Millersville University Website Usability Testing

ADMISSIONS WEBSITE

USABILITY TESTING

Millersville University

CONTENTS 01 02 03 04 05 07

PURPOSE SET UP PROCESS QUESTIONS QUESTION 1 QUESTION 2

09 11 13 15 16 17

QUESTION 3 QUESTION 4 QUESTION 5 NOTEABLE RESULTS PERSONAL TAKE-AWAYS SUGGESTIONS

PURPOSE The purpose of the project was to study users to determine the usability of the Millersville University Undergraduate Admissions site.

Usability involves the ease with which a user can navigate the website and complete desired tasks.

01

SET UP The style of user testing I used was guerilla user research. Guerilla user research involves finding real users of the product being tested and asking the users to perform tasks by using this product. In order to conduct my research, I first had to find potential users of the Millersville University admissions site.

I found some prospective students and their families in the admissions office on campus, as well as people I already knew personally who would be potential users of the site.

I let each participant know that I was doing research for a user experience class and asked them if they would be interested in participating.

02

PROCESS I started off by letting them know that I was testing the website, not them.

I’d then ask them to sit at my laptop, where the admissions page was already up on screen.

From there, I’d make them aware that I may be recording their actions and had them sign a consent form.

At this point I’d get to the important stuff, the questions.

03

QUESTIONS 1

Can you find information on how much it costs to attend Millersville University?

2

Can you find information on the major in which you are interested in applying?

3

If you were an out-of-state student how would you find information regarding special out-of-state offerings?

4

Can you find information on how to apply as an international student?

5

Can you find information about living on-campus?

04

QUESTION 1

05

Can you find information on how much it costs to attend Millersville University?

USER 1

Tuition

Tuition and Fees

USER 2

Admissions

Parents & Famillies

Tuition

USER 3

Paying for Millersville

USER 4

Admissions

Undergraduate

Paying for Millersville

USER 5

Paying for Millersville

: used search bar

: click of a button

QUESTION 1: SUMMARY Overall, question one was found promptly with between one and three clicks. Between the five users tested, there were three different pages that the users ended their search on, but all three different pages contained information about the cost to attend the university.

Only one user made use of the search bar, while the rest navigated using the options already available on the admissions webpage. None of the users vocalized issues during the testing of question one.

06

QUESTION 2 USER 1

Academics

Undergraduate Academics

Early, Middle, & Exceptional Education

USER 2

Academics

Undergraduate Academics

School of Social Work

USER 3

Academics

Undergraduate Academics

Psychology

Admissions

Academics

Undergraduate Academics

Academics

Undergraduate Academics

Become a Teacher: Middle School

USER 4 USER 5 07

Can you find information on the major in which you are interested in applying?

The College of Education and Human Services

: used search bar

: click of a button

QUESTION 2: SUMMARY All five users took a similar path in search of their desired major. All five utilized the “Academics” tab at the top of the Millersville website, then navigated to the “Undergraduate Academics” option and found their major from that location.

No users displayed any issues during this question. However, this question yielded the longest paths of clicking in comparison to the other questions.

08

QUESTION 3

09

If you were an out-of-state student, how would you find information regarding special out-of-state offerings?

USER 1

Admissions

Out-of-State

USER 2

Parents & Families

Billing Info

USER 3

Out-of -State

Out-of-State Residents

USER 4

Admissions

Out-of-State

USER 5

Admissons

Undergraduate Academics

Tuition

Out-of-State

: used search bar

: click of a button

QUESTION 3: SUMMARY One of the five users decided to start this action by using the search bar and simply typing in “Out-of-State” while the other four users utilized either the “Admissions” tab or the “Parents and Families” tab at the top of the webpage.

Although the users tested ended their search on various pages, each page contained some kind of information regarding the reduced tuition rate for out-of-state students.

10

QUESTION 4

11

Can you find information on how to apply as an international student?

USER 1

International

USER 2

International

USER 3

International

USER 4

Admissions

International

USER 5

Apply Now

International Students

QUESTION 4: SUMMARY Out of the five questions, this question was found the quickest. Three out of the five participants were able to navigate this question with just one click.

Four of the five users tested ended their search on the “International” page while one ended on the “Interntional Students” page which details the application process.

12

13

QUESTION 5

Can you find information about living on campus?

USER 1

Parents & Families

Housing Options

USER 2

Parents & Families

Living-Learning Communities

Housing Options

USER 3

Parents & Families

Housing

Housing Options

USER 4

Academics

Undergrad

Admissions

USER 5

Community

Parents & Families

Housing

Housing Options

: used search bar

: click of a button

QUESTION 5: SUMMARY The fifth question, which asked users to find information about living on campus, was the question that overall took users the longest to find. On average, it took three clicks for the user to find the information for which they were looking.

This question was the only question which left one user verbally frustrated.

The fourth participant expressed that she couldn’t find what she was looking for, then said she was determined to find it, but after a minute she chose to end her search without finding information about housing.

14

NOTEABLE RESULTS 3 out of 5 users spent the most amount of time on the housing question.

1 out of 5 users were unable to complete the search for the housing options.

5 out of 5 users used at least three clicks of the mouse to find their desired major.

3 out of 5 users found information for international students with just one click.

15

PERSONAL TAKE-AWAYS My assumptions about the usability were not necessarily accurate:

Looking from the outside in, I realized how quickly users navigate the internet:

Participants are often more open and willing to help than anticipated:

Before beginning testing, I thought that I would be witnessing a lot of stumbling around the website and dead ends. To my surprise, most of the users had little to no problem promptly completing the tasks at hand.

When I navigate though a webpage myself, I do not realize how short of a time I, as a user, spend on each page. However, while watching the users navigate through the admissions page, I realized when searching for something on a page, users often only take a few seconds to scan the page before moving on.

Every person I asked to participate immediately showed interest and were polite. Participants did not show much nervousness or apprehension.

16

SUGGESTIONS In conclusion, most of the issues I noticed while conducting my user testing stemmed from the question regarding living on campus.

To fix the long path needed to navigate to information on this topic, I would suggest a link on the admissions page in either of the naviagtion bars below the image slideshow.

Looking at the results, information for international students was found quickly because of the simple, easy-to-find link in the admissions navigation bar. Housing options are an important part of college for many students and therefore should be directly in the navigation on the admissions page.

17

I also propose a similar suggestion for the question which prompted users to search for their desired major. Of the five users tested, all found their major, but only after four or more clicks of the mouse. Majors are another important part of choosing a college which is why I would suggest a link from the admissions page that would connect directly to the page containing the list of majors.

With these changes, I feel that the user experience for prospective students and their families would show great improvement.