Engl 317 - Project 4 Deliverable 1

Clemens 1
University Website
Usability Test
University of Idaho Washington State University
Tyler Clemens
Clemens 2
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................3
METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................3
Testing Environment/Equipment ............................................................................................3
Tasks ...........................................................................................................................................3
Test Metrics ...............................................................................................................................4
Evaluation ..................................................................................................................................4
RESULTS ......................................................................................................................................5
Task 1: Research Cost of Attendance and Calculate Net Price of Attendance ...................5
Task 2: Finding Available Financial Aid Resources ..............................................................5
Task 3: Locating Housing Options, Floor Plans, and Housing Registration .......................6
Task 4: Navigating the Undergraduate Website for a Specific Department (Geology) .....6
Task 5: Viewing the Degree Requirements for a B.S. in Geology/Earth Science ................7
Task 6: Accessing Class Registration Information and Linking to the Registration Page 8
Task 7: Finding Research, Clubs, Sports, and Volunteering Opportunities .......................8
Task 8: Locating an Academic School Calendar ....................................................................9
Task 9: Accessing the Graduate School Requirements Page (Geology in Particular) ......10
Task 10: Locate Area for Parents of Prospective Students .................................................10
RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSION ...............................................................................11
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................11
University of Idaho Recommendations .................................................................................11
Washington State University Recommendations .................................................................11
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................12
APPENDIX: RAW DATA .........................................................................................................13

Clemens 3
Introduction
University and college websites in the U.S. vary widely, and often have different resources
available to those using their websites. Not every site navigates and functions the same way. This
white paper presents the results from a usability test comparing the two websites in each of the
five standards of usability.
Methodology
Testing Environment/Equipment
The usability test was performed on a 2016 Dell Inspiron 3558 laptop running Windows 10,
Version 1709. The tests were performed using the Google Chrome web browser for both
websites to ensure consistency. Within the browser, tabs for both the University of Idaho and
Washington State University websites were open next to each other so that easy switching
between the two for testing could be performed.
The test was performed over a couple of days, allocated into periods of time 1-2 hours long. The
tests were conducted in an environment similar to one which would typically be used by the
intended users, prospective students and their parents. The testing environment was a well-lit
bedroom with minimal to no background noise to distract the user from testing the usability of
the websites.
The data retrieved was what was up to date on the website as far as the test was conducted. To
ensure that there would be no confusion in coming back after stopping, the criteria for each of
the tasks was immediately recorded and notes were taken.
Tasks
To effectively compare the two university websites, ten (10) tasks were established to complete
on both sites. When these tasks were performed, they could then be graded on a scale and notes
could be taken on potential problems, recommendations, or points of note for each site. The ten
tasks were as follows:
1. Research Cost of Attendance and Calculate Net Price of Attendance
2. Finding Available Financial Aid Resources
3. Locating Housing Options, Floor Plans, and Housing Registration
4. Navigating the Undergraduate Website for a Specific Department (Geology)
5. Viewing the Degree Requirements for a B.S. in Geology/Earth Science
6. Accessing Class Registration Information and Linking to the Registration Page
7. Finding Undergraduate Research, Clubs, Sports, and Volunteering Opportunities
8. Locating an Academic School Calendar
9. Accessing the Graduate School Requirements Page (Geology in Particular)
10. Locate Area for Parents of Prospective Students
Clemens 4
Test Metrics
Five criteria statements were written to create qualitative feedback from the test, and to provide
context for the Likert Scale mentioned later. Each criteria statement corresponded to one of the
five standards of usability: efficiency, effectiveness, engagement, error tolerance, and easiness to
learn. The statements were as follows:
Effective: I was able to successfully complete the task.
Efficient: I was able to complete the task in a reasonable amount of time/clicks.
Engaging: The website's design helped me to complete the task in an engaging manner.
Error Tolerant: I was able to complete the task with minimal to no error.
Easy to Learn: If errors occurred, the feedback was helpful in redirecting me.
Evaluation
The grading scale used to generate quantitative data was the Likert Scale, commonly used in
many surveys today. The scale ranged from 1 to 5, with 1 representing the statement Strongly
Agree and the number 5 representing the statement Strongly Disagree. In between were the
numbers 2 (representing the statement Agree), 3 (representing the statement Neither Agree
nor Disagree), and 4 (representing the statement Disagree). The selected choice was filled
with green to represent that number being picked. An example of the Likert Scale used for
testing can be seen below:
Table 1: Likert Scale used for usability test.
Neither
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree nor Disagree
Agree Disagree
Disagree
1 2 3 4 5
Clemens 5
Results
Task 1: Research Cost of Attendance and Calculate Net Price of Attendance
While I was able to accomplish the first

