Coursera Discussion Forum
Heuristic Evaluation
On the hunt for errors and omissions in a popular online classroom site.
Roles: UX Researcher
Duration: March 2021
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Challenge
As a user of the Coursera platform and discussion forum, I needed bring my perspective as a UX designer to spot issues, errors, and adherence to user focused design.
Project Goals
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Create a full analysis report from the top five usability issues and suggestions for improvements.
Research Process
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Conducted a systematic review of the Coursera Discussion Forum user interface and utilize the heuristics to find potential problems and their severity.
Evaluation Process
For part one, I reviewed different tasks and areas in the Coursera Discussion Forum interface. I notated issues in a table for each heuristic violation.
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*Lesson Learned: Having Nielsen's "Usability Heuristics" to go from as I studied the Discussion Forum was an eye opener. I was able to see issues I wouldn't have noticed as a user or just would otherwise ignored.
Research Phase
For part two, I imagined that I would be submitting my thoughts for improvements to stakeholders. I created a full analysis report from the top five usability issues and my suggestions for improvements (one example is below).
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Issue: No Clearly Defined Undo or Redo Buttons
Location: Under Create New Thread box
Heuristics Violation(s): Nielsen’s #3 User Control and
Freedom
Severity: 4
As shown in Figure 1, there is no visible button or undo/redo arrows for the user to click if mistakes or corrections need to be made. Using the Windows keyboard command Ctrl+Z from the keyboard worked as undo in the body field. The Windows keyboard command for redo Ctrl+Y didn't work in the body
field. Users do not not have an option to easily fix a mistake or go back to previous text.
This issue violates Nielsen’s Usability #3 User Control and Freedom which states, “users need to be given a clearly marked emergency exit” as a way to correct a previous action or mistake.
Suggested Fix: Simple undo/redo arrows could be added to the
bottom menu before the other formatting buttons. Many users
are familiar with those arrows from other word processing programs.
*Lesson Learned: Performing a heuristic evaluation could be a good first step for UX researchers to do with a new or existing app or website to spot errors and problems.