Challenge

To provide just-in-time help, I jumped into conducting regular, remote usability studies for an online education platform. I joined a team with a full schedule of user tests, as well as templated approach to defining tests, scripts, and presentations. I also conducted lit reviews to help guide the design team.

Solution

Lit reviews

I presented to a team on a variety of topics that were requested: The science behind how kids learn and develop; the landscape on the latest kids tech; and how to take a mobile app global.

Usability studies

I conducted regular remote usability studies with kids ages 6+, as well as with teachers for a LMS. This was a mature team with defined processes.

The steps in conducting tests involved participation in all of the following:

• Recruiting: I wrote screeners based off of the teams' needs, to aid the recruiter in identifying participants
• Test definition: I worked with the design team and management to understand test goals and then create a user research strategy, test plan, and interview script.
• Running tests: I created observation note templates for observers, and recorded remote sessions for interviews I conducted over join.me. Most sessions were about 1 hr.
• Analysis: I analyzed the results, made design recommendations, and delivered presentations to the team