task on both universitys websites, it was
a much easier task to do on the WSU site.
It took four clicks alone to find the cost of
attendance on U of Is website, and
another five from there to find the price
calculator. While there was a link directly
to them from the Current Students page,
parents and incoming students would not
typically look here, and there was not a
direct one from the Admissions page
which seems unlikely. It seemed to take
excessively long to find. Figure 1: Net price calculator was the same on both sites.
WSUs site had a far more efficient system; even though the cost of attendance took three clicks to
find, the calculator, which was the same on both sites (Figure 1), was on the next page. The
financial aid options for incoming students was actually under Admissions on WSUs site. The
transition was much more efficient.
Task 2: Finding Available Financial Aid Resources
Finding financial aid resources was something that was

incredibly easy, and both websites excelled in this
category, earning solid Strongly Agree for each of the
five criteria.
University of Idahos site had a link from the Prospective
Students tab this time, including for graduate students
(Figure 3), and all applications were only one or two steps
away from there. The plethora of information available
for aid also helped UIs effectiveness here.
WSUs site was also very efficient, even more so than U
of Is. A collapsible column of scholarships (Figure 2)
was present like at U of Is site, but WSU also had
something more intuitive.
Rather than having to sift through various aid, WSU had a
data entry field to input your information, which would
end up retrieving matching aid for you (Figure 4). It was a
bit more engaging of an experience over U of Is, but both
Figure 2: WSU financial aid column. excelled.
Clemens 6
<< Figure 3: U of I main block of links.
Figure 4: WSU scholarship retrieval tool.
Task 3: Locating Housing Options, Floor Plans, and Housing Registration
Both websites were quite the same for the third task.
U of Is site had a link to Housing straight from the
main page under Student Life, and apps were easy
to find. The floor plans were a bit hard to navigate to
though. Housing examples can be seen in (Figure 5).
WSU had a more engaging and flexible arrangement
with their housing search. Like with financial aid,
there was a checkbox field where a prospective
student or parent could narrow down their housing
based on preferences (Figure 6). Finding the apps for
housing took a bit longer, but they offered 3-D
virtual tours, which gave them a leg up in the
competition between the two. Figure 5: U of I housing choices.
Figure 6: WSU housing preferences.
Task 4: Navigating the Undergraduate Website for a Specific Department (Geology)

University of Idahos website performed better in the usability test for this task. A
straightforward series of clicks from Academics to the College of Science led to the Department
of Geology page (Figure 7).
Clemens 7
All further information

on the department (e.g.
courses, degrees, staff,
faculty, etc.) could be
found here.
WSUs website was
less satisfactory in the
search for a geology
department page. While
finding the undergrad
geology page was
simple enough, there
Figure 7: U of I Geology Department home page.
wasnt one for the
whole department.
In addition, there were two routes to the same undergraduate geology page on the
WSU website, which could be confusing. U of I had more concrete, user-friendly results.
Task 5: Viewing the Degree Requirements for a B.S. in Geology/Earth Science
Figure 8: An
error page when
trying to link to
the B.S. Geology
courses required
for the degree.
This task was one in which U of Is website suffered quite badly in each of the criteria. When
starting from the geology department page, it was easy enough to link to the undergraduate page
and find the degree requirement link, but it was broken (Figure 8). Eventually it was found.
The search ended up linking back to the

same page and a different, more obscure
link gave the proper result. The navigation
seemed very out-of-date and clunky. The
only category that received above a 3
(Neither Agree nor Disagree) was the
Effective criteria.
Despite this, the UI degree roadmap was
much better. It had pre- and co-requisites
Figure 9: U of I had a much better degree roadmap.
listed and gave class descriptions, which
improved its engagement rating (Figure 9).
Clemens 8
While WSU had a much easier

