Website Usability
MALONE UNIVERSITY
The Malone University web team recently redesigned the schools website; however, the structure of the new website has left users frustrated with the disjointed experience they have attempting to find information while navigating the site. In an effort to explore where the new design was failing users, Malone desired to employ user research to discover the key site issues affecting user’s ability to find the information they desire on the site.
The Research Question
This study focused on one main research question: What are the key issues users are facing when attempting to navigate and find the information they desire on the Malone University website?
The Project Justification
By discovering the key issues in the student’s interaction with the university website, we can discover ways in which the structure, labeling, and navigation of the site can be improved to provide a more friendly experience for current undergraduate students. By enhancing their experience with the site, we can positively affect the overall views and attitudes of the current student population towards the website and its ease of use.
Research Methods
User Interviews
Six current Malone University undergraduate students were recruited to participate in interview sessions lasting approximately 10-15 minutes to uncover the wants and needs of the student population when navigating the Malone.edu webpage. While previous research for the site redesign did discover this information to an extent, further research was needed to understand any changes to user desires, and to further clarify student’s expectations. In addition, current students have expressed frustration when navigating the site. By performing interviews, we were able to discover in more detail what frustrations the students were experiencing. This enabled us to better structure tasks for the usability study in an effort to uncover where in the task performance users were experiencing issues.
I identified the following primary user group for inclusion in this stage of research:
Age: 18 and above
Student Status: Current Malone University undergraduate student
Computer Literacy: Has basic computer knowledge, and uses the internet proficiently and independently for basic tasks such as shopping, email, and web surfing weekly.
Interview Insights
Usability Testing
Utilizing the insights gained through the interviews, a usability test was then created. The actions and thoughts of five users were recorded and studied as they were taken through a moderated testing session where they were asked to complete the following tasks:​​
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Locate your current grades
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Find the semester course drop dates
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Find the SFO calendar to view upcoming SFO’s
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Locate one of your professor’s email addresses on the Malone website
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Find the health center’s hours of operation
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Navigate to the library website to begin a journal search
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Search the website for information about the nursing program
Each session was recorded in an office on the Malone campus, and lasted approximately 10-15 minutes. Sessions were recorded to capture the user’s movements, mouse clicks, and facial expressions during the tasks, utilizing the screen capture software Screencast-o-matic, and a microphone.
Data Analysis
Once the usability test sessions were complete I analyzed the data collected during the sessions and from the post test questionnaire.
Major Findings and Recommendations
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Overall, users seem to navigate to the website with a specific goal in mind.
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Desired Device: Users prefer to use a laptop or desktop computer to navigate the site because they feel it is easier to navigate on a desktop computer than on the small screen of a mobile device.
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Common Tasks Performed: Access Malone Xpress, check grades, access Moodle, check SFO balance, view course information, pay tuition, search majors, access email
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Site Frustrations: Difficult to discover where you are going initially, generally confusing, lacks user friendliness, confusing library and registrar tabs, headings that contain information different than what is expected, difficult to access certain tabs and pages
Interview Findings
Usability Study Findings & Recommendations
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The site labels aren’t clear enough to allow for users to easily locate the information they desire: Consider re-evaluating the headings and topic groupings within the menus to be sure they are easily understood by the students.
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The online learning login is highly desired and used by participants, but not located prominently on the main page: Consider bringing the online learning link to the home page in the header navigation by the Malone Xpress link so that it can be more quickly accessed by current students.
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All of the participants struggled to find a clear path to the registrar: Consider relocating the registrar heading to a more prominent location within the drop down menus.
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Some struggled with finding the SFO calendar: Consider either changing the label names in the Faith at Malone heading to more accurately reflect what information will be found within each section, or bring the SFO calendar link closer to the surface by adding it to the Faith at Malone menu.
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Some students struggle to find faculty contact information: Consider changing the “Meet our Faculty” heading to something more understandable by the students so that they can find their professors more easily on the site.
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Some struggled with finding the library: Consider bringing the library link up closer to the surface within the navigation to aid students in quickly finding the resources they need to complete their work.
Research Limitations
​While we were able to gain many insights from the interviews and usability testing, additional testing is recommended to fill gaps in our test population. Given the fact that we were unable to secure prospective, graduate, or male students as participants additional studies are recommended for these populations to discover any challenges they may be experiencing with the site.