Presented at EDUCAUSE Annual Conferences, User Expectations, and EDUCAUSE2007

Students' preferences and demands challenge existing IT and other campus services. Sometimes a gap exists between what today's students expect and what universities are likely to deliver. Finding imaginative solutions for this "digital disconnect" can improve the teaching and learning environment. This session will address themes including informal learning spaces, classroom instruction, online resources, and promoting services.

Working in pairs, participants will be led through an informal usability test based in part on Steve Krug's excellent script in "Don't Make Me Think" (www.sensible.com). One participant (the "user") will leave the room while the other participant (the "owner") is interviewed about the site's overall goals and key user tasks (apply for admission, find a news release, find out who teaches Chemistry 101, and so forth).

When the user returns, he or she will be asked to "think out loud" while using the site and attempting the tasks defined by the owner, who will be able to watch and listen but not comment. After a discussion with both participants about the experience, the roles will then be reversed. In addition to live user feedback about their sites, participants (and observers) will learn a simple but effective method for improving their sites--and their own Web development skills.