navigation to the degree roadmap (two
clicks versus U of Is five) it was much
harder to sift through and visually
unappealing.
There were no actual names for the
courses listed, nor were there any
descriptions for the classes either
(Figure 10).
Figure 10: A description-less, plain page for WSUs
course catalog.
Task 6: Accessing Class Registration Information and Linking to the Registration Page
There was better access to registration on the U of I website for sure. However, there was no
actual registration information for the prospective students. After not seeing any information in
the Prospective Student tab, a quick glimpse into Current Students led right there (Figure 11).
Figure 11: A registration link

prompting users to access VandalWeb.
WSUs website did very poorly in this section. The link to either the registrar home page or
straight to class registration (like VandalWeb) were nowhere on the first page. Only after some
stumbling around did the search bar produce a link to a registrar page that immediately locked
out needing a sign-in prompt. Only upon searching more on the Admitted Students page did an
orientation page that possibly mentioned registering appear. It was very hard to navigate.
Task 7: Finding Undergraduate Research, Clubs, Sports, and Volunteering Opportunities
Like with the last task, University of Idahos site presented a

much easier display of the various clubs, organizations, and
the like on campus. WSU also suffered in this regard.
All of WSUs various groups were split up and in different
locations. The sidebar in (Figure 12) was the only place to
find access to the various groups on campus, and it was
tucked away on the (hard to find) student involvement page.
Figure 12: Tiny student
organization sidebar.
Clemens 9
The athletics page was found at the

bottom of the WSU home page, and
only research was in the main links.
As for U of I, every single group
and possibility was placed in one
spot that was one click away from
the main page (Figure 13).
There were pictures for every single
group (e.g. studying abroad,
research, intramural sports, etc.),
which was quite engaging.
Each picture linked to a respective
page that had a lot more information Figure 13: All of these pictures represent a group or
and outreach. It was well-designed. activity of some kind and all link to appropriate pages.
Task 8: Locating an Academic School Calendar
Figure 14: WSU

calendar link right
off the main page.
Figure 15: U of I calendar link under both

the Prospective and Current Student tabs.
Both websites met all criteria perfectly. Each of the websites had
a calendar that was only one click away.
U of Is calendar (Figure 15) contained future calendars also.
WSUs calendar link (Figure 14) contained a series of several
calendars. The main academic calendar is present but there are
also sports and entertainment event ones also. It seems that
WSU has consolidated all calendars better than U of I.
Clemens 10
Task 9: Accessing the Graduate School Requirements Page (Geology in Particular)

Both websites could use a little bit of work in this task. On U of Is site, there wasn't any trouble
finding the graduate studies page, as it was only two clicks away (Figure 16). As for the geology
graduate page, there were two separate ones, accessed from two different routes (department
page and College of Science page), so that could be fixed.
Figure 16:
University of
Idahos grad
studies main
page.
With WSUs website, both the graduate school page and the geology graduate page were two
clicks away from the main page, and quite easy to link to. Rather than having two ways to access
the page it could be more centralized, although it currently can be quicker than UI's search.
Task 10: Locate Area for Parents of Prospective Students
For the final task, University of Idahos website did

better than WSUs. It has an entire tab dedicated to
parents of prospective (along with current) students
parents (Figure 18).
There wasn't much in the way for parents on WSU's
website, or at least not to the degree of U of I. By
searching through Admissions, I found a link to a
parents newsletter (Figure 17), which wasn't quite what
I was looking for. This could use more development.
Figure 17: WSU parent
newsletter link.
Figure 18: >>

