Review: Morae

Product Information

CD-ROM

TechSmith Corporation

517.381.2300

www.techsmith.com

$1298

Training departments often overlook an important component of e-learning development: usability testing, specifically, pre-release testing. Even though good design is user centered and involves iterative development cycles, testing is frequently neglected. A major reason is cost. The traditional usability testing lab can be expensive, requiring such hardware as video cameras, mixing boards, scan converters, and one-way mirrors.

TechSmith's Morae software lets users test electronic courseware during various stages of development for the cost of a computer and the software. (TechSmith created the popular SnagIt software for making screen stills and Camtasia for making screen movies.) For example, if you need to verify that your new graphical user interface is user-friendly and want to systematically test it, Morae is the tool for your shop's development kit.

Recently, we put Morae to the test at our e-learning development facility. We conducted user testing of middle school students who had completed an Internet-delivered lesson that used arcade-like games. User testing is part of our pre-release quality control process.

You might ask: Why would you user test your training program before releasing it to e-learners? Pre-release testing provides an objective lens for viewing a learner using your creation, with the ultimate goal of attaining a high standard of quality. Testing can help you answer important development questions:

• Is the learning engaging?
• Is the instructional design working?
• What are the actual page response times and the effectiveness of links?
• Does the learner need help to navigate the course?
• Are there technical issues?
• Is the Flash programming working the way it should? Does the learner get hung up?

Morae has three components: Recorder, Remote Viewer, and Manager. The Recorder feature records an image of the user (using a simple web cam on top of the monitor), the actual software screens and mouse moves, and audio of both the course and the learner taking the course. The Remote Viewer enables a person to observe the session live from another computer on a network. This eliminates the need for the one-way mirror. The Manager portion of Morae enables a technician to edit the session based on log marks, add text or audio notes, and create a highlights video for delivery on CD-ROM. Edited clips burned to the CD allow anyone to quickly review the results of testing.

We converted a conference room into our new usability lab and brought in two of our newer computers, one for the learner and one for the testing monitor. I then viewed each session as a Remote Monitor from my office workstation on another floor. Installation of both the Morae Recorder and the Morae Manager and Remote Viewer went without a hitch. We were able to train the test monitor (an administrative assistant) to operate the software within a matter of minutes.

We found that Morae is an incredible tool and invaluable as part of the process of improving instructional lessons. One of the first lessons we developed helps kids recognize how advertising and media influence them. We built an arcade memory game, "Locker Slam," in which learners are required to match the ad with the influence type. Morae not only recorded the computer screen and the user but also created a synchronized index of events occurring behind the scene. This allowed us to search for points where students were confused or having trouble and where they were enjoying the learning process. With this information, we were able to correct issues such as the readability of the ads used in the game and the sensitivity of the mouse-graphic relationship.

Although we have yet to do so, we could easily take a laptop with Morae into a school environment instead of bringing students into our test lab. This could provide a more realistic opportunity to capture learner responses.

Pros

Morae has many advantages for anyone creating e-learning:

• the ability to set up a usability testing lab at low cost
• helpful support, for example, identifying that our computer did not have an appropriate video card
• an intuitive interface, especially the simple-to-use editor
• short learning curve
• the capability to record remotely
• the capability to have different flags for each remote viewer
• the capability to resize the picture-in-picture and set transparency before the final version
• the caability to organize the edited version by flagged comments

Cons

Inevitably, there were a few disappointments.

• Users must rely on speakers for computer audio.
• It requires Time-consuming real-time compression.
• Developers must dedicate a computer to Morae because Manager is a resource hog.
• There is no way to remote view the session via the Internet.

Technical requirements

The three Morae components have the same or similar requirements.

• Microsoft Windows 2000, XP or later version of Windows
• Microsoft DirectX 8.1 or later

  1.5 GHz processor or higher

• 256 MB RAM
• 64 MB dedicated video card
• Windows-compatible sound card, microphone and speakers
• 20 MB of hard drive space for program installation
• Approximately 10-12 MB disk space per minute for highlight video creation

For more detail about the requirements for each component, visit the TechSmith website.

Recommendation

Although TechSmith may have positioned this product for use by academics or software developers for quantitative and qualitative research, I see Morae becoming a common tool used by e-learning departments to improve their product before releasing it to learners. Once academics learn that they will no longer have to sit through hours of videotape, they too will agree that Morae deserves a four-star rating.