Effective user experience in online technical communication courses: employing multiple methods within organizational contexts to assess usability

In teaching online technical communication courses, shaping an electronic interface requires extensive consideration of the user experience, both for students and for faculty members who design and teach the courses. Technical communication faculty members should provide strong examples of effective user experiences and should be leaders in making the interfaces of online learning management systems as usable as possible. Principles of usability designed for general web sites may or may not apply to learning management systems designed for educational purposes. In order to create effective online technical communication courses, one needs to consider both usability concerns and pedagogical concerns. To assess the usability and pedagogical effectiveness of online courses, faculty members may use indirect means such as heuristic analyses. In addition, they may use direct means such as usability testing, student feedback, and analytic tools. Each approach has advantages as well as limitations. Faculty members will gain the richest information through using multiple approaches. In assessing usability and pedagogical effectiveness, faculty members also need to consider the situational constraints and resources in their unique contexts. Understanding and adapting their approaches to use resources well and to work within constraints will benefit their abilities to enhance their student users' experiences with online courses.