Event: Collaborative usability test review – New degree programme editorial interface

Join us on Wednesday 22nd January to watch school editors using the new degree programme editorial interface.

This is a rearranged event originally scheduled for 4th December 2024.

The team are looking ahead to the replacement of our current undergraduate and postgraduate degree finders.

We are currently developing the platform which will present degree opportunities to prospective students, and a key consideration for us is how staff use the comment feature in the new interface to communicate with colleagues when they are reviewing and editing content.

Who is this event for?

If you are a manager or editor of degree finder content for your school this will be of interest. You’ll get the chance to see how the new system will work, and have a say in prioritising areas that need improvement.

If you’re interested in improving the usability of University systems, this is a great way to learn more about a relatively quick and easy-to-replicate technique.

What we’ll do

In this session, we will:

provide some contextual detail about the system we’re developing, and the techniques we will use in the session (15 minutes)
watch 3 videos of school editors using the editorial interface (45-60 mins)
work together to identify the biggest issues we see in the videos (20 mins)
use a quick workshop technique to create a list of the most critical things we need to fix (30-45 minutes)

Timings are approximate, as this is a participatory event, but the session will take no longer than 2.5 hours

Why you should attend

This is a great way to find out more about the future editorial experience of colleagues responsible for degree programme content.

It’ll also give you the chance to try out a technique that plays a big part in making our systems easier to use. Directly observing users is one of the most valuable activities you can do to help you meet the needs of your users.

Not only will you learn more about the work the Prospective Student Web team is up to, you will also take away easy-to-repeat usability testing techniques you can use to improve your digital content.

I thought the session was very engaging. We were all asked to note down the issues we observed in the videos which encouraged us to think about and discuss what we saw as a group. I really enjoyed the opportunity to do this with other colleagues across the University.

John Wilson, Content Design Assisstant, Website and Communications