White Paper

Othman Alenazi Amanda Haruch English 317 Project 4 29 November, 2015

GETTING WHAT YOU NEED FROM

YOUR UNIVERSITY WEBSITE

USABILITY TESTING

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GETTING WHAT YOU NEED FROM YOUR

UNIVERSITY WEBSITE

USABILITY TESTING

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the usability of two University websites; the University of Idaho

website (www.uidaho.edu) and the Washington State University website (www.wsu.edu). The goal is to

assess, as a newly admitted student, how easy it is for a new user to accomplish basic tasks necessary

to finding information about their school, assuming the user has basic knowledge and experience using

the internet but is not familiar with these specific websites.

METHODS

TASKS 1. Find out when registration begins

2. Find out when new student orientation is

3. Update personal information

4. Find information for student health insurance requirements

5. Find financial aid information

6. Find the costs of tuition for in state students

7. Find a schedule of classes for Fall of 2016

8. Find the list of courses required for your major

9. Find my advisor

10. Find where to register for classes

TEST ENVIRONMENT The testing environment will be a quiet apartment in Moscow, using a PC laptop to access the internet

with Mozilla Firefox web browser. This is a common web browser and the environment should

represent an average student’s perspective as they would use the university websites.

http://www.uidaho.edu/

http://www.wsu.edu/

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EVALUATION CRITERIA In order to explain qualitative data in a quantitative way, the two websites will be evaluated using a data

collection form with criteria statements and the Likert scale. Here is a blank data collection form:

TASK: Circle which number best describes how well you agree or disagree with each criteria statement:

I was able to accomplish this task in a timely manner.

Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Agree Somewhat Disagree Strongly Disagree

Uidaho.edu 5 4 3 2 1

WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes:

I was able to accomplish the task easily without getting confused or frustrated.



WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes:

I was satisfied with the outcome of completing this task.



WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes:

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RESULTS

TASK 1: FIND OUT WHEN REGISTRATION BEGINS Select which number best describes how well you agree or disagree with each criteria statement:




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Less than 5 minutes for each website.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Looked in wrong place several times first before finding the answer.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Task was completed.

FIGURE 1.1 FIGURE 1.2

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TASK 2: FIND OUT WHEN NEW STUDENT ORIENTATION IS Select which number best describes how well you agree or disagree with each criteria statement:




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: The Uidaho site took less than 1 minute, the WSU site took more than 5 minutes.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: The Uidaho website had the information linked to the same area of the website as the

last task so it was easy to find. The WSU website had a completely different website for the orientation

and it required using the search feature to find.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: The task was completed.


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TASK 3: UPDATE PERSONAL INFORMATION Select which number best describes how well you agree or disagree with each criteria statement:




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Uidaho redirects you to another website and if you don’t know about that website, it is

hard to find and takes a long time. WSU doesn’t have a quick link but it was faster to search than

Uidaho.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Uidaho was frustrating if you don’t know what to look for. WSU was not but it still needed

to be searched for.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: WSU has better explanation of how to access personal information, had to find with

search feature but it was the first result. Uidaho doesn’t had instructions and the link was far down in

the search results.


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TASK 4: FIND INFORMATION FOR STUDENT HEALTH INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS Select which number best describes how well you agree or disagree with each criteria statement:




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Neither website had a quick link but had it in the search and took less than 1 minute.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Both search results had the information.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Both websites provided a lot of information about health insurance.


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TASK 5: FIND FINANCIAL AID INFORMATION Select which number best describes how well you agree or disagree with each criteria statement:




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Both websites had the information under the current student section or the admissions

link so it was easy to find.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: It was easy to find this information on both websites.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: I was able to find a lot of information.

FIGURE 5.1

FIGURE 5.2

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TASK 6: FIND THE COSTS OF TUITION FOR IN STATE STUDENTS Select which number best describes how well you agree or disagree with each criteria statement:




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Both websites showed this information close to the financial aid info.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Found information fast and it was the right information.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1



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TASK 7: FIND A SCHEDULE OF CLASSES FOR FALL OF 2016 Select which number best describes how well you agree or disagree with each criteria statement:




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: It took some time but it not very long on both sites.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: The Uidaho website redirects you to another website and it was hard to find a link. It’s

hard to use the search tool if you don’t know what to type. The WSU website had it under the

Admissions link which was easy.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1



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TASK 8: FIND THE LIST OF COURSES REQUIRED FOR YOUR MAJOR Select which number best describes how well you agree or disagree with each criteria statement:




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: It took more than 10 minutes for each website to find this information.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: It was easy to find information about Electrical Engineering programs and departments,

but the list of classes was not in the same place.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Task was completed on Uidaho website but not found on WSU website. The WSU

website refers the student to their advisor so that is as close to completing the task as the website can

get.


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TASK 9: FIND MY ADVISOR Select which number best describes how well you agree or disagree with each criteria statement:




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: It was not easy to find so I used the search tool, only found it for WSU, not Uidaho..




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: The WSU website redirected me to another website for advising which was hard to find.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Task was not completed on Uidaho website and the WSU website had a page that

wasn’t working. Maybe you have to be a registered student for this feature but it has a blank screen.

FIGURE 9

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TASK 10: FIND WHERE TO REGISTER FOR CLASSES Select which number best describes how well you agree or disagree with each criteria statement:




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: I used the search tool for this and found it very fast on both websites.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: It was simple to understand.




WSU.edu 5 4 3 2 1

Notes: Task was completed and had instructions for registration on both websites.


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SUMMARY

Overall, both websites had some strengths and some weaknesses. The Uidaho website was good in

the search tool and a lot of the tasks were easy to complete because once you find one answer, other

answers are close to it and it has a link to the next question. The WSU website has a lot of links that

are specific but not for these tasks and so you have to use the search tool and it will take you to a

different website so I would say it is not as intuitive but it is still user friendly because the search tool

works. Below are the averages for each criteria question. The two websites tied in the ease and

outcome category but the Uidaho website was .4 pints behind the WSU website in how much time it

took to complete the tasks.

RECOMMENDATION

Based on the results, the user would prefer the WSU website over the Uidaho website because it takes

less time to complete a task. Although there was a task that was not satisfactory, the Uidaho wensite

also had a task that could not be completed so the scores are very close. Both websites provide a lot of

information and feature a search tool so if the user is overwhelmed by all of the links, they can search

for their topic.

I was able to

accomplish tasks in a

timely manner

I was able to

accomplish tasks easily

without getting

confused or frustrated

I was satisfied with the

outcome of completing

this tasks

Uidaho.edu 3.5 3.9 4.3

WSU.edu 3.9 3.9 4.3

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