Summary of findings: secondary students' user testing

Key points

Don't understand our terminology, including 'courses' and 'programmes'.

Want to know 'how it works' in terms of putting a degree together.

Highly confused by info on courses (eg, on subject pages) - especially points and course codes.

Information needs

What do you need to know when thinking about next steps / going to uni / tertiary study options?

• Summary of what the subject is so can decide: is this subject right for me? 
• Range of what's available: related options
• Structure - how it works - eg, how different subject interests could work together as a major.
• Outline of the degree (students used the word 'course'). "What would you study?" "What papers would you do?" "What will I learn?" "Exactly what is covered?" 
• What prerequisites are there? What are the entry requirements.
• Scholarships (and costs).

Also:

• What pre-work could you do?
• How to enrol - the process, deadlines.

Other information:

• Will there be a job at the end of it? Students generally had an awareness that this was important, but it wasn't a major focus for them at this stage. It tended to influence their choices if one area of interest had a clear career path (eg, biomedical science, graphic design) and the other was less clear (eg, music, classics). One commented that she preferred to know about the type of work she might do and how it would contribute to the world. Another said that employment was more a concern of her parents at this stage: she'd expect to think about it while she was at uni.
•  What's it like being at uni? How's it different from school.
•  Accommodation - definitely important if studying in another city. Also of interest to 'local' students who might be thinking of leaving home or don't want to commute (eg, from Wainuiomata). 

Subject pages

• Liked the short, punchy overviews - eg, Criminology, Classical Studies.
• All students very confused by info on courses: points, course codes, majors, minors, double majors, conjoint degrees, trimesters. They want to find out what they'll study and how to put their degree together - but they don't understand the terms or the big picture of how it works. (Question for next week's programme meeting: do they need to plan their degree at this stage? Or just get an overview of core and elective papers?) 
• Liked prerequisites
• Contact blocks - all students commented that these were valuable.
• Related subjects - valuable. 
• Related careers - useful. (One student said the careers were 'vague' (Classics).)
• PG info - all students said this was useful but not something they'd think about yet - they'd think about PG study once they were at uni.

Terminology and university concepts

Students were unfamiliar with most university terminology.

• Tended to figure out 'undergraduate' and 'postgraduate' and 'major'.
• Terms like 'Honors' and 'Masters': "vaguely familiar".
• All students understood 'papers' but saw 'courses' in the way that we'd perhaps see a 'programme'.
• Did not understand that a 'programme' is a 'degree'.
• Other comments: "What is internal assessment?" "How do trimesters work?" 
• Didn't understand co-requisites or restrictions.

Course codes and levels were very confusing for all students.

• "Assumes prior knowledge."
• "Would need to go elsewhere to look that up, then come back."

Other:

• No students used the word "accommodation" - instead they talked about housing, dorms, houses.
• One student talked about the "school" when she meant "the university".

Having someone at home who has been to university (eg, mother, brother) who can explain 'how it works' helps a bit.

Menu label options

(Students could choose a couple of options if they wished.)

Card sort 1: Where would you start (to find the info you need)?

• 'Faculties and schools' quite a popular starting point: "What courses are on offer", "What subjects come out of it".
• 'Study at Vic': "Broad area containing lots of stuff", "What's on offer, what a degree means, what a Vic degree is worth", "About what and how you will learn."

What different labels mean:

• 'Current students' - all thought it was about (rather than for) current students. Expected to find profiles here.
• 'Study areas' - two students thought this meant places to go and do study. (If used, consider 'Areas of study' as an alternative.)
• 'Learning and teaching' - all students thought it had information about study options. "About what and how you will learn", " What you would learn in/from courses".
• 'About us' - about Victoria. Well understood.
• 'Life at Vic' - well understood to mean being a student, facilities, accommodation, what it will be like, social, people, clubs, community things/groups.

Card sort 3: Where would you go to enrol?

Search

Only one student chose the option of 'use search' as a starting point.

Only one student used the site search while exploring the site:

• She searched for 'Archeture' and got no results or useful suggestions.
• We helped her spell it correctly. She then got a page with a link to the faculty then lists of courses: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/search?q=architecture  

Explore site

Most students used the Quicklinks box on the home page and chose 'Course finder'. (Note that the word 'course' could mean 'programme' to them - so while we know the path, it doesn't tell us what they may have been looking for.)

Use of course finder

Observed three students use this. They all:

1. Chose 'undergraduate'

2. Then used the subject dropdown (rather than top field)

Features / profiles

Students thought featured students and featured student work was good content.

• One commented that she wanted to see more detail and relevance: "Not just how their first year went, but more about clubs they joined, how they organised their workload, etc."
• Another said they'd like to read about: "What they’ve gone on to do. How they’ve used it".

Social media

• Facebook (all)
• Tumblr (about three)
• YouTube (eg, music, cooking videos) (about two)

Faculties and schools

Students were asked what they understood these to be. There was no consistent view. Examples:

• Faculty = admin, building etc – not so much ‘learning’. School – eg, Law School.
• Faculty = different subjects – eg, maths, science. School = not sure
• Faculty = Professors, teachers, people. School = campus, where things are
  
  

Faculty and school sites

All students who visited these sites commented on the poor design, squashed look and small text. 

"Dull looking."

"Dated look."

Pages

‘Planning your degree’ popular. (Needs clearer link to the UG degrees section ('Individual degree listings').) May benefit from some design.

‘Exploring career options’ also useful. Again, may benefit from design.

Misc

Reasons for staying in Wellington - includes FRIENDS! (of course )