1. INTRODUCTION
Usability of information systems (IS) is becoming increasingly important as a discipline as more business processes, educational research, and amusement choices are located on the web. However, usability is not (formally) a component of the IS2002 model curriculum utilized at many institutions of higher education (IS2002, 2002). This teaching tip addresses how faculty can incorporate usability into their curriculum, address change in the information systems field, and engage all levels of IS or CS students in the process. As an added bonus, these types of activities can build relationships across functional boundaries in the college/university environment, while also enhancing communication, working relationships, and can enable faculty to “lead by example” for students in IS programs. 2. FINDING THE USABILITY CHALLENGE The dynamic nature of all processes on the web means that a usability challenge awaits you at one of your college offices. A foray into the college library yielded the first usability project for the academic year. Upon selecting the appropriate set of instructions (paper copy) for renewing library materials online, the renewal process was attempted. Working remotely and following the directions explicitly, errors in the process were encountered. Advertised buttons and text boxes were not present, login instructions were incomplete and page directions were misleading. While technically trained individuals would be able to supplement the directions with their explicit knowledge, the average college/university user might be tempted to quit the online renewal process in frustration, eliminating the benefits (to the college/university staff) of an automated process. The usability dimension of the paper document had not kept pace with the web upgrades and changes, necessitating a review of the process. This review process will be faculty-led, and will introduce all levels of students (this topic is very accessible to lower level students who are coming into the college/university well-versed in web tools) to the basic elements of usability in a real-world example. Not only is usability a contemporary topic of interest in the information systems community, but one that is not incorporated (explicitly) into the series of courses offered for any IS degree which follows the nationally normed curriculum model, IS2002 (2002). As usability has been an emerging concern among information technology workers (Calisir and Calisir, 2004; Flavian, Guinaliu, and Gurrea, 2006; Krug, 2000), this exercise exposes students to a dimension of IS they might not otherwise encounter. In an effort to be courteous to the library staff, an inquiry was posed to the library director. The inquiry went something like this: “the directions for online renewals seem slightly misleading … would you mind if this was used as an example of bad usability for library patrons? In the process, a new, more accurate form will be produced for the library’s use.” The director was actually appreciative that the form would be getting an update, so began the exercise. 3. USABILITY As an introduction, a usability lecture was presented to an AITP student chapter group with ideas on usability, what makes good/bad usability, why people care about usability, and usability as an emerging theme and field of study (Human Factors International, 2008). Two of the primary definitions regarding usability were discussed, these were: * The efficiency of a user completing a task, for example, on a web site * The ease of use of a system in accomplishing a task and the user’s perception of the system in terms of ease and positive experience Following the definitions, a discussion on how to measure usability was presented, with the key topics being that usability can be measured: * objectively via performance errors and productivity * subjectively via user preferences and interface characteristics (Browne and Jermey, 2004) The usability exercise for the AITP students involved a set of instructions for accomplishing a task (renewing library materials online) making performance errors and productivity the most applicable measures for the exercise.
