Areas of study improvement ideas

Owned by Paul Seiler (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Mar 13, 2018
3 min read

With almost 1,000 responses we now have sufficient data to consider some improvements. But first, a summary:


Closed questions

QuestionStrongly agreeAgreeDisagreeStrongly disagree
Told me what I needed to know19%61%13%7%
Found page interesting29%59%9%2%
Page was easy to use31%51%12%6%
Clearly identified my next steps20%55%19%6%


Clearly identified next steps by role

RoleStrongly agreeAgreeDisagreeStrongly disagree
Secondary school student22%53%21%4%
University student (UG)18%59%18%5%
University student (PG)21%62%15%2%
University staff member16%40%25%19%
Working in the education sector14%64%13%9%
Other20%46%26%8%


Respondents

Role
Secondary school student18%
University student (undergraduate)31%

University student (postgraduate)

27%
University staff member8%
Working in the education sector8%
Other15%

With almost 1,000 responses we now have sufficient data to consider some improvements. But first, a summary:


Description of improvement and benefit/valueEffort estimatePriority (MoSCoW)DecisionDoneChecked

Clearer calls to action / pathway through to degree obscure (Paul: People seem confused with 'actions' being on second tab and third tab being a 'dead end'.)

Often requested. Benefit would be greater 'conversion' and lower bouncing out.

Team ideas include:

  • Paul Seiler (Unlicensed) to see how results differ by respondent type (i.e. did school students experience this issue as much as other users?)
  • Move People tab to be second, Study options third: This would help if users expect the action or exit to be the right most tab. Challenge is that some quotes with story links are on study options, so will 'send people back/left'.
  • Tune design to increase attention on 'actions' or exit points
tbaMust

Act


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Performance, slow loading, needs to load quicker, why spinner spins for so long?

Often requested. Benefit is greater conversion, better feeling towards us, etc. Caching work has helped, but do we need a plan to improve further?

Team ideas include:

  • Varnish cache tuning has already helps and CDN will do even more.
  • Monitor to see if it is still an issue.

MustWatch
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Easier path to faculty/staff/key people

Most often requested. Benefit is that many visitors want to learn about staff and get there quickly. This might best be developed with 'search' but maybe a placeholder could be a 'staff in responsible school' widget.

Team ideas include:

  • Paul Seiler (Unlicensed) to see how results differ by respondent type (i.e. did school students experience this issue as much as other users?)
  • Better access to staff could be achieved with a 'staff widget' but this might be best waiting until we have the new search appliance.

MustAnalyse
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Link to all courses in a subject. (Paul: One of three use cases that a course listing widget could meet, maybe increasing the benefit from this feature).

Often requested. Benefit is promoting courses better, or at least increasing their visibility. Course details also enrich subject/degree pages, as the detail does matter to many people.

Team ideas include:

  • Study areas is the wrong place for this. If we need it add it to degrees/requirements but not here.

N/aIgnore
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UG/PG next to each subject on About tab. (Paul: Could do same on navigation/taxonomy page)

Often requested. Benefit is earlier signposting of suitability for the reader.

Team ideas include:


ShouldAct
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Paul: Confusion on why the degrees, requirements and courses are not profiled here. How do we signpost when people browse study areas and when they go to degrees?

Often requested, but in many different wordings. Benefit is user clarity

Team ideas include:

  • We have already improved signposting to requirements for those who are in here when they needed degrees.
  • We have already improved faculty and school homepages to show both study areas and degrees.
  • We will shortly add widget to school sites study areas to get people to requirements quickly.
  • Monitor to see if it is still an issue.

ShouldWatch
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From Ken Ryan: When people use the 'read full story' button it would be good once they have ready the story to have a button that will take them back to where they were reading before they clicked it.

Team ideas include:

  • Not at this time

ShouldWait
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Introduce a 'compare majors' function (Paul: Would this be best on a degree page? Would it pull 'subject' info and requirements? Do we wait for a search solution or a new app?).

Team ideas include:

  • This is a major piece of work and has trade-offs. No decision or action at this time.

CouldWait
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Headings all at the same level. More levels would make reading/understanding easier
Could
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Add in a 'Click here if you want to:' drop-down of shortcuts to most commonly performed actions.
Would
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Side bar or alternative navigation to change subjects quickly on the Study options tab
Would
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From survey:


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