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• As instructor, create and submit your initial schedule before the season begins.  You wish to work as a children’s snowboard instructor every Sunday during the day, a racing instructor all Tuesday evenings except December 25, 2012 and January 1, 2013, and an adults’ ski instructor on two Friday nights, January 11, 2013 and February 1, 2013.
• As instructor, request to remove yourself from the schedule for January 20, 2013.
• As instructor, request to add yourself to the schedule as an adults’ snowboard instructor for the evening shift on January 21, 2013.
• As admin, notice that the instructor Sam has requested several schedule changes.  Approve his schedule changes.
• As admin, mark Sam as being excused from his shift on January 13, 2013.  Also mark him as having been absent on December 11, 2012.

Observations

User Test #1

Task 1

• Difficulties
  • Not sure whether to click a day or discipline first, esp. if it will filter the display
  • Not sure how to get back to the regular cursor
  • Not sure how to scroll months (prob. didn’t see the scrollbar because it was partially obscured at first #paperprototypeproblems)
  • Assumes clicking on a selected shift will toggle it off
• Successes
  • The mouse cursor changing indicates that you can use it for multiple actions

Task 2

• Difficulties
  • Hoping you could clear a shift by clicking on it
• Successes
  • Went straight to submit when done

Task 3

• Difficulties
  • Had a very unclear mental model – didn’t know if the calendar was something he was controlling, or requesting for changes

Task 4

• Difficulties
  • Wanted a way to view all instructors currently on a shift (ended up “opening a new tab” to see that view)
  • Not sure if he had to press Submit, since the approve buttons disappeared and they were buttons
• Successes
  • Found the approve buttons really quickly

Task 5

• Difficulties
  • None
• Successes
  • Immediately went for the buttons and the shifts, and hit submit. (Noted that the E and A seemed appropriately clear.)

User Test #2

Task 1

• Difficulties
  • Was about to click on a shift icon to clear it, but then clicked the eraser (still, was confused for a bit)
  • Wanted a way to select the same shift every week
    • spent a while trying to find one
    • tried clicking on the sun icon in the month header
    • and tried clicking on the Sunday header
  • Expected that clicking on the box after 1/31 would mark 2/1
• Successes
  • Went straight for Jr. Snow icon
  • Used scrollbar to move view
  • When she needed to clear more mistakes, she went straight for the clear button.
  • Used scrollbar while cursor was a diff. icon without trouble.
  • Hit submit when done.

Task 2

• Difficulties
  • Clicked the icon for the shift to clear (toggling)
• Successes
  • Went straight for Submit

Task 3

• Successes
  • Did it right immediately

Task 4

• Difficulties
  • Probably only hit Submit because we looked expectant
• Successes
  • Hit both Accept buttons quickly

Task 5

• Successes
  • It all went very smoothly

User Test #3

Task 1

• Difficulties
  • Clicked Jr-board to clear the cursor so he could switch it
  • Clicked “Submit Request” to early // it had been changed
  • He missed a lot of shifts, but we think this wouldn’t have happened normally, because a real instructor would have known to look for each shift he/she wanted #paperprototypeproblems
  • Was confused about shifts that weren’t there (“Does that mean it’s already taken?”)
• Successes
  • Went straight for Jr-board icon

Task 2

• Difficulties
  • Tried to click on a shift to clear it (toggling!)
  • Afraid to hit clear, as if it might clear everything
• Successes
  • Went straight for Submit at the end

Task 3

• Successes
  • Had no problems

Task 4

• Difficulties
  • Unsure of where to click (probably didn’t see the panel at top, since it was a transparency #paperprototypeproblems)

Task 5

• Successes
  • No problems – A and E were again clear enough

Prototype Iteration

These are the changes made to the paper prototype between the two rounds of testing:

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