Evaluation

The final system was evaluated by a group of 24 UCT students by means of a questionnaire. This type of evaluation was a summative evaluation as the design chosen for the final system was a user-centred design. The sample of users was gathered using posters which allowed them to set up an evaluation timeslot.

Aim

The aim of this evaluation is to determine whether or not it is possible to design a website that is both useful and usable for educational purposes by evaluating user’s responses after interacting with the website.

Procedure

Each voluntary user was given a time slot in which to arrive for the evaluation and upon arrival they were instructed to sit at any of the computers within the laboratory. Each user received an explanation of the background of the website and was clearly informed of the confidentiality of their responses. Before being allowed to partake in the questionnaire, each user had to accept a consent form, which explained that their responses would be kept confidential and would not be used outside of its intended purpose within the scope of the evaluation. Each user would have a set of tasks to complete without any time constraints. Once the user completed the tasks, they would fill out a form that is used to evaluate the system. Each evaluation question was answered on a scale of:

• Strongly Disagree
• Disagree
• Neutral
• Agree
• Strongly Agree

The questionnaire ended with a section where users would be allowed to give comments about their general experience using the system.

Results

Usability

Only 2 people found the website unnecessarily complex whereas 5 users did not feel comfortable using the site. 5 users also felt that they needed to learn a lot before they could use the site. This means that less than a quarter of the sample were feeling uncomfortable with using the website and its features when asked to complete tasks without any guidance. More than 87% of users felt that the navigation of the website was intuitive and easy to use. This relates well to the 87% of users that felt confident using the site without written instructions. More than 70% of the sample users felt that the website was consistent in its controls.

Usefulness

More than 87% of the users felt the website was fun or pleasant to use. This is a good indicator of whether or not a user will come back to a website as users will be less inclined to come back to a website if there was nothing stimulating about the experience. About 67% of users felt that they needed to have the website. This suggests that the sample would find a use for the site and come back to use it. Among the sample of users evaluating the website, more than 87% would recommend the website to other users. This suggests that, besides finding a use for the site themselves, other users might be able to find the site useful as well. The findings thus suggest that the website that was developed has been found to be both useful and usable to a random sample of students. These findings, while not conclusive, are quite useful in terms of the purpose of the experiment. It is clear from the results that it is indeed possible to develop a guided tours website for rock art that is both usable and useful.

Conclusion

The results of the evaluation have proved to be quite useful relative to the experiment. These results have been taken into consideration in the third iteration and may lead to further improvement as substantial issues have been brought to light in the evaluation. As this is a user centred design, the opinions of the user affect the final product.