[R U X] Corner
................................................................................ We are graduate and undergraduate students in the Research in User eXperience (RUX) Lab in the Department of Human Factors and Behavioral Neurobiology. RUX investigates the usability and user experience of technology in our everyday world. This is a regular column that explores different technologies typically used by Embry-Riddle students. ................................................................................
Are Users “Raving” About the Eagle Guardian App?
Erika Mandile | Graduate Researcher Jasmine Allen | Undergraduate Researcher
The Rave Guardian app (promoted as “Eagle Guardian”) is a free tool used by organizations and universities to offer safety resources to students and faculty. Eagle Guardian’s features include anonymous tip lines to report suspicious activity on campus, direct lines of communication with Campus Safety, and a Virtual Escort that will provide a way to alert chosen contacts of your location. The app has great potential as a safety tool for students walking around campus, but here in the RUX Lab, we are wondering how aware students are of the features it offers. We set out to research students’ familiarity with and usage of the app, as well as their impressions about its overall usability. A brief survey was distributed to students, asking if they knew about the app, where they have heard about it, and if they have used it. We received 32 responses, equally divided by males and females. Of the 22 respondents who have heard of the app, 59.1% reported hearing about it from Campus Communications emails, 45.5% from freshmen orientation, and 40.9% from Campus Safety and Security. It is clear that students are hearing about the app, but they just don’t find it necessary to download. Although 22 students have heard of the app, 72.7% of them have never downloaded it. Those who did reported using it rarely. To try and understand what features students used within the app, we asked those who have used it why they downloaded it. Responses were similar, such as “for safety,” or “So I could feel safer when I walked home” and “it seemed helpful in case I was in danger Page 16
while on campus.” Using the app rarely is not necessarily a bad thing, as this app may not be one that’s needed all the time, however, it’s helpful to have handy if it’s ever needed. A usability study was performed with five students, ranging from sophomores to seniors. Four were firsttime users, and one had it downloaded but never explored it. Participants were asked their first and final thoughts of the app and to complete five short tasks. Tasks included asking where they would go to submit an anonymous tip or to set up the virtual escort. After each task, participants rated their perceived difficulty on a scale of one (very difficult) to five (very easy). First impressions from users were that the app was “about safety” and “getting in touch with campus safety,” which aligns with the app’s purpose. To compare task difficulty amongst participants, averages were calculated from difficulty ratings.
Image Courtesy / Erika Mandile Bar Graph of Average Difficulty For Each Task