University of
Idahos entire
tab dedicated
to parents.
Clemens 11
Recommendations/Conclusion
Conclusion
For the most part both websites were quite easy to navigate and contained almost all data that the
test called for. Each website suffered in specific categories (which will be covered in the section
Recommendations), but it is hard to say if one is better overall since college websites can vary
so widely.
As per the results of the test, University of Idaho came out ahead in half of the tasks (4, 5, 6, 7,
and 10) while Washington State University was better in the other five tasks (1, 2, 3, 8, and 9). In
the cases where the two tied, WSU usually had a factor that would give it an edge.
Overall, the design of U of Is website seemed more user-friendly, as did its navigation, but it
was offset by WSUs better functionality and lack of errors on some tasks.
University of Idaho Recommendations
As stated above, University of Idaho performed poorly being able to quickly search through
financial aid, cost of attendance, and housing. It took more clicks to get to these pages, and they
were often less engaging (for example, WSU had a scholarship retrieval tool while U of I did
not). U of I could benefit more from reducing the number of clicks necessary to view these
pages, and by making them more interactive rather than forcing the user to slog through them.
Another shortcoming of the U of I website was its roundabout multiple access points. With the
graduate school and academic calendar tasks (8 and 9 respectively), there were multiple ways to
access the same page, so this could be consolidated.
Washington State University Recommendations
Washington State did poorly in a few rather crucial areas. Being able to navigate degree
requirements and department pages is vital for those who want to explore majors at a college and
see what kind of courses are offered/must be taken, and this is where WSUs site falls through.
WSU lacked a department page altogether for the test department (geology), and the degree
course requirement page was very bland, unintuitive, and unhelpful. U of I outshone it by far.
Another missing important part was the muddling of the volunteering/clubs/research/etc. Many
prospective students (and current ones as well) look to getting involved with organizations,
sports, and volunteering as a way to make friends, broaden their horizons, gain experience, and
enrich their college careers. The utter confusion in not being able to find these can be off-putting
to a prospective student who may not be able to find interests on the campus. WSU should do
like U of I and put this all in one easy to navigate, user-friendly, aesthetically-pleasing area.
The lack of a dedicated Parents page needs addressing as well. Parents should be given
information as to how the college process works, since this is most likely the first time their child
will be fully or mostly independent.
Clemens 12
Bibliography
http://www.uidaho.edu/
https://wsu.edu/
Clemens 13
Appendix: Raw Data

University of Idaho
Website www.uidaho.edu
Find the estimated cost of attendance and calculate the net
Task 1 price to attend.
Effective I was able to successfully complete the task.

Neither
Strongly Agree Agree nor Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree Disagree
1 2 3 4 5
I was able to complete the task in a reasonable amount of

Efficient
time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Engaging The website's design helped me to complete the task in an

engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Error
Tolerant I was able to complete the task with minimal to no error.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
If errors occurred, the feedback was helpful in redirecting me.

Neither
Clemens 14
1 2 3 4 5
Easy-to-
Learn Completing the task was easy to do.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Notes From an outside perspective, I initially thought that this may be

lumped under "Admissions," but there was a tab specifically for
incoming students that brought me there in one click. This was an
error on my part, not UI, but perhaps a bit confusing? Some trial and
error.
Find available financial aid resources (i.e. scholarships, grants,

Task 2 and work study)

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Efficient
time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
The website's design helped me to complete the task in an

Engaging
engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Error
Clemens 15
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Easy-to-
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Notes Finding the scholarships for incoming students was very easy to do (on
the "Prospective Students" page in the same area as COA). All aid was
one click away, and any descriptions or apps were 1 or 2 after that.
Plus there was plenty of additional info and resources. Great.
Task 3 Find housing options, floor plans, and registration.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Efficient
time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Engaging
engaging manner.
Clemens 16
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Error
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Easy-to-
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Notes Finding the housing pge was easy (under "Student Life" which seems
reasonable) and from there the application was only another two
clicks away. The floor plans took a little bit extra in a different
direction, but otherwise it was easy to find.
Locate the undergraduate website for a specific academic

Task 4 department (geology/earth science).

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Efficient
time/clicks.
Clemens 17
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Engaging
engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Error
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Easy-to-
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Notes Very straightforward appproach to find the geology department page

(Academics > College of Science > Geological Sciences). Not hard to
find, intuitive, and all further information can be found there.
Either download or view the degree requirements for a B.S. in

Task 5 geology/earth science.

