Essentials of Proven Usability Techniques: Making Your Website More Effective

Class Format:	Two–Day Course
Instructor:	Hal Miller–Jacobs, UsabilityCoach.com
Date:	Wednesday–Thursday, May 11-12, 2011
Time:	9:00–4:00 PM ET
Location:	GSA - One Constitution Square
Fee:	$600 federal, state, and local government $800 non-government

Course Description

Almost anyone can put up a website or online tool; but ensuring that people can use it effectively is the challenge. This introductory course will provide you with usability tools and techniques to ensure that you're getting direct citizen input to drive the content and design of your site or online engagement tool. Through lectures, discussions and lively group exercises, you'll learn proven techniques that you can apply to your website and ensure that you're effectively engaging citizens online.

Why You Should Attend

Learn why usability is a critical factor in making sites and applications effective, especially for government sites.

Understand the critical factors within the usability process, in particular:

Developing a meaningful strategy for your site/application
Identifying your users and their needs
Creating a prototype that meets their needs
Evaluating the design iteratively to ensure that it's on target
Focus on getting direct citizen input (through usability testing, card sorting, etc.) to drive the design and content.

Learn how to efficiently incorporate these proven usability techniques in your projects with minimal cost and schedule implications.

Who Should Attend

This course is applicable to all web managers and anyone responsible for providing content to a site or application, as well as anyone aspiring to be part of this new face of government. It's primarily aimed at the beginner level, but current web managers can learn new skills as well as refine their repertoire of techniques

Level of Course

Beginner (though it could be a good refresher for seasoned web managers as well)

Speaker and Presenter Information

Hal Miller-Jacobs, the Usability Coach (UsabilityCoach.com), has been designing and evaluating user interfaces for over 30 years. Starting back in the 'stone age' when 8K was considered a generous size for memory, and before the term Usability Engineering or User Experience were coined, he was designing and evaluating hardware, software, and more recently Web-based user interfaces. Hal consults and teaches all of the Human Factors International's courses leading to certification (Certified Usability Analyst). When Fidelity, NASDAQ, Citi, and Deloitte & Touche need to train graphical interface and web designers; or when an NIH Institute, Dell Computers, Gillette, Fleet Bank, Staples, Smith Barney, Levi Strauss, and Prudential need an innovative approach to update their internet or intranet web sites, Hal can get a call. He is also on the faculty of Tufts University. Hal has a B.S. in Physics and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology and his life work is making technology accessible and usable by people. He designed the award-winning site CancerNet, the official cancer information web site of the National Cancer Institute.

Relevant Government Agencies

Air Force, Army, Navy & Marine Corps, Intelligence Agencies, DOD & Military, Office of the President (includes OMB), Dept of Agriculture, Dept of Commerce, Dept of Education, Dept of Energy, Dept of Health & Human Services, Dept of Homeland Security, Dept of Housing & Urban Development, Dept of the Interior, Dept of Justice, Dept of Labor, Dept of State, Dept of Transportation, Dept of Treasury, Dept of Veterans Affairs, EPA, GSA, USPS, SSA, NASA, Other Federal Agencies, Legislative Agencies (GAO, GPO, LOC, etc.), Judicial Branch Agencies, State Government, County Government, City Government, Municipal Government, CIA, FEMA, Office of Personnel Management, Coast Guard, National Institutes of Health, FAA, Census Bureau, USAID