It was last modified by N on September 06, 2007, at 01:07 PM
Nicole Wiebe; March 9 2007
Usability Testing Results for a faulty member.
Initial impressions:
- He doesn't like that the homepage doesn't fill out the screen, the colors were drab, too much waste of space, and there were too many little words.
- Nothing was confusing at first because he doesn't use the website much.
- The picture was annoying to him because of the text that popped up when a user scrolls around the screen. His students were featured and he had to explain to individuals that there was information imbedded in the picture, explaining to them they had to have te cursor over the person/picture ti get the information. Another annoying feature was that "faculty" meant different things on differnt pages.
- To make the web page more visually appealing, he suggested that we strech the pictureto full size of the screen, use less crowded text, maybe picture the clock tower,maybe use some greenery, and/or pictures of students and faculty outside at 7:45 for false fire alarms.
TASKS:
Find faculty Research Report: Medium. He eventually uses his computer's site map.
Find course requirments for a student: Easy. No problem. went to undergrad, minor, accounting.
Teaching an online course: Easy. This was easy only because he will be teaching his first online course this summer and knew where to get the information.
Studying abroad: Easy. He had a link on his website to the study abroad website and found the contact information.
GPA requirements for Master in Econ. Easy. He got to the page but it didn't have any actual applications just a link to go nowhere.
Personal Homepage. Easy. Went to people and then faculty to find himself and allof the information was correct.
Post test questions:
What did you think? He didn't like the tiny words and when you find something, the information is not always there. Finding the advising infromation is difficult.
3 things to tell the webmaster:
Bigger Icons, fewer words, and get rid of the other "stuff" he used the NY Times as an example, they had diiferent font sizes and hefelt the columns were more legible.
2 things for the content manager:
Don't make the headlines so dry. ie.: "accounting students provide tax service" instead, "Accounting students participate in unique.. or Accounts students recognized for..."
Would you use it again?
No, there must be a compelling reason to use it, like his own students pictured or recognized for greatness. Also he noted there are things missing from the site like the stategic planning document.
MBA Student, Wed, Feb 7th
TASKS:
1. You want to know what MBA Corporate Recruiting evens will be held in February. Find the MBA Career Resource Center
Task difficulty: Easy
Observations: clicks: Current to MBA
Found very fast, Uses it a lot, Knew logo would take you back to homepage
2. You want to find your career services contact. Find the Career Resources College Staff page in order to do that.
Task difficulty: Easy
Observations: clicks: MBA to Current Student to Contact
Said if she knew the name that there was another way to find it (searching by name)
Needed question repeated
Had to try two ways but found with ease
3. You are a MAC student and want to find information about study abroad. Find the Vienna- Summer 2007 information page.
Task difficulty: Easy
Observations:
Was not aware of the program but still found it with ease
4. You want to reserve a room for your study group. Find the Reserving Classroom, Other Space page in order to do so.
Task difficulty: Med
Observations:
Used search engine keyword: other space
Took a while to find the search link
Commented that links for this are needed
Did not return to homepage
Not familiar with the term Other Space page
Confused with the wording of the task, needed to have it repeated
Said information should be moved for students to better access because assumed people would not go through faculty & student to find this information
Likes the crumbs to show you the way to find it
5. You are an international student and you want to have your undergraduate transcript translated into English. Find the link for World Education Services to do that.
Task difficulty: Easy
Observations: clicks: Future Students to MBA Admissions to Full time MBA to Admissions to Apply
Remembered how to find it from Admissions but never used it before
First time going to link
6. In order to further network in the College of Management, you want to attend a John W. Pope lecture. Find the John W. Pope Lecture Series site to see if there are any upcoming lectures.
Task difficulty: Med
Observations: clicks 1st attempt: News & Events to Calendar to People to Search to John W. Pope
Clicks 2nd attempt: Special Events to Pope Lecture
Went back and followed crumbs to see the suggested way to do it
D. Post-test Questions
1. What did you think of this website? What did you like? What did you not like?
-Was not familiar with room reservations and MBA website still user-friendly
-Easy to navigate
-Likes the new branding (thought it was good and asked about what font was used)
-Did not like that the Lecture Series was difficult to find
-Did not like that the current MBA student site looks under construction with only 2 lines of information and too much white space
2. If you had three things to tell the website manager to improve the navigation system, what would they be?
(Had difficulty answering)
- Have information that concerns both students & staff together to be a link somewhere
3. If you had two things to tell the content manager about improving or adding to the content on this website, what would they be?
(Browsed the site continuously)
-Instead of pictures, add more visuals and more colors
-Make it more appealing to future students by giving them an opportunity to compare a COM high-tech classroom environment to other schools (may give us a competitive edge)
-COM links in red instead of white because white blends in too much with background, not noticeable
-Add a slideshow with up-to-date pictures of COM events i.e., Wachovia Lecture Series, etc
-Add Welcome to COM quote to make it more appealing
4. Based on your experience today, would you use this website again? Why or why not?
Yes, because she does not have a choice; site is for practical usage
Was used to using the old website
Will expect more pictures
NC State site has mostly what she needs
Only looks at COM site for MBA related information
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