next Meeting: Friday, September 14, 2007

Breeze Videoconference: http://breeze.yorku.ca/fluidwork

Back-up plan if Breeze doesn't work:
Teleconference
Local Dial-in number: 416-406-5118
Conference ID: 5220834

Agenda:

Update on Sakai UX walkthroughs
Update on uPortal UX walkthroughs
Update on Moodle UX walkthrough plans
Fluid Summit component identification & prioritization activities
- What attributes affect priority: Frequency users encounter, severity of problem, high stakes task?, technical feasibility, etc.

UX Walkthrough Checklist: The checklist and protocol for doing your own Fluid UX walkthrough.
UX Walkthrough Report Template: The template used to record your walkthrough results.
UX Walkthrough Protocol: Information about how to use the checklist and reporting template to do a walkthrough.
UX Walkthrough Working Groups: Sign up for a working group and lend a hand: Sakai, uPortal, Moodle, Accessibilty