Site being tested
The site being tested is the Illinois State Board of Education teacher Licensure site. This is a site where teachers can upload their credentials and add professional development. Teachers must register their certifications with individual regional offices of education rather than through this app. You can visit the login at https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Educator-Licensure-Information-System.aspx
Average User
The average user is a teacher, who is likely familiar with some educational jargon and knows that in order to maintain their certification, they have to regularly enter professional development hours.
Tasks
1. Log in to your account.
- The user loads the page and then scans the page for the correct log in. The user first thinks that maybe "Educator Licensure" on the left is where they click, but there's not a link attached. After scanning a bit further, the user notices there is a blue link that says "Login to your ELIS account" below "Educator Access". The user, figuring that this is where teacher licensure is probably located, clicks here.
- This takes the user to another page that looks different and not part of the same system, which is confusing. (consistency of standards, Nielsen). The menu bar shifts to the left and all of the menu options completely change.
- The user enters their information here and clicks log in.
- Confusingly, the user is then taken to a “continue” button, instead of just going straight to the home page. There is a message here but the user probably won’t read it, it simply adds an extra, unnecessary step. From here, the user clicks "Continue".
2. Determine how many certifications you already have.
- On the landing page, the user can see different certifications in a spreadsheet of sorts. However, the hierarchy of the spreadsheet is not great (aesthetic and minimalist design, good graphic design - Nielsen) and makes it hard to see straight away where to look. This design could be cleaned up a lot. However, after a few moments, the user can determine that there are three certifications here.
3. Find the expiration date of the visual arts endorsement.
- The user has to scan the page and first notices that it says Professional Educator License (PEL). They are confused momentarily until they see beneath that, “Endorsements”, “Visual Arts.”
- Once the user finds “visual arts” they see “applied” and “issue date” which are both passed, which confuses the user.
- They then notice the row above which also has an “applied” and “license expires” section. They are able to determine that the expiration date is 6/30/23.
4. Add 3 professional development hours to your Career and Technical Educator endorsement license.
- The user scans the landing page. They notice on the right hand side where it says “Enter Professional Development”. It is, again, somewhat hidden and hard to see. (aesthetic and minimalist design)
- They click on it. This takes them to “Educator Professional Development Education” page. At first the user is confused - it says “no records found” and “hours required = 0”. The user has no idea which certification they are on straight away.
- After a moment, they notice where it says “License” and that there is a drop down here. They choose “Career And Technical Education” from the drop down.
- Once they get here, they are a little confused about where to go to add hours - it’s a bit hidden at the bottom of the page.
- User clicks on “add hours” at the bottom of the page. They then come to the next screen.
- The user notices that it seems a bit strange to have radio buttons to say “save” or “cancel” instead of simply having buttons that say that.
- The user enters professional development hours, hits "Finish", although they aren't sure whether to click the word finish or the arrow button right next to it. The user is then taken back to the home page.
5. Determine if there is a place on the site where you can discover:
- How many hours does the user need to keep the Visual Arts certification current?
- The user finds this located on the bottom of the spreadsheet.
- What qualifies as professional development?
- The user is unable to find this information within this interface (because it doesn’t exist here) and instead has to use google to find the answers to these questions.
- What organizations are certified to offer professional development?
- The user is unable to find this information within this interface (because it doesn’t exist here) and instead has to use google to find the answers to these questions.
- How many PD hours is a graduate school class worth?
- The user is unable to find this information within this interface (because it doesn’t exist here) and instead has to use google to find the answers to these questions.
- The user is unable to find this information within this interface (because it doesn’t exist) and instead has to use google to find the answers to these questions.
I know for a fact that you have to contact your regional office of education to register a new license, but that's not really listed on the site here. There is a link where you can "apply for an educator license with stipulations" but this is only for existing licenses, not new ones. You can also add endorsements - but again, only for existing licenses, and the process for this is cumbersome and involves clicking through many, many dialogue boxes. If a user wants to try to contact their regional office of education, the contact information isn't listed on the main interface. It's after they've already logged in, but a page before they get to the main interface, which makes no sense.
After trying to find the answer to many of these questions through google instead of the interface itself, it seems that it would make sense to add an FAQ section to this site, as well as a spreadsheet . I know that there are a lot of questions I have when trying to use it that are absolutely not answered here.
Conclusion
This site could do with some better hierarchy and better use of good graphic design to display information. Overall, it does not lend itself to scanning quickly through information to find what the user needs quickly. I also think that having better category organization can cut down on visual clutter and finding what the user needs.
There also needs to be an FAQ section with information on how to get professional development and where and how to register your license, and contact information for your particular regional office of education. Long term, I think it would make more sense to have an online registration system for new licenses, but that may be a long way off considering an actual human on the other end has to verify that you've sent in all the proper documents. Instead there should probably be an easily accessible FAQ to get to this point.
There also needs to be an FAQ section with information on how to get professional development and where and how to register your license, and contact information for your particular regional office of education. Long term, I think it would make more sense to have an online registration system for new licenses, but that may be a long way off considering an actual human on the other end has to verify that you've sent in all the proper documents. Instead there should probably be an easily accessible FAQ to get to this point.