Comparative Analysis of the Usability of Academic Websites of Delta State Polytechnics (original) (raw)

Websites Usability: A Comparison of Three University Websites

Usability testing is a means of measuring how well people can use some human-made object such as a web page, a computer interface, a document, or a device. This study was carried out to perform usability study on three universities websites in order to know the ease with which users can obtain information on them. The websites tested are futy.edu.ng, futa.edu.ng and futonigeria.net. Twenty-two users from a university volunteered to participate in the study. The participants were given five tasks to perform on the three web sites under a close observation of observer to determine their efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction with the web sites. Questionnaires were also used to get the users’ demographic data, users’ satisfaction, overall performance and recommendation on the web sites. The results indicate that futa.edu.ng performed best in terms of users’ effectiveness and efficiency with the sites. Keywords: Website, WebPages, Usability, Users, internet

Web Site Usability Evaluation: An Exploratory Study on the Web Site of Directorate General of Higher Education

Isico 2013, 2013

Website becomes an integral part how people access information. Thus, it now becomes a challenge to develop a usable and effective website to meet users-needs. Good websites combine both two aspects: aesthetics and ease of use. Dikti.go.id site is one of very popular and highly accessed sites among Indonesian universities. It contains the latest news and information related to the organization of higher education in Indonesia such as policy and legislation, scholarship information, grant programs and many various academic competitions for universities. This paper presents the result of evaluation of the usability of the Dikti.go.id site which includes aspects of its effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction perception. Based on the data analysis, it shows that the effectiveness of the site is high but its level of success is low. This means that there are problems related to the essential way how users navigate the site. This, finally, makes the satisfaction perception of this site be not high enough. exploration, finding information, and interacting with a web site . According to Pearrow [3], when designing a web site, the needs for gaining both a great view and usability are tangible and should be made balanced. A good web site combines aspects of both aesthetics and ease of use. Usability testing is used to measure a web site's effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction perception. It is an effective method to evaluate a system design from the user's point of view. Nielsen [4] revealed a fact that the return on investment (ROI) of a usability criterion based re-designed web can increase up to 83%. ROI itself is based on business metrics which include aspects like conversion rate, traffic numbers, user performance, and feature usage targets.

Usability Evaluation of Some Selected Nigerian Universities ’ Websites

2016

This study carried out a usability evaluation of some selected Nigerian universities websites. A total number of ten randomly selected universities though; mostly first and second generations universities were taken into account. This was done by making use of automated tools such as web page analyzer and HTML toolbox for data collection. The internal attributes that were taken into consideration embodied Total number of html files, Total html page size, Total size of images, Total number of images, Total number of external files, Total size of external files, as well as Load time, HTML check and repair, Browsers compatibility, Pages with bad links respectively and the various values were collected and analysed and presented in the graphical form using bar charts. The results showed that some of universities ’ websites adhered to the laid down threshold values of these attributes while some are still very much lacking. These include University of Calabar, Nnmadi Azikiwe University a...

RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON WEB SITE USABILITY

Since the explosion of the internet, web portals and their uses have become more advanced and complex. Web portals are a major source of obtaining information over the internet. It is easier and faster than looking up information in a “real” library. As distance education has moved from traditional, correspondence courses to online educational web sites, it becomes important to look at the usability or “ease of use” of these instructional web sites from the student’s perspective. This research explored what the construct of usability means for students taking online courses, this study has been performed to also analyze the usability of university web portals and how they are used by students, staff and outside visitors. Almost every university has a web portal, but how efficient they are or if they are used as they should be will be determined in this study. A portal by definition is a gateway, a front door to other portals or sites. A university portal should provide certain services for individuals depending on the needs of that user. Moreover, the content and the overall impression of the web portal can influence a potential student when choosing which university they will apply to. Every year millions of people visit university web portals looking for information. This could be, for example, students looking for course information, change in lecture times, account access or teacher contact information. It is very important that the whatever it is the user is searching for is easy to find and the content is easily understood. Although, the construct of usability is not well understood, it is apparent that usability does not reside in software alone, but instead is a construct resulting from the interaction of software design and user expectations. This study sought to understand what usability means within the context of one online and distance learning program at universities.

Correlation and Regression Models to Assess the Usability of the Web Pages

In this research work, the usability of the web pages is assessed using correlation and regression models. Researchers argue that many usability results and recommendations lack empirical and experimental data. Universities web pages are chosen as subjects for this work. Series of experiments have been conducted to investigate into the usability and design of the universities web pages. Prototype web pages have been developed according to the structured methodologies of web pages design and development. Four universities web pages were evaluated together with the prototype web pages using a questionnaire which was designed according to the Human Computer Interactions (HCI) concepts. The data collected is analysed using correlations and regression models. The correlation analysis showed that there are significant positive and negative correlations between many items. The regression analysis revealed that the most significant factors (items) that contributed to the best model of the universities web pages design and usability were: multimedia in the web pages, the web pages icons (alone) organisation and design, and graphics attractiveness. The results showed some of the limitations of some heuristics used in conventional interface systems design and proposed some additional heuristics in web pages design and usability.

