Digital Resource Exchange About Music (DREAM): Usability Testing Results

Table 1: Four phases of usability testing

Phase/ version	Testing designperiod	Data sources & participants	Summary of concerns	Usability issues	Design changes
Phase 1v. 1.0	2 weeks	24 classroom teacher focus group & log sheets	Navigation; login/account creation; error messages; difficulties acrossplatforms	Efficiency Satisfaction
Phase 1design changes	1 week				Fixed bugs for login, accountcreation, platform inconsistencies.
Phase 2v. 1.1	6 weeks	6-person focus group with core teacher testers; 8-person focus group with core testersand designers	Navigation awkward; search ineffective; overall “look and feel” too busy; not platform responsive; inconsistencies; too many categories	Efficiency Satisfaction
Phase 2 design changes	12 weeks				Complete re-design using a responsive template for smartphones and tablets; new URL, host, and CMS version; extensive revisions with frequent interactions between the design team and core users.
Phase 3v. 1.2	1 week	6 core testers and designers providing ongoing feedback through a dynamic cloud-based document	Minor concerns regarding button sizing, font sizes, button placement; concern with efficiency of search; adding resources – confusion with categories and filters	Satisfaction Usefulness Efficiency
Phase 3 design changes	1 week				Adjustments for platforms, aesthetics of fonts, buttons; improvements to recommender and search functions; finalizingcategories & filters
Phase 4v. 1.3	3 weeks	47 test participants; initial survey, surveys after each use, exitsurvey	Search function; retrieving resources; need for more comments; platform issues with aesthetics	Satisfaction Usefulness Efficiency
Phase 4 designchanges	3 weeks				Final style changes; vetting module introduced; searchfunction improved
Release v. 1.4	8 weeks	12-person focus group with core testers/designers and institutionalstakeholders TBD	TBD	Efficiency Satisfaction Usefulness
					Final design changes TBD

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