Overview

In this lab, you will integrate AI into usability assessment. Using ChatGPT, you’ll analyze a California State Library website according to a chosen usability heuristic. You’ll create a one-page report summarizing your findings, reflect on the AI’s usefulness, and engage in peer discussion.

This activity will help you practice heuristic evaluation, AI integration, and collaborative critique—key skills for advanced usability work.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this assignment, students will be able to:

Produce a one-page usability report that applies a heuristic to a California State Library site
Prompt and iterate to identify three examples of good/bad design.
Evaluate the effectiveness of AI assistance by rating and justifying ChatGPT’s contribution in a written reflection.
Critique peers’ reports by writing two constructive replies that highlight strengths and suggest improvements.

Instructions

Use Your Library and Heuristic from homework 1

Use the library site and heuristic you have already chosen. One library only and choose shame or fame.

Write a Prompt

Example: “Use Hick’s Law to evaluate [Library Name] website for how it reduces cognitive load when a user is looking for [specific task]. Identify three examples of good or bad usability practices and summarize them.”
I found this useful: Use the web to evaluate A.K. Smiley Public Library using Hick’s Law. Imagine you are a user who is looking for resources on finding tutoring and help for your 10-year-old daughter who enjoys KPop and has dyslexia. Find three concrete ways the site reduces cognitive load when finding services and materials. Explore the site and point these out.

Run the Prompt in ChatGPT

Use ChatGPT to generate the analysis and iterate the the task until you have meaningful results. Be sure to iterate.

Compile Your One-Pager (Word, PDF, GDoc, etc) with

Library name, link and heuristic from your Homework 1.
Prompts used (summarize as needed). Share a link to the chat if appropriate
Three usability results identified by ChatGPT
Brief reflection (with 0–10 satisfaction rating of ChatGPT’s usefulness)

Post and Discuss

Write a very brief preface for the discussion "I found out x when I asked Y" and attach your 1-page report doc or link
Reply to two peers with short, constructive comments (one strength + one suggestion).

Rubric (10 Points Total)

Criterion	Points	Description
Clarity	4	One-Page Report is concise, well-structured, and clearly presents heuristic, prompt, and findings.
Analysis	3	Prompt is thoughtful; analysis shows meaningful exploration of the site.
Community	3	Two replies are constructive and concise, offering both praise and suggestions.