Usability of the Academic Websites of Jordan's Universities An Evaluation Study

The aim of this research study was to evaluate the websites of Jordan's universities from the usability perspective. Two online automated tools, namely: html toolbox and web page analyze were used along with a questionnaire directed towards users of these websites. Tools were used to measure the websites internal attributes which can not be perceived by users, such as html code error, download time, and size of html page. The questionnaire was developed and designed based on 23 usability criteria divided into 5 categories. Each category deals with one usability aspect. The results showed that the overall usability level of the studied Websites is acceptable. However, there are some weaknesses in some aspects of the design, interface, and performances. Suggestions are provided in the study to enhance the usability of these websites.

Assessing the Usability of University Websites: An Empirical Study on Namik Kemal University

Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology Tojet, 2012

Web sites are emerging as a key component of an organization's survival in our ever globalizing competitive world. Usability of a web site has assumed a great deal of importance in terms of satisfying web site users' needs and expectations. The aim of the study is to evaluate and to explore the usability level of Namık Kemal University (NKU) website and provide guidance to develop better and more usable web sites. The research hypotheses have posed six different theoretical factors to be positively associated with website usability. The results have revealed that five of the six factors can positively and significantly affect the web site usability perceptions of NKU members. Results also revealed that some of the demographic factors tested, such as gender and web experience, have significant impacts on usability perceptions of individual users. Furthermore, the study also discusses the potential benefits of improved website usability on governance and proposes ways to improve the usability of websites.

Evaluating the Usability of Educational Websites Based on

This research investigated the relative importance of specific design criteria developed for the purpose of this research, in the evaluation of the usability of educational websites from the point view of students; it then evaluated the usability of nine educational websites based on students' preferences. The results showed that content and navigation were the first and second preferred design categories to be considered while evaluating the usability of educational websites, while the organisation/architecture was the least important category. Also, the results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between males and females regarding only one category: the content. Females considered this to be the most important category while males considered it as the second most important. By contrast, the results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the students of the two selected faculties (the Faculty of Information Technology and Science, and the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences) concerning the relative importance of the developed criteria based on their majors/specialisations. In general, the results showed that the majority of the students were satisfied with the usability of the Jordanian university websites. Specifically, the results showed the students were satisfied with the content and navigation (ease of use) of the tested websites, but dissatisfied with the design of the websites.

The Usability Of King Khalid University Website: Assessing Effectiveness, Efficiency, And Satisfaction

2018

As technology continues to advance, usability issues become more and more central to the process of designing new technological tools such as apps, websites, etc. With the increasing progress of technology integration into our lives, usability evaluation is needed in order to humanize technologies and make them user-friendly to the end users. Therefore, the concept of usability evaluation helps to investigate issues related to technologies' interface design. Usability testing is an essential element prior to the release of a product and overseeing the existing products. The college websites, particularly the library web services, serving to academic communities, are the main assets for teaching and learning and they must be designed in a meaningful way with ease-of-use. The goal of this research is the usability evaluation of King Khalid University (KKU) website to determine users' needs, expectations, and satisfaction as well as the current issues with the KKU online services. The research results show that KKU's website has some major, moderate and minor usability problems impeding effectiveness, efficiency and thus decrease users' satisfaction.

The Usability of University Websites: A Study on Sri Lankan Universities

Sri Lankan Journal of Applied Sciences, 2022

Usable website benefits universities by attracting, retaining, and satisfying their users. As knowledge-producing organizations, universities be obliged to uphold the usability of their websites. A preliminary study on user satisfaction with the Sri Lankan university websites stated that most Sri Lankan university website users are not satisfied with the usability of their university websites. It prompts the importance of studying the usability of Sri Lankan university websites by providing usability improvement recommendations. On the other hand, researchers have not focused on study the usability of Sri Lankan university websites from the perspectives of both website developers and website users. This research aimed to identify website development issues by testing websites with website testing tools and evaluate the quality of the user experience on websites using a questionnaire-based evaluation method. Results of the survey presented that, usability of Sri Lankan university websites is at an average level and different website usability testing tools have observed development issues based on the website development standards. Finally, the study recommends best practices for university website developers to improve the helpfulness, attractiveness, controllability, learnability and efficiency of the university websites in order to provide a better user experience with increasing the usability of Sri Lankan university websites.