xkcd.com recently did the following cartoon on University Website:
So I thought I’d see how the Websites for New Zealand Universities stacked up:
| University | Things they tend to have | Score | Things people are looking for | Score |
| Auckland University of Technology | Yes: Full Name of school, Alumni in the news, Promotions for Compus events, Statement of School’s Philosophy,
No: Press releases, Letter from the president, Virtual tour |
5/8 | Yes: Full Name of School, List of Facility phone number and Emails, Usable campus map, Campus Address, Application forms, Campus police phone number, Dept/Course lists, Parking information
No: Academic Calendar |
8/9 |
| Lincoln University | Yes: Alumni in the news, Promotions for Campus events, Press Releases, Statement of School’s Philosophy, Full name of school
No: Campus photo slide-show, Letter from the president, Virtual tour |
5/8 | Yes: Full name of school, List of Facility phone number and Emails, Campus Address, Application forms, Academic Calendar, Dept/Course lists, Parking information, Usable campus map
No: Campus police phone number |
8/9 |
| Massey University | Yes: Full name of school, Alumni in the news, Promotions for Campus events, Press Releases, Statement of School’s Philosophy, Letter from the president
No: Campus photo slide-show, Virtual tour |
6/8 | Yes: Full name of school, Campus Address, Application forms, Academic Calendar, Campus police phone number, Parking information, Usable campus map
No: List of Facility phone number and Emails |
8/9 |
| University of Auckland | Yes: Full name of school, Alumni in the news, Promotions for Campus events, Press Releases, Statement of School’s Philosophy, Letter from the president
No: Campus photo slide-show, Virtual tour |
6/8 | Yes: Full name of school, Academic Calendar, Campus police phone number, Dept/Course lists, Parking information, usable campus map
No: List of Facility phone number and Emails, Campus Address, Application forms |
6/9 |
| University of Canterbury | Yes: Full name of school, Alumni in the news, Promotions for Campus events, Press Releases, Statement of School’s Philosophy
No: Campus photo slide-show, Letter from the president, Virtual tour |
5/8 | Yes: Full name of school, List of Facility phone number and Emails, Campus Address, Campus police phone number, Parking information, Usable campus map, Dept/Course lists, Academic Calendar
No: Application forms |
8/9 |
| University of Otago | Yes: Full name of school, Alumni in the news, Promotions for Campus events, Press Releases, Letter from the president, Statement of School’s Philosophy
No: Campus photo slide-show. Virtual tour |
6/8 | Yes: Full name of school, List of Facility phone number and Emails, Campus Address, Application forms, Campus police phone number, Dept/Course lists, Parking information, Usable campus map
No: Academic Calendar |
8/9 |
| University of Waikato | Yes: Full name of school, Campus photo slide-show, Promotions for Campus events, Press Releases, Statement of School’s Philosophy, Letter from the president
No: Alumni in the news, Virtual tour |
6/8 | Yes: Full name of school, List of Facility phone number and Emails, Campus Address, Application forms, Academic Calendar, Academic Calendar, Campus police phone number, Dept/Course lists, Parking information, Usable campus map No: |
9/9 |
| Victoria University of Wellington | Yes: Full name of school, Campus photo slide-show, Alumni in the news, Press Releases, Promotions for Campus events, Letter from the president, Statement of School’s Philosophy
No: Virtual tour |
7/8 | Yes: Full name of school, List of Facility phone number and Emails, Campus Address, Application forms, Academic Calendar, Dept/Course lists, Parking information, Usable campus map
No: Campus police phone number |
8/9 |
In all cases I opened up the site and searched around for up to 30 seconds for each item. I used the links off the front page and the search tools on the site. When possible I tended to be fairly generous with awarding points. So if the University calendar was browsable rather than downloadable it was okay or you could enrol online rather but not download the documents you also got the point.
Out of the sites I found Auckland’s the worst in that it was large and confusing (See below) while missing the basics. The other universities were all a lot better to the extent I can’t really pick between them.
Notes:
- I found the University of Auckland’s website very hard to actually use. Pretending I wanted to enrol in 1st year Computer Science I found it very hard to find out what courses were offered, which ones I should take and how I should apply. The process seemed to involved jumping back and forth between half a dozen computer different sections of the website. Very bad for a core function of the website.
- Many of the sites had separate websites for depts and other organisations within the University. I found that it was often the case where a search for “Maps” or “parking” would sometimes show the the dept’s version of that page rather than the campus-wide one.
- I think just about all the sites would benefit from a usability test. Create a list of 10 common things people want to do at the website and pull some people off the street to try and do them. The things in the “What people are looking for” could be a good start.
- Search quality seems to vary a lot between the sites. Those using Google search usually are worst. Having the option to highlight certain pages to ensure they appear at the top of search results is a useful feature.
- In most cases I could easily find the campus security number by searching for “Security”. Good enough in most case but perhaps some improvement needed since people might be in a panic when dialling the number.
- It’s good to see that in most cases the sites were trying to be user-centric. However in many cases the “follow this path to enrol” didn’t interact well with the rest of the sites (eg when it came time to look up course information). Part of this is possibly the high complexity of enrolment and the regulations but the experience could be better.
- Best page I came across on my tour was the Otago University Parking Page , with notes like “All phone calls to the Parking desk are recorded”you can tell that is a fun place to work.
