Introduction
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Sixtyproof have worked with the Victoria University project team to help define the user needs for postgraduate content, and provide recommendations for a solution.
Project goal
Research findings
Broadly, the undergraduate solution will also work for postgraduate students, but will require some changes to content.
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We also ran a card sorting task to help define the key areas of interest to prospective postgraduate students. This task had a small sample size, n=12.
Our findings
There were four main themes that came out of the research.
1. Undergrad solution will work for postgrad too
Our participants reacted positively to the work being done for the undergrad content. They understood the rationale behind it, and generally felt that using the same approach for postgrad content would not cause problems for potential postgrad students.
Current approach of UG is to separate content out by the user’s frame of mind, such as:
Interest me in this subject area (Architecture: About / People)
Tell me about studying this subject at Victoria (Architecture: Study options)
Now tell me about one specific programme (Bachelor of Architectural Studies – BAS: About)
I’m interested, what’s required by this programme (Bachelor of Architectural Studies – BAS: Requirements)
This creates a great framework for postgraduate content. Postgraduate students are generally more sure of what they want to study, but not always aware of the different options available to them, or how they compare to other options. Starting from a broad subject area before narrowing it down should allow them to more easily see the range of options.
Conclusions:
- No need to develop a different solution for postgraduate content, as long as issues raised in other key themes are resolved.
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Summary of previous supervision could be useful (eg, ‘Supervision and Teaching’: http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/learning/departments/school-of-psychology/staff/staff-all.cfm?stref=898830).
4. I don’t know what you mean by ‘Professional’
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Research completed so far is not enough to define an improved future state — we can work with you to develop this using tree testing and card sorting tools if required.
2. ‘Let me compare options’
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Create standardised templates on an equal level of the IA to help students compare programmes
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Creating a standardised template for programmes will help users compare between programmes. They should be able to see at a glance the specifics of a programme (eg, its structure, delivery method and duration).
The theme of the card sorting task we ran was: ‘What will it be like to study this course?’. Factors consistently deemed important in making the decision to study postgrad were course content, programme structure (research vs coursework), teaching staff and delivery method. Ensuring that these have prominence in the programme template is important.
The programme templates should be positioned on the same level of the IA, rather than buried within separate faculty sites, to enhance this cross-programme comparison. More work needs to be done on the IA to make specific recommendations.
3. ‘Point me in the right direction’
Create clear next steps for an interested student to take
Pathways to applying for postgrad are varied and might require more contact with a staff member than applying for undergrad. Students we spoke to all communicated to faculty staff before applying, but it isn’t always clear that this is a valid and expected way to enquire further about postgrad study.
Staff profiles
Investigate a better solution to surface contact, availability and expertise details of key staff members. This may include work on existing profiles, and/or the research expertise directory.
Ideally this should be a flexible solution allowing separate profiles to be surfaced in different areas, eg at topic level under People and/or at course level.
Reduce button usage
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Current undergraduate content templates contain many buttons (typically 6 buttons, a mixture of blue and grey, on an About page for a programme page). This creates mixed messages on what the next logical action is.
We recommend reducing the number of buttons to 2 per page, a primary (blue) and secondary (grey) action. Other important links, such as Scholarship information and Exploring other areas of study, should take a more standard link approach.
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