Thanks to all who took the time to complete our student and employee web redesign surveys. We really appreciate the feedback and intend to consider the many comments and suggestions you provided in our plans for continuing improvements to northlandcollege.edu.
Here are some interesting findings from the two surveys:
An interesting difference between the student survey and the employee survey was the question regarding ease of navigation. More than 80 percent of students indicated that they accomplished their goals when visiting the site and ranked site navigation anywhere from “good to excellent”. Were as less than 60 percent of employees ranked site navigation anywhere from “good to excellent”.
The highest overall indicator from students was a 46 percent “very good” rating for the reliability of content. The lowest overall indicator from students was a 30 percent “fair” rating for site appearance. The highest overall indicator from employees was a 55 percent “very good” rating for the reliability of performance. The lowest overall indicator from employees was a 30 percent “fair” rating for the ease of navigation.
The most visited areas of the Northland site amongst students are D2L, NetMail, eServices, cancelled class announcements, library resources, and campus events. Employees also use D2L, Webmail, and eServices, but also spend time within Virtual Office, reading college news, checking class schedules, and using policies/forms.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the survey feedback was some of the individual comments that people offered. Among the most common were that the home page was too busy and that there were too many links and listings to choose from which causes confusion. Many people indicated that they hardly use some of the secondary pages because everything they needed was buried some where on the home page. Students would also like a single sign-on feature for D2L, eServices and NetMail. Others indicated they would like to see more and newer pictures along with other site features (employee/student spotlights) on the home page and a little more use of video. Ease of navigation received a high score from students, but comments indicated they would like to see far fewer options.
There were also several suggestions for improving the ability to quickly get to information such as improving the search functionality, adding a quick or commonly used links section, improving the “audience” sites (future, current, employees, alumni, etc.) and making employee email addresses easier to find.
Thanks for the tremendous amount of feedback. We will try to consider as much as possible as we move through this re-design process.
2 Comments
October 29, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I like the bold colors of the prototype. I look forward to the new pictures and video. I think we do need to view our website as a marketing tool for external customers visiting for the first time and wanting to learn about NCTC’s opportunities. It does have to be less cluttered for current students and employees to navigate to find the information they need. Who is the site for? Promo and “the world” or a tool for information for internal users? The dilema is making it fun, easy, inviting, and exciting for everyone.
October 9, 2009 at 12:26 am
I don’t know If I said it already but …Excellent site, keep up the good work. I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks,
A definite great read….