Clemens 18
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Efficient
time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Engaging
engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Error
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Easy-to-
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Notes
Clemens 19
Starting from the geology department page, it was easy enough to find
the degree roadmap for a B.S. The only problem was, it gave me a 404
error saying it didn't exist. After a search, I came back to the same
page and clicked on a less obvious link to get my answer. Not very
good.
Task 6 Access class registration page; find link to register for classes.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Efficient
time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Engaging
engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Error
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Clemens 20
Easy-to-
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Notes After a quick glimpse into the drop-down menu for Prospective
Students and seeing nothing, I checked the Current Students tab and
found a link right away, which was easy to follow to a link to
VandalWeb. It appears that once admitted this would be accessible.
Research, club, sports, and volunteering opportunities through

Task 7 the college.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Efficient
time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Engaging
engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Error
Neither
Clemens 21
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Easy-to-
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Notes Very easy, only one click to find the page that linked to volunteering,
leadership, diversity, studying abroad, reasearch, intramurals,
athletics, and more. Clubs and other info were only an additional one
or two clicks ahead.
Task 8 Locate a practical academic calendar for the school year.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Efficient
time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Engaging
engaging manner.
Neither
Clemens 22
1 2 3 4 5
Error
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Easy-to-
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Notes Straight off the main page under both the Current and Prospective
Student tabs was a link to the same page with an academic calendar,
so it was easy to find. There are also future calendars available.
Access the page for graduate school requirements, along with

Task 9 the geology/earth science graduate page specifically.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Efficient
time/clicks.
Neither
Clemens 23
1 2 3 4 5
Engaging The website's design helped me to complete the task in an

engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Error
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Easy-to-
Neither
Strongly Somewhat Agree nor Disagree Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
1 2 3 4 5
Notes There wasn't any trouble finding the graduate studies page, as it was
only two clicks away. As for the geology graduate page, there were
two separate ones, accessed from two different routes (department
page and College of Science page), so that could be fixed.
Locate the appropriate link/area for information regarding

Task 10 parents of prospective students.

Neither
Clemens 24
1 2 3 4 5
Efficient I was able to complete the task in a reasonable amount of

time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Engaging
engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Error
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Easy-to-
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Notes Very easy to locate. There is a dropdown tab labeled "Parents" with
links to other resources, or it can be clicked for an overview to other
resource pages for parents. Nice information that is easily accessed
and well placed.
Clemens 25
Washington State University
www.wsu.edu
Find the estimated cost of attendance and calculate the net
price to attend.
I was able to successfully complete the task.

Neither
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree nor Disagree
Agree Disagree
Disagree
1 2 3 4 5

time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
I was able to complete the task with minimal to no error.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Clemens 26
Completing the task was easy to do.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
It seemed a lot simpler to access WSU's financial aid system since it

was all in one place. This time it was actually under Admissions and
the price calculator was only one click away from the estimated cost
rather than being in a different area. Fairly reasonable time.
Find available financial aid resources (i.e. scholarships, grants,

and work study)

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Clemens 27

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Like U of I, WSU 's website had the financial aid page one click away
from the home page, although unlike UI aid for even the returning
students can be found here. All info and resources were only one click
further than the FinAid page. Even better than UI I'd say.
Find housing options, floor plans, and registration.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Clemens 28

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Like UI, finding the registration was only four clicks away. Finding the
housing page was immediate, but it took a little longer to find the app
than it did for UI. However, this had 3-D virtual tours and seemed
more informational overall. Pretty solid.
Locate the undergraduate website for a specific academic

department (geology/earth science).

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Clemens 29

engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
While it only took three to four clicks to find the geology undergrad
page, there wasn't a dedicated department page that I could find, and
there were two routes to the same page. UI definitely had a more
concrete result for what I was looking for.
Either download or view the degree requirements for a B.S. in

geology/earth science.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Clemens 30

time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
While it was much easier to get to the degree requirements right

away (two vs. five from UI), it looked much uglier and hard to sift
through. Although UI's main link is broken, it gives descriptions of
each class and provides pre/coreq. Class info unlike WSU's page.
Worse design.
Clemens 31
Access class registration page; find link to register for classes.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
Clemens 32
1 2 3 4 5
After bumbling around and finding the registrar page after using the
search bar, I was locked out by needing to sign in. Upon searching
more on the Admitted Students page, I clicked a couple links and
found an orientation page that mentioned registering. Kind of hard to
find.
Research, club, sports, and volunteering opportunities through

