Nielsen 3-day training course offered at Usability Week London
Usability in Practice: 3-Day Camp
Hands-on instruction for executing user-centered research and processes
Watching users try to complete tasks on your website is the most effective and productive way to uncover usability problems. In 3 days, we teach you how to quickly and inexpensively develop test plans, conduct usability studies, analyze data, and present the findings.
This course is ideal for people who are new to usability testing or have some usability testing experience, but no formal training. Expert usability professionals will learn how to train others in usability methods in their organization.
Benefits
- Fine-tune your hands-on usability skills with expert guidance from instructors with more than 65 years of combined experience
- Learn strategies for working with teams, identifying research opportunities, and choosing the right research methods
- Take home sample study plans and research materials to help you conduct your own studies
Topics covered
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Usability foundations
- Importance of usability in design projects
- How to incorporate usability practices into your current project lifecycle
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Choosing the right research methods
- Discount usability testing: Why only five participants?
- Usability reviews and heuristic evaluation
- Qualitative vs. quantitative research
- Surveys and other subjective methods
- Eyetracking
- Field studies
- Measuring usability
- Determining scope of study
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Writing good tasks
- Exploratory and directed tasks
- Task logistics: Order, number, timing
- Recruitment: User profiles, recruiting agencies, and incentives
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Setting up user studies
- Formal vs. informal labs
- Mobile testing
- Diverse segments in multiple regions
- Conducting studies onsite, offsite, and remotely
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Recording observations and data
- Tools and techniques
- What to look for and record
- Note taking
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Script and task creation
- Deconstruct scenarios
- Writing effective tasks
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Facilitation techniques
- Getting participants to think aloud as they complete tasks
- Minimizing bias
- Including and managing observers
- Tracking usability findings
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Analyzing findings
- Factors affecting analysis
- Affinity diagramming
- Common mistakes and ways to avoid them
- Parameters for prioritizing findings
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Reports for usability studies
- Items to include in reports
- Informal and formal reports
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Presenting findings
- Effective ways to communicate recommendations
- Persuasive illustrations and videos
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Considerations for specific audiences
- People with disabilities
- Low literacy users
- Senior citizens
- Children
- International users
- Mobile and hardware
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Paper prototyping
- Importance of testing early with low-fidelity designs
- How to conduct studies using paper
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Promoting and financing usability
- Evangelizing user experience processes to development teams and management
- Usability budgets
- Cost-benefit analysis and return-on-investment (ROI) calculations
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Successful usability programs
- Skills required of usability professionals
- Leveraging processes and functional groups
- Small usability teams in large organizations
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Reports for usability studies (continued)
- Deconstruct a report
- Tips for effective reporting
- Ethics of user research
Format
You will practice planning, conducting, and analyzing your own usability study during this 3-day workshop and receive immediate expert feedback. Lecture segments introduce topics and techniques.
This course also includes:
- A live demonstration of usability testing
- Videos depicting what to do and what not to do
- Hands-on exercises in writing tasks, facilitating, taking notes, and analyzing findings
- Light homework for the first two days.
Bonus Material
- Paper Prototyping Training Video (on DVD), $68 value
- Sample documents: Test script, test plan, recruitment screener, and usability report
- Criteria for evaluating the validity of user testing tasks
- Nielsen Norman Group reports on recruiting participants and conducting user testing
- Report: How to Conduct Usability Studies
- Report: How to Recruit Participants for Usability Studies
Integrated 3-Day Camp
Usability in Practice is a 3-day course where each day builds upon guidelines and principles discussed in previous days. We recommend that you attend all 3 days to get the most out of the training. The benefit of this approach is that you get 4 days' worth of normal seminars in 3 days of classes, because we can integrate the presentation so tightly.
The instructors offer a combined 65 years professional usability experience at your disposal.
Instructors
Hoa Loranger
Hoa Loranger is Director at Nielsen Norman Group and has worked in user experience for over 15 years. She conducts research worldwide, and presents keynotes and training on best practices for interface design. Hoa has consulted for companies such as Microsoft, HP, Allstate, Samsung, Verizon, and Disney. She authors publications, including a book, Prioritizing Web Usability. Read more about Hoa
Hoa Loranger is Director at Nielsen Norman Group and has worked in user experience for over 15 years. She conducts research worldwide, and presents keynotes and training on best practices for interface design. Hoa has consulted for companies such as Microsoft, HP, Allstate, Samsung, Verizon, and Disney. She authors publications, including a book, Prioritizing Web Usability. Read more about Hoa
Jakob Nielsen
Jakob Nielsen, Ph.D., is a User Advocate and principal of the Nielsen Norman Group which he co-founded with Dr. Donald A. Norman (former VP of research at Apple Computer). Dr. Nielsen established the "discount usability engineering" movement for fast and cheap improvements of user interfaces and has invented several usability methods, including heuristic evaluation. He holds 79 United States patents, mainly on ways of making the Internet easier to use. Read more about Jakob
Jakob Nielsen, Ph.D., is a User Advocate and principal of the Nielsen Norman Group which he co-founded with Dr. Donald A. Norman (former VP of research at Apple Computer). Dr. Nielsen established the "discount usability engineering" movement for fast and cheap improvements of user interfaces and has invented several usability methods, including heuristic evaluation. He holds 79 United States patents, mainly on ways of making the Internet easier to use. Read more about Jakob
Kara Pernice
Kara Pernice is the Managing Director at Nielsen Norman Group. Pernice uniquely combines her 20-plus years of research knowledge with her design experience and business education to help organizations derive interfaces which are usable, useful, and surpass business goals. Pernice is accomplished at evaluating any design situation to determine or craft the most fitting research method, conduct or lead the research, observe and analyze user behavior, and convert this analysis into outstanding design. Pernice has led hundreds of intercontinental research studies, and is expert in many usability methods. Read more about Kara
Kara Pernice is the Managing Director at Nielsen Norman Group. Pernice uniquely combines her 20-plus years of research knowledge with her design experience and business education to help organizations derive interfaces which are usable, useful, and surpass business goals. Pernice is accomplished at evaluating any design situation to determine or craft the most fitting research method, conduct or lead the research, observe and analyze user behavior, and convert this analysis into outstanding design. Pernice has led hundreds of intercontinental research studies, and is expert in many usability methods. Read more about Kara
Amy Schade
Amy Schade works with clients large and small in a variety of industries such as telecommunications, e-commerce, government, travel, automotive, music, publishing, banking, non-profit and education, including extensive work on corporate intranets. She has conducted worldwide user research, including longitudinal studies, remote studies and eyetracking research, running studies in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia. Read more about Amy
Amy Schade works with clients large and small in a variety of industries such as telecommunications, e-commerce, government, travel, automotive, music, publishing, banking, non-profit and education, including extensive work on corporate intranets. She has conducted worldwide user research, including longitudinal studies, remote studies and eyetracking research, running studies in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia. Read more about Amy