Completed User Test Evaluation Plan

Back to Topic: Instructional Design > User Testing of E-Learning Courses > Review Evaluation Plan

One of the key objectives of this module is to be able to perform a user evaluation. Before you can perform the test, a test plan needs to be developed. This plan will direct the user testing so the evaluator knows what to expect, the evaluation methods used, and the results will be applicable to user testing.

This section outlines the plan that will be used to guide the user test in the next lesson.

E-Learning User Test Plan

 * Purpose

User testing is a field trial that tests the course's usability and attitudes of the course. This is performed when the course is released in a real setting to users in the target audience. These users will report any problems they encounter using the course. User testing is also used to evaluate the changes made as a result of the "alpha" testing, small group trials where course material and instructional objectives were tested.


 * Audience

The target audience are those who visit the "Wikiversity" website on the internet. As stated on this website, Wikiversity is a free, open, and collaborative resource that "hosts and develops free learning materials for all age groups." Although "everyone" will be able to partake in the instruction, the targeted learners are persons relatively new to the concepts and procedures of instructional design. The typical learner will be someone who has some experience in education/training and is pursuing additional skills as an instructional designer.


 * Issues

The objective of user testing is to test the usability and attitute of the evaluator. The following issues regarding the user testing in this module are:


 * 1) Wiki Content: As noted earlier, this is an open forum, the content of the selected wiki page for this module may change over time.
 * 2) Time Constraints: The evaluator will have a limited amount of time to test the internal wiki page.
 * 3) Grading: The evaluation will not be graded. The evaluator will be able to compare his/her results with a completed evaluation that was performed for comparison.


 * Resources

The following resources will be needed to conduct a user test on the wiki page:


 * 1) Members of the target audience;
 * 2) Access to the wiki page; and
 * 3) Evaluation tools: course evaluation document and attitude evaluation sheet


 * Evidence

The evidence collected will be the completed knowledge checks within this module.


 * Data-gathering Techniques

The evidence for user testing would normally be connoisseur-based studies consisting of completed course and attitude evaluations completed by the evaluators in the target audience. In the case of this module, the evidence will be the learner's comparison of their completed evaluations to a pre-completed evaluation conducted by the compilation of user testing by the designers of this module.

Additional evidence will be collected through the knowledge checks within this module.


 * Analysis

How will the evidence collected be analyzed? Use descriptive analysis in the report and address the issues/objectives in a straightforward manner. Frequency distributions, graphs/histograms, descriptive statistics and actual tester comments are frequently used analysis procedures.


 * Reporting

How, to whom, and when will the results of the evaluation be reported? An evaluation report is distributed to the audience identified in step 2. The main report headings are: executive summary, purpose of evaluation, methodology, results, and conclusions and recommendations.

Back to Topic: Instructional Design > User Testing of E-Learning Courses > Review Evaluation Plan