the college.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
Clemens 33
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
WSU is aconfusing to navigate for getting involved. The clubs were a

bit hard to find, and after searching for a while under "Services" I
found them but they're locked. Research and athletics are also found
under their own links, but even those can be hard to find. It's kind of a
mess.
Locate a practical academic calendar for the school year.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
Clemens 34
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Similarly, right off the main page is a link to the series of WSU
calendars. One more click takes you to the academic one, but before
that is the list of entertainement and sports ones along with tickets.
These seem more consolidated and easier to find than U of I's.
Access the page for graduate school requirements, along with

the geology/earth science graduate page specifically.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

time/clicks.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

engaging manner.
Neither
Clemens 35
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
Both the graduate school page and the geology graduate page were
two clicks away from the main page, and quite easy to link to. Rather
than having two ways to access the page it could be more centralized,
although it can be quicker than UI's search.
Locate the appropriate link/area for information regarding

parents of prospective students.

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

time/clicks.
Neither
Clemens 36
1 2 3 4 5

engaging manner.
Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5

Neither
1 2 3 4 5
There wasn't much in the way for parents on WSU's website, or at

least not to the degree of U of I. By searching through the Admissions
page I found a link to a parents newsletter, which wasn't quite what I
was looking for. This could use more development.

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Engl 317 - Project 4 Deliverable 1

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Clemens 1

University of Idaho Washington State University

APPENDIX: RAW DATA .........................................................................................................13

Table 1: Likert Scale used for usability test.

While I was able to accomplish the first

Task 2: Finding Available Financial Aid Resources

Finding financial aid resources was something that was

<< Figure 3: U of I main block of links.

Figure 4: WSU scholarship retrieval tool.

Task 3: Locating Housing Options, Floor Plans, and Housing Registration

Figure 6: WSU housing preferences.

Task 4: Navigating the Undergraduate Website for a Specific Department (Geology)

All further information

Task 5: Viewing the Degree Requirements for a B.S. in Geology/Earth Science

The search ended up linking back to the

While WSU had a much easier

Figure 11: A registration link

Task 7: Finding Undergraduate Research, Clubs, Sports, and Volunteering Opportunities

Like with the last task, University of Idahos site presented a

The athletics page was found at the

Task 8: Locating an Academic School Calendar

Figure 14: WSU

Figure 15: U of I calendar link under both

Task 9: Accessing the Graduate School Requirements Page (Geology in Particular)

Task 10: Locate Area for Parents of Prospective Students

For the final task, University of Idahos website did

Figure 18: >>

Appendix: Raw Data

Effective I was able to successfully complete the task.

I was able to complete the task in a reasonable amount of

Engaging The website's design helped me to complete the task in an

If errors occurred, the feedback was helpful in redirecting me.

Notes From an outside perspective, I initially thought that this may be

Find available financial aid resources (i.e. scholarships, grants,

Effective I was able to successfully complete the task.

I was able to complete the task in a reasonable amount of

The website's design helped me to complete the task in an

If errors occurred, the feedback was helpful in redirecting me.

Task 3 Find housing options, floor plans, and registration.

Effective I was able to successfully complete the task.

I was able to complete the task in a reasonable amount of

The website's design helped me to complete the task in an

If errors occurred, the feedback was helpful in redirecting me.

Locate the undergraduate website for a specific academic

Effective I was able to successfully complete the task.

I was able to complete the task in a reasonable amount of

The website's design helped me to complete the task in an

If errors occurred, the feedback was helpful in redirecting me.

Notes Very straightforward appproach to find the geology department page

Either download or view the degree requirements for a B.S. in

Effective I was able to successfully complete the task.

I was able to complete the task in a reasonable amount of

The website's design helped me to complete the task in an

If errors occurred, the feedback was helpful in redirecting me.

Effective I was able to successfully complete the task.

I was able to complete the task in a reasonable amount of

The website's design helped me to complete the task in an

If errors occurred, the feedback was helpful in redirecting me.

Research, club, sports, and volunteering opportunities through

Effective I was able to successfully complete the task.

I was able to complete the task in a reasonable amount of

The website's design helped me to complete the task in an

If errors occurred, the feedback was helpful in redirecting me.