Usability project highlight: WSDOT

Each winter, HCDE master’s and certificate students take a deep dive into usability testing and user-centered research in HCDE 517: Usability Studies. In this hands-on course, students work in small teams to design and conduct usability studies from start to finish—with real clients, real products, and real users.

Over the quarter, they define research goals, develop test protocols, recruit participants, run moderated sessions, analyze findings, and deliver actionable recommendations to their sponsors. 

For one HCDE 517 team, a partnership with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) offered the opportunity to conduct research in support of easier and more informed travel across the state. WSDOT’s mobile app provides real-time traffic updates, road conditions, and travel tools for Washington residents and visitors. The students were asked to evaluate the app’s Mountain Pass Reports feature in the Android version—a key section for winter travel planning that WSDOT hadn’t previously had capacity to study in depth.

The team developed a full usability study to assess how well users could find, interpret, and act on the mountain pass information. They created a detailed study kit, recruited nine participants who reflected WSDOT’s core user demographics, and conducted moderated test sessions in which users completed real-world tasks such as locating specific pass reports, favoriting locations, and accessing traffic cameras.

Study participants generally reported high trust and satisfaction with the reports, but the team also identified opportunities to simplify and clarify—such as making interactive elements more discoverable and better communicating when data has been refreshed. Their final deliverables included a written report with prioritized recommendations and a live presentation to members of WSDOT’s development team, who shared that the insights would help inform future updates to the app.