Welcome - This is the first step to the final project!
You will design the idea for an assessment or evaluation by clearly explaining:
what you want to measure
who it is for
why it is being used
how similar things have already been measured
You are not building the full instrument yet — you are defining and justifying the concept.
Describe what construct or outcome your assessment is meant to measure (3-4 sentences).
Ask yourself:
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This assessment is designed to measure the usability of a digital interface. Specifically, it evaluates whether users can successfully complete key tasks efficiently and without confusion. The assessment aims to determine how intuitive the navigation, layout, and overall experience are. The main question being answered is whether the design supports smooth and effective user interaction.
Identify who will take this assessment (2-3 sentences).
Include:
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The assessment is intended for young adults ages 18–25 who regularly use digital platforms. They may be college students or early-career professionals. The context is a usability evaluation of a website or application in an academic or workplace setting.
State what type of outcome you are measuring. You may choose one or more (2-3 sentences):
you can consider these types of outcomes:
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This assessment measures skills, behaviors, and attitudes. It measures users’ ability to complete tasks (skills), how they navigate and interact with the system (behaviors), and their perceptions of ease of use and satisfaction (attitudes). These outcomes together provide a full picture of usability. ### d. Example From Real Life (Find an existing measure)
Find one or two real example of an assessment or evaluation that already measures something similar to your idea.
This can be:
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One example of an existing measure is the System Usability Scale (SUS), a widely used 10-item questionnaire that evaluates perceived usability. Another example is standard usability testing in UX research, where users complete structured tasks while researchers measure task success rate, time on task, and error frequency. Both approaches measure similar usability outcomes.
This project uses Human-Centered Design (HCD) with formative usability testing as its primary framework.
Human-Centered Design is used to improve products by observing real users interacting with them and using that evidence to guide revisions. Formative usability testing identifies issues during development so improvements can be made before final implementation.
This framework aligns with the project’s goal of evaluating how effectively users interact with a digital design. Human-Centered Design focuses on observable user behavior, which allows the assessment to identify usability problems such as confusion, navigation errors, or inefficiencies. It measures interaction quality, task success, and user satisfaction, which are central to usability.
The framework supports design decisions related to improving layout, navigation flow, and clarity. Other frameworks, such as training evaluation models, focus more on knowledge or long-term behavioral impact rather than interface usability. Therefore, HCD is more appropriate for evaluating user experience.
Using this framework means the assessment will be task-based and formative.
The tool will include structured task scenarios that require users to complete specific actions within the interface. Observations will be recorded for task success, time on task, and number of errors (quantitative data). Users will also answer short reflection questions and provide open-ended feedback about clarity and ease of use (qualitative data).
Because this is formative evaluation, the purpose is to improve the design rather than assign a final judgment score.
Examples:
“Using ECD suggests designing performance tasks that elicit observable evidence of problem-solving.”
“Kirkpatrick Level 3 requires behavioral measures collected after training.”