Usability Research in the Writing Lab: Sustaining Discourse and Pedagogy

Abstract

Redesigning the online writing lab (OWL) presented the opportunity for collaboration among writing center and professional writing program members. While the article briefly describes the OWL redesign process, the argument focuses on collaboration and presents a model for sustainable intra-program collaboration. Following Hawhee, usability research is defined as "invention in the middle," which offers a model for understanding research process as part of the infrastructure of new media instruction as described by DeVoss, Cushman, and Grabill. This article offers four stakeholder perspectives on the process of participatory technology design: of writing center administrators, graduate students, technical writing practitioners, and writing program graduate faculty members. The model asserted by this article presents a dynamic understanding of expertise and of fluidity in the roles of participants. Collaborative usability research, seen as invention-in-the-middle, contributes both to long-term sustainability of technological artifacts as well as the discursive interactions among stakeholders whose work supports these artifacts.

Real-World User Experience: Engaging Students and Industry Professionals Through a Mentor Program

“…Indeed, the qualification "early and often" asks designers to include users not only before but throughout the implementation of a design, be it product or process. Ideally, students become co-creators of the course architecture, and the overall effect is that of a more participatory design approach (Spinuzzi, 2005) to developing course materials and in the case of the LMS, something like Michael Salvo et al's (2009) "discursive technology. "…”