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The NYU Usability Lab conducted an analysis on the discoverability of NYU Tandon Online degree programs from a web search (Google) and by navigating within the overall architecture of the NYU Tandon website.
Project Background
Project Background
The goal of this research was to better understand if the location, layout, and content structure of the NYU Tandon Online program pages within the NYU Tandon website architecture is optimal for users in finding, discovering, and ultimately applying to the school’s online programs.
Product: NYU Tandon Online, and its related web pages, where NYU Tandon's available online program offerings are listed for prospective and current students. These web pages are available to the general public and can be accessed at: https://engineering.nyu.edu/academics/departments/nyu-tandon-online or through the NYU Tandon website’s main navigation menu.
Project timeframe: 4 weeks. October-November 2020.
Audience: Prospective graduate students with an interest in enrolling in an online graduate program (4 current NYU undergraduate students, 4 prospective students external to NYU who have already completed an undergraduate degree).
Stakeholder: Office of the Provost and NYU Tandon
NYU Tandon Online website landing page
The Study
The Study
Research Method: Qualitative Usability Testing using Think Aloud
8 participants were asked to locate information on NYU Tandon’s online programs while narrating out loud their thought processes and experiences.
During sessions, participants were asked to:
Locate online degree programs offered by NYU Tandon
Locate program-related information such as curriculum and program structure
Find information on admissions and application processes
Research sessions concluded with a short interview to better understand the participant’s overall impressions and experiences with the online program webpages.
Research Sessions: Sessions were conducted one-on-one between a facilitator and a research participant and lasted for about 45 minutes. They were hosted remotely on the web conferencing platform Zoom and recorded for post-session analysis.
Analysis: After speaking with a participant, the facilitator reviewed notes and highlighted key insights from each session. Cumulative success rates and user pathways were collected, along with anecdotal quotes to help measure the overall usability of the web pages and highlight user pain points.
Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Top takeaways from this research included:
Users struggled to find online program information when browsing from the NYU Tandon website’s menu. Users did not expect to find NYU Tandon Online under Academics > Departments because it didn't seem like an academic department.
Lab’s recommendation: Relocate the “NYU Tandon Online” link under “Degrees & Programs”.
It was challenging to find online programs in the graduate program catalog. Users felt it was tedious to scroll through a list of programs, and hard to distinguish on campus versus online programs.
Lab’s recommendation: Add filters or a sort feature to help users quickly locate programs of interest.
Users expected the Quick Links sidebar to be an overview of page content (ie., the page's section headers), which would allow them to locate specific program information more easily and efficiently.
Lab’s recommendation: Edit the current sidebar content so that it includes section headers, rather than quick links to other pages. Or, consider including a “Jump to” or table of contents section at the top of the program pages so users go directly to the information they find most relevant to their search.
Impact
Impact
User Experience: Changes to the site were made to improve the discoverability of relevant information for NYU Tandon's prospective students.
User Interface: Quick improvements were made to the design of the user interface to help users locate desired information more easily and efficiently.
Before: When searching under Academics in the navigation menu on Tandon's website, users did not expect to find "NYU Tandon Online" under Departments as it wasn't perceived to be an academic department but rather a degree or program.
After: Online Programs was added under "Degrees & Programs" on Tandon's website to increase findability of NYU Tandon's online program offerings.
Before: Searching for online programs required manually scrolling through the Master of Science program catalog.
After: Search filters were added to the Master of Science program catalog page to reduce scrolling and make locating a desired program more efficient.
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