The final tutorial was tested by three people. None of them used a harmonica, but all of them are practicing instructional designers.
This analysis is based on the data in the table below. Each slide is listed along with the standard actions that a user can perform on that slide. A check mark indicates the tester performed the action. Comments are my observations or comments made by the tester.
The "Next" and "Continue" buttons worked very well. I intentionally timed them to appear on the lower right edge of the slide approximately 3 seconds before the end of the narration, or near 15 seconds if the narration went much longer than that. In all three cases, the users never tried to use anything other than the navigation buttons and the links (text or graphic) to navigate. Unfortunately, two of the testers discovered that if you start repeating slides, the narration can intrude on the following slide if it had also been opened before.
Originally, the grapics representing the items on the list of necessary materials were animated on a single slide. For a variety of technical reasons, I broke them up into four animated slides and required the user to click the "Next" button four times to progress through them. I was worried that this would be distracting for the user, but it didn't cause any hesitation; each user listened to the narrative, and then clicked "Next." Tester A commented that she liked how the graphics shrank into their respective quadrants.
During slide 6 (Need ... Straw), Tester B commented, "So, that's what the straw is for," after hearing the narration explain the purpose of the straw. An indication that he listened to the list of necessary items carefully enough to wonder about the materials.
It's encouraging that although the users could have used the "next" button to skip any of quizzes, none of them did. In fact, Tester A was curious enough to go back and try all of the incorrect answers after answering correctly. This suggests that narrative, in conjuction with the text/graphics, was short and succinct enough to hold interest and provide adequate explanation.
None of the testers were able to get the sample music to play on slide 35 (Play Ode to Joy), although I was able to get it to play after several attempts.
The testers apparently didn't recognize that the "Repeat" button gave them the option to repeat the slide narration, although they thought they should have realized that after I pointed it out. Of course, others may have a similar problem and I won't be there to point it out; perhaps, the word "Replay" would have been better.
Testers B and C both missed the fact that the headings contained the instructions for some of the slides. They both said they weren't reading the headings. I need to make the written instructions "pop" better.
| Slide | Standard Actions | A | B | C | Comments |
| 1. Introduction | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | X | X | X | ||
| 2. Objectives | |||||
| Link | Tester A said she wanted to click on the link to the end of the lesson, but she was afraid she wouldn't be able to get back, so she didn't click it. | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | X | X | X | ||
| 3. You Will Need: Harmonica | |||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | X | X | X | Tester A liked the effect of the graphics shrinking into their respective quadrants. | |
| 4. You Will Need: Mic | |||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | X | X | X | ||
| 5. You Will Need: Tuner | |||||
| Link | X | Tester A clicked the link to the Seventh String online instrument tuner. She complained that the presentation narration continued in the background. | |||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | X | X | X | ||
| 6. You Will Need: Straw | |||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | X | X | X | Tester B said, "So that's what the straw is for." | |
| 7. Be Able to Answer | |||||
| Link | X | X | Testers A and C clicked all the links to the online references. Tester A closed them after reading them briefly. Tester C left them open and referred to them during the quiz. Tester C also had trouble getting back to the presentation; he forgot it was a PowerPoint and was looking for it in a browser. | ||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | X | X | X | ||
| 8. C Diatonic: Intro | |||||
| Link | X | X | X | All testers clicked the correct graphical link to slide 12. Tester B exclaimed, "Yes!" Tester C referred to the online reference for each question before answering. | |
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 9. C Diatonic: 12 Holes | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 10. C Diatonic: 2 Rows | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 11. C Diatonic: Chromatic | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 12. C Diatonic: Correct | |||||
| Link | X | Although she answered correctly on the first try, Tester A, then selected all of the wrong answers. She said she liked that the user is given an explanation for why the incorrect answers were incorrect. | |||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | X | X | X | ||
| 13. Hold It: Intro | |||||
| Link | X | X | X | Testers B and C answered correctly on the first try. | |
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 14. Hold It: Blocking | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 15. Hold It: Correct | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | X | X | X | Tester A answering correctly on the second try, after selecting the "backwards" answer, then clicked on all of the wrong answers. Tester B said the "dirty" look of the graphics was too distracting. | |
| 16. Hold It: Backwards | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 17. Hold It: Upside Down | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 18. Blow/Draw: Intro | |||||
| Link | X | X | X | Tester A clicked on the link to the online reference | |
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 19. Blow/Draw: Breath | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 20. Blow/Draw: Mouth | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 21. Blow/Draw: Relax | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 22. Blow/Draw: Balloon | |||||
| Link | X | Tester A clicked on the correct answer on the first try, then clicked on all of the wrong answers. | |||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | X | X | X | Tester C wanted to know what he should do, in addition to knowing that he should not blow as if blowing up a balloon. Tester C also said, "you should have some way to repeat the answers." | |
| 23. Notes: Intro | |||||
| Link | X | X | X | ||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 24. Notes: Key of C | |||||
| Link | X | Tester A correctly identified the note map for the C diatonic on the first try. She said, "It starts with a C, that must be it." This is, in fact, one of the ways to identify the C diatonic. She then clicked on all of the incorrect answers | |||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | X | X | X | ||
| 25. Notes: Key of F | |||||
| Link | X | Tester A did not like the answer box covering part of the key of F graphic. | |||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 26. Notes: Key of G | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 27. Tablature: Intro | |||||
| Link | X | X | X | ||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 28. Tablature: ......CB | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 29. Tablature: Correct | |||||
| Link | X | Tester A guessed correctly on the second try, then clicked on all of the incorrect answers. Tester B didn't notice that the heading repeated the question, and complained that the question should be on the screen. | |||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | X | X | X | ||
| 30. Tablature: DC....BC | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 31. Tablature: DC....CB | |||||
| Link | X | ||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Next | |||||
| 32. Play Single Notes | |||||
| Link | X | Tester A clicked on the link to the online reference. She expessed irritation that the narration continued while she was trying to read the online reference. | |||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | X | ||||
| Continue | X | X | X | Tester A appeared to not realize that she could have replayed the narration by clicking on the "Repeat" button; she clicked "Continue" to go on to the next slide. Tester B didn't like the "dirty" looking graphic, but did like the text appearing after it was explained. | |
| 33. Use the Tuner | |||||
| Link | |||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Continue | X | X | X | It appeared that Tester A missed the fact that she was supposed to click the link to open the online intrument tuner. | |
| 34. Practice | |||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Continue | X | X | X | ||
| 35. Play Ode to Joy | |||||
| Link | X | X | X | Everyone clicked on the speaker icon to hear the sample music and expressed disappointment when it didn't play. Each one clicked several times to make sure they weren't doing something wrong. | |
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||
| Continue | X | Tester A and B didn't realize there was one more slide and did not click on the Continue button. | |||
| 36. Have Fun | |||||
| Link | |||||
| Previous | |||||
| Repeat | |||||