Web Page Usability Testing Gill Bartlett (Learner Support) Scott Castle (SSiD) Gill Hughes (SSiD)

SSiD Web Pages:  900 pages in SSiD suite  250,000 hits per month  48,000 visits  28,000 unique sites

Format One working day. Observing students navigating the ‘current students’ web pages. Undertake tasks based on realistic scenarios. One student at a time, plus a facilitator and an observer. First year undergraduates. 50 minutes per test.

Resources Student Volunteers Computer, audio & video equipment £10 book tokens

The Script informed students why we were conducting the tests. reassured them that we were testing the web site and not them. asked them to be critical and honest. asked them to do all their thinking ‘out loud’.

Scenarios Examination Timetables Examination Clash forms Change of Address Summary of Results Access to Learning Funds (ALF) Short Term Emergency Assistance Things Not Going Right

Information Capture Scan Converter Video Recorder Microphone Monitor

Information Capture Video Recording of screen Audio recording of comments onto video Observers note taking Creation of a.wav file for PC Recording the User Click Stream onto an Excel spreadsheet

Excel Spreadsheet showing the Click Stream

Findings (General) Accessing SSiD pages Don’t Know What They Don’t Know –Confusion between products Finding specific information set –Transcript & Summary of Results Content Volume –Things Not Going Right Appropriate Medium –Web / Telephone / / Personal Link Descriptions –Student Support & Guidance Links to Further Information –Short Term Emergency Assistance

Changes arising from….. Suggestions of Students –“You should have….” Comments from Students –“It would be good if…..” Behaviour of Students –User Click Streams Inspired by Students

Some Comments….. “Lot of stuff here – might even do a find on the page” “I like the pictures… they tell me I can go there” “I tend to look at the FAQ before the A to Z because it is categorised” “I found the Sheffield home page a bit old fashioned when I applied compared to other universities.”

Changes made to Web Pages Amendments to existing pages –Less Content (Things Not Going Right) –‘Chunking’ (Financial Support) –Expanded scope (Increase 16 to 120 FAQs and 24 categories) Links to associated pages –More on the subject (Financial Support & STL) –Complementary Pages (Things and FAQ page )

Changes continued New Pages –Summary of Results (1,300 hits in February) –Certificate of Student Status –Examples of documents Links where they are expected –Transcripts & Summary of Results Current Student ‘home’ page changes

Did it work ? – Hits

Did it Work ? – Test Changes Repeated 5 scenarios from 1 st Test a.Address change b.Summary of Results/Transcripts c.Access to Learning Fund d.Short Term Emergency Assistance e.Things Not Going Right? Faster and fewer clicks required (except e) New Visual Identity home page

In Summary Simple, cheap, portable and effective exercise. Iterative Process –Test, analyse & evaluate, change, test… Test Groups –International, prospective students, students with disabilities, postgraduates etc.

Questions?