A Decade of Changes in University Website Design (original) (raw)

An Empirical Study of University Websites

2008

For many organizations the website has been used as a tool for interand intra-organizational exchange. Since universities and colleges have started to use their websites as a student recruiting means, an effective website design is very important for higher education institution to attract students. This research explores the effectiveness of university websites. Some recommendations are made based on the findings.

Qualitative study of current and prospective student perceptions of a university web site

Academic Leadership

Web site evaluation is an underdeveloped research area in education and psychology. The fields of marketing and human-computer interaction (HCI) have been more active in web site studies but have two significant limitations: (a) the studies fall short in the integration of educational and psychological constructs when evaluating user experience (e.g., perception, cognitive processing, and knowledge building strategies); and (b) have yet to provide user-friendly and affordable analytical tools for systematic web site evaluation. New robust and user-friendly web site evaluation strategies may be useful to universities in understanding how to redesign their web sites to communicate optimally their strengths and progress to prospective students. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to evaluate current and prospective students’ perceptions of how well one university web site projected its commitment to multicultural and international transformation. It is hoped that the ...

Presenting a proposed framework for evaluating university websites

The Electronic Library, 2020

PurposeThis study aims to design a proposed framework for evaluating university websites.Design/methodology/approachThis study is an exploratory mixed research. It was an applied research in terms of objective and used the Delphi technique and systematic review and meta-analysis approaches. Data collection tools were done through library studies, Delphi checklist and observation. The statistical population of the research comprised 17 experts who are designers of university websites and 20 Iranian university websites selected from the Webometrics website. The statistical data were analyzed using fuzzy methods, descriptive and inferential statistical methods and the SWARA weighting method. Also, the statistical analysis software SPSS 20 and Excel 2016, TOPSIS engineering software and MAXQDA were used.FindingsFindings indicated that the dimensions of the designed proposed framework in order of their weights are credibility (0.130), reliability (0.125), usability (0.120), website desig...

University website as an Internet marketing tool: a case study of Kazakhstan

Economic Annals-ХХI

Today, more than ever, a university’s website is critical for the promotion of its mission, academic programs and services. Its communications with its target markets must be organized, professional and creative. A successfully created website design attracts visitors and, of course, should increase enrollment. A well-designed and clearly written university website will allow readers to receive all the needed and required information for them to make the proper decisions. Accordingly, research aimed at analyzing various issues of creating an effective university website is gaining significant relevance. The article discusses both the theoretical and practical issues of website activities. A selection of university websites has been analyzed and the issues and challenges discussed.

A Report on World’s Top 20 Universities Website Marketing Communication Strategy: What Can Be Emulated

International Journal of Education, Psychology and Counseling, 2020

The university website is important as a window for potential students. Its quality is directly associated with the image and reputation of the university, reflecting the level of the university. Therefore, it is vital that a university is able to establish a website that has a high level of usability, functionality, and creativity which can attract and retain the users. In order to have a rational understanding and learning from the experienced university websites, this study has selected the top 20 universities around the world where important elements from their websites are being studied and evaluated thoroughly. The elements include picture resolution, typography, layout, web structure and colour, type of information and content as well as the privacy and trust policy. The study provides important provision on how the world-class universities designed their websites which would potentially yield refinements to the current website of other universities around the globe.

University Websites: Attractive or Casual?

2022

International student mobility is increasing around the world and the number of students who prefer Turkey for higher education is increasing every year. It is also important for universities to be able to influence students' preferences and attract more successful students. The most used and most important means of universities to introduce themselves to students coming from another country, to leave a positive image and to increase their organisational attractiveness are the corporate websites of universities. Universities create an image about themselves with the visuals they use on their websites. The aim of this study is to examine how universities in Turkey appeal to foreign students to look attractive. For this purpose, it has been examined by using visual content analysis whether there are contents that will positively affect the organisational attractiveness of the university for foreign students on the home pages of the websites of state and private universities in Turkey. Among 129 state and 74 private universities in Turkey, 25 universities were selected by proportional stratified sampling method. The codes determined as a result of the visual analysis were gathered under four themes. It has been found that universities mostly include their scientific studies on their websites, and private universities give more space than state universities to the educational environments, buildings, campuses and visuals of their students interacting in these environments, which create the first impression of the university for international students.

The importance of Higher Education Website and its

Now a days the need for higher education institutions to a have a reliable, effective and attractive web presence is increasing as online technology is becoming an important part of the educational process. The higher education institutions play a vital role in the development of a society while higher education websites have many roles to fill. They need to provide information for prospective students, current students, Faculty and alumni. They often need to include reams of information in a way that makes everything easy to explore and it's a great challenge. The purpose of this research is to highlight some points, which will show the importance of higher education websites where we have studied lots of literature to be more focused on the topic and conducted a survey to evaluate the usability of two websites. The paper will be helpful for the higher authorities and the web developers to analyze the significance of the website of higher education institutes and its usability.

An Exploratory Study Of Student Satisfaction With University Web Page Design

American Journal of Business Education (AJBE), 2013

This exploratory study evaluates the satisfaction of students with a web-based information system at a medium-sized regional university. The analysis provides a process for simplifying data interpretation in captured student user feedback. Findings indicate that student classifications, as measured by demographic and other factors, determine satisfaction levels towards various web sources of information. Differences in satisfaction levels across student groups based on gender, age, minority status, employment, and current course load were found. Implications for university web designers and university administrators are considered and discussed.

Assessing usability of University websites in meeting the expectations of students: a survey of literature

African journal of science, technology and social sciences, 2024

University websites are gateways to display resources offered by an institution. As such first impression, attractiveness, controllability, helpfulness, efficiency and learnability as defined by Website analysis and measurement inventory (WAMMI) is critical in the design of websites. Usability is an extremely important aspect of the individual website to survive in the digital environment for each University. Universities can communicate with students through their website its mission, vision, values and other general information. Additionally, the university websites also provide a platform to communicate with students, faculty and visitors. It is for this reason therefore that the University should maintain up-to-date content which is well organized and it should be readable for the students, lecturers, administrators, and the general public. Website design is often driven by technology, organizational structure or institution's objectives rather than usability from the perspective of students. This survey sort to assess Usability of University Websites in meeting the expectations of students. All universities now have websites that give access to large viewers' information on their existence. They enable the institutions to spread beyond physical boundaries and seek opportunities in the global market. Therefore, website becomes an essential tool to reach out to the student and should be designed in an appealing easy way to navigate. To ensure websites are of optimal use key metrics like key factors that affect the usability of websites like design, navigation, accessibility and content are key. To assess usability, this survey works explores on methods and tools used to assess student satisfaction when navigating the website. Baseline being that there is student expectations in shaping perception of usability and best practices for improving the website to needs of the students.

Web site quality evaluation in Higher Education Institutions

2012

There are increasing concerns about the degree of quality delivered on the Web. Considering the competitive environment where Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are inserted, they should, as other organizations do, use their Web sites as a marketing tool. To measure Web site quality we used Aladwani's and Palvia's instrument [2], which evaluates quality from the user's perspective. The main conclusion of our study relates to the fact that HEI aren't committed to using the Web site as an effective marketing tool and, therefore, much work still needs to be done. Academics are fundamental concerning Web marketing in HEI, since they may contribute to enlarge the knowledge in this area and alert HEI to the role that Web site quality may play in today's extremely turbulent and competitive environment.