Testing with the End Users

To test my website, I chose to use www.surveymonkey.com I sent the survey to ten people from my GCSE DT: Graphics class, and here are the results…

(their responses will help me form my evaluation and I will know how well my website meets my initial aims and objectives)

Question 1To test how easy it is for students to find specific information, I asked them questions (the answers of which are on different pages of my blog) and asked them how many “clicks” of the mouse it took them to find the answers. To make it a fair test, they had to start at the homepage each time.The results clearly show that everyone found the required information in the number of “clicks” they should have.This shows that my website is easy to use – it meets my aim.

Question 2: To what extent do you agree with the following statements?

I used the “Likert Scale,” to ask my end users to what extent they agreed with my previous aims. This provided me with enough information to not only figure out whether I had met those objectives, but also to what level.

The one person who said the quiz wasn’t helpful said so because “it would be more helpful if there was more information about each type of learner.

Question 3: What do you particularly like about my website/ what was a good idea?

Statement Number of people who said this

Concise 4

Aesthetically pleasing 6

Lots of pictures/ diagrams 3

Range of learning techniques used (e.g. quizzes) 3

Good idea to use a comment box on the last page – so others can share their findings

4

Appropriate information 3

Useful list of topics to revise on front page 4

Organized 3

Question 4: What could be done better/ improved? Any suggestions?

Statement Number of people who said this

Vary the fonts used 2

Make the mind-map on the Tools, Paper and Board page a little bit bigger

1

Describe the 3 types of learners in a bit more detail

1

Spelling mistake on the last page (I have fixed this already)

3

Add search boxes on every page 1

Put a higher resolution picture in the banner along the top

1

Evaluation of my websiteAims Objectives Have I achieved it? How I’d improve

Easy navigation Search boxNavigation bar on left-hand side

The above objective had to be changes due to the fact that Yola didn’t offer it. However, I do not really think it affected my ease-of-use because everyone who took my survey said the “Strongly Agree” with the statement that the navigation bar is in an accessible place.

I have successfully inserted a Site Search Box on my homepage, and I know it works well because I have tested it out.I think it is easy for students to navigate through my website and find information because everyone who took my survey did so in the minimum number of “clicks” and only one person used the search box – this shows that the website is easy to use even without a search box so it must be organized and clear.3 people who took my survey said that my website is organized, and this helps the navigation as well.Everyone who tested out my website agreed with the statement that my website is easy to use and most of them Strongly Agreed. Though I did not make my

One person who took my survey said that I should add a search box on every page. To improve my website, I could do this, however the reason I haven’t done so yet was because I did not feel it was necessary and didn’t want to waste space on a page.

Easy to understand for students Helpful to students (effective revision)

Diagrams and picturesVideo explaining a visual topic Quizzes

3 people said that there were a lot of pictures and diagrams used to explain topics, and also that a range of learning techniques were used.4 people said that the list of revision topics was also helpful and I think this would make the website appropriate for revision.Therefore, I think my website is quite helpful to students as a revision source.

To improve my website, I would have liked to make my mind-map on the “Tools, Paper and Board” page a little bit bigger, as at the moment it is a little difficult to read. Also, one person said that it would be helpful to have the three types of learners in a little bit more detail (following the quiz on the front page). If I had more time, I would definitely do this.

Adheres to examination requirements (appropriate information)

Pages on each topic/ Unit in the AQA bookList of revision topics

My website definitely adheres to the AQA requirements, and I am sure of this because I used their book to check the topics and information and also to write up the list of revision topics. I even added a link on the last page to the official AQA website. As well as this, 3 people who took my quiz said that the information was appropriate.

I think I have stuck to the AQA board, but maybe to improve I could add page references to show the students which page a certain topic is in the book.

Aesthetically pleasing

Colour coding 6 people who took my survey said that the website is aesthetically pleasing, and one person said that the graphics were really good. My banner was appreciated and so was the background as well as the large font and lots of colours used.

To improve, 2 students said I should vary the fonts I used in the website. I didn’t do this so far because I wanted to keep a “flow” through the pages, and keep them looking somewhat similar. However, I could vary some sections to add emphasis – which I had done so far by just using bold and underline.

Source of other revision materials

Links to other revision websites

4 people said that the comments box on the links page was a good idea, because now people can add their own findings, and my aim was to provide other revision websites which I have done successfully.

To improve, instead of just typing the URLs to the other websites, I can add proper links so that the students can just click on them and go straight there instead of copying and pasting it into their URL box. This isn’t a huge problem, but if I had more time I would improve my website in that way.

Aims Objectives Have I achieved it? How I’d improve

Evaluation of the processHaving finished my project, I am quite pleased with my end

product – the website. I have also really improved my knowledge of ICT – e.g. image

editing and using web tools to create my own website. At the beginning of the project, I didn’t know much about image editing and could only use photoshop quite limitedly. However, I can now use Seashore (a free image-editing software) very confidently and make relatively harder images and effects. This is because I made all the diagrams and pictures as well as my website banner using this software, and I now know how to use it very effectively. I have also improved my knowledge of how to create and publish a website as well as have it recognized by Google – something I had no idea about before. I did many quite complex things that I actually hadn’t planned to or knew how to do before the project, such as using the html embed tool to add quizzes, and a comment box.

I started off my project by producing a mind-map of the overview, and researching similar websites and website-builders. This proved very useful, because it showed me the good and bad qualities of existing websites as well as which website-builder was the best for my purpose. I identified my aims and objectives, which helped me keep my focus and make my website as good as possible. I also created a survey for my End Users, so I know what they want from the website. This was very helpful because I could tell which topics I had to cover and which revision tools are best.

I think surveymonkey.com was a hugely helpful online tool to test and research with my End Users because they frequently check their email, and so I got my answer within a week. Also, it had many types of questions to choose from and so I could basically ask any question I wanted and get the answers I need. To contact my client, Mr. Dewick, I sent him emails, because even he checked his quite frequently however he preferred to tell me his answers in person, which in a way was good because I could fully understand what he wanted and we could have a proper conversation.