Information needs: what do you need to know (when thinking about next steps / going to uni / tertiary study)?
- Range of what's available. Related options
- Summary of what the subject is so can decide: is this subject right for me?
- Structure - how it works
- Outline of the degree (students used the word 'course'). What would you study? What papers would you do.
- What prerequisites are there? 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? Important to two students, but not so much to others (but note our demographic slant). Some commented on preferring to know about the type of work they might do and how it would contribute to the world. Another said that employment was more a concern for 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.
Subject pages
- Liked the short, punchy overviews.
- 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 pull up core and optional 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'.)
- PG info - 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
Were completely 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'.
Course codes and levels were very confusing. "Assumes prior knowledge." "Would need to go elsewhere to look that up, then come back."
Other comments: "What is internal assessment?" "How do trimesters work?" Didn't understand co-requisites or restrictions.
No students used the word "accommodation" - instead they talked about housing, dorms,
One student talked about the "school" when she meant "the university".
Locations
'Faculties and schools' quite a popular starting point: "What courses are on offer". "What subjects come out of it."
Current students - all students 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.
'Learning and teaching' - all students thought it had information about study options.
'About us' - about Victoria. Well understood.
Search
No students 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
Navigation
Quite a few students used the Quicklinks box on the home page.
They clicked on 'Faculties and schools'.
Tended to use Course finder to explore the site.
Use of course finder
Observed three students use this.
They all:
- Chose 'undergraduate'
2. Used subject dropdown (rather than top field)
Features
Good but too general. Want more detail and relevance - not just how their first yhear went, but more about clubs they joined, how they organised their workload, etc.
Profiles/features – what they’ve gone on to do. How they’ve used it.
Social media
Tumblr
Faculty vs school
Faculty means 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
Pages
‘Planning your degree’ popular. (Needs clearer link to the UG degrees section ('Individual degree listings').)
‘Exploring career options’ also useful.
Misc
Reasons for staying in Wellington - includes FRIENDS! (of course)