Students tell us they want more information about what they can study
We recently completed exploratory user research into the prospective undergraduate experience of applying to the University of Edinburgh. In this post, I share insights of an emerging theme – why prospective students want more information about what they can study.
Context
Building the future state website provision for prospective students is giving us the opportunity to explore the broader prospective student decision-making experience. We need to better understand their goals, their needs and their contexts if we are to be confident that we are building a web presence that helps them make informed choices.
Research methodology
We conducted two rounds of research with 1st year undergraduate students:
- One-to-one interviews to validate our understanding of the prospective student experience of applying to university (6 students)
- Card sorting exercise to understand how students categorise and prioritise information that informs their decision to apply (9 students)
Current access to programme and course information
A theme that emerged from tour study was that detailed programme and course information is a high priority for prospective undergraduate students when thinking about applying for one of our programmes.
A problem they currently face is that this information is not easy to find.
The primary source of available information is the University’s system that lists all degree programmes and courses, used by current students and their tutors to plan a programme of study on the way to achieving a degree. This is called the Degree Regulations & Programmes of Study (DRPS).
In our study, not all students were able to find this source of information. Those that did told us it was difficult to navigate.
It [the DRPS] was really useful but I remember it being hard to navigate. I was looking for information about the structures, but I didn’t really get that.
Students who were not able to find this information when thinking about applying told us that the information on the degree finder programme page was insufficient.
It just says compulsory study [on the programme page] but the University isn’t good about giving you information about all the optional stuff and there is so much.
What information prospective students are looking for
Our study highlighted how eager students were to get lots of information about what they can study on the programmes they are considering. This need goes beyond a list of the different courses on offer.
How programmes are structured is a key consideration. Students told us they didn’t understand how the 4-year structure of undergraduate programmes worked and were unable to realise the benefits this offers in what they can study.
It would be really helpful to break the programme down into years so that it tells you what you will study
We also saw a need for detailed information about the courses students can study. We explored an example of a course information page from the DRPS with them to understand if this would have been useful to them and how.
Example of a detailed course information page that can be accessed using the DRPS
All students in the study told us that there was information here that they would have found useful when considering applying. This included:
- Course summary
- Teaching methods
- Assessment methods
- Coursework requirements
- Competitiveness (number of places available)
It [course information page] looks like it gives you more information about the programme so that’s great. We really want to know what we’re going to learn.
An alternative to the DRPS
Usability issues with the search and navigation of the DRPS made it difficult for the students in our study to find the information they needed about what they could study.
The University provides access to Path which is a visual course selection and programme builder tool. Path allows students to consider their degree pathway, review outside course choices, understand co-requisites and pre-requisites and generate a timetable.
Students can select courses from Path to build their own programmes
All students in our study highlighted just how useful Path was in helping them understand what they could study and helped them better understand how the 4-year structure worked and what the experience would be like of studying at the University.
The University has Path which is an amazing resource for courses. What you can study is such a unique selling point for the University.
The problem for prospective undergraduate students is that Path is only available to students who have received an offer.
It wasn’t until I started selecting my courses with my personal tutor that I realised what I could study. It was annoying that some courses were full, and I wish I had known earlier.
Helping prospective students get the information they want
Insight from our study is informing the design of our new undergraduate beta programme page.
While we are constrained by existing technology and content structures that means addressing these user needs is beyond the scope of the future state project, we have taken steps to mitigate them in the new design.
The new layout of a programme page presents each year of study within a new content structure. We are encouraging our school-based editors to provide a manageable but useful level of detail about what can be studied in each year.
Within the sub-sections for each year of study we are providing links directly to the appropriate part of the DRPS which will help mitigate some of the navigational issues students told us they experienced.
New content layout for what you will study in each year with link to the year of the DPT
We have conducted multiple rounds of usability to test how easy it is for students to navigate the new programme page. Some tasks have required students to find more information about what they will study in each year. We have seen that most students click the link that takes them to the specific year of the DPT. The usability of the DRPS is outside the scope of this project which means we have not tested beyond this to see if students can use it to find the information that those in the study told us they wanted.
Learn more
Delivering the future state website provision for prospective students requires a collaborative effort within our multi-disciplinary team and with colleagues across the University. We blog regularly about project activities and the approaches we take to achieve this goal.
