Paying attention to users

Like most websites, the University of Toledo has an internal search engine. Statistics from the internal search results showed that over a three month period the word “webct” was requested over 3,000 times. The next term on the list was “email” which was only requested 1,032 times in the same amount of time. This alarming number of queries prompted immediate action. The first step was to identify the problem, why was this the most popular search term? After a bit of investigation and experience from being a student whose professors refer to the distance learning portal as “webct” I realized that no where on the Distance Learning website used the word “webct.” Rather, they used “Login into your Distance Learning Course.” Knowing most users do not read, they skim; this was the problem. To address the immediate concerns we added the words, “webct” to the tag.

After a few weeks a new layout was created for the Distance Learning homepage. This new layout includes feedback from current students, prospective students, internal search queries, and analytic data. WebCT/Blackboard Login has been moved to the top of the page with a easy to use drop down to select the semester to login to. No longer will users be required to click five different links to login to their courses. Side note, Blackboard recently purchased WebCT, so the name will be changing, hence the use of WebCT/Blackboard. In later semesters the name will be changed to eLearning Login. No longer promoting a company/product. This will be phased in once faculty and staff are noticed to help dissolve potential confusion.

New Features

Admission recruiters are screaming they want more ways to grab information from visitors. The new design now includes an information request form, that speaks with internal databases. The new design is also geared towards prospective students, including go-to-actions, experience, apply, and programs of study.

To clean up clutter and navigation issues simple links were created to allow visitors to click and go.

A quick glance news center was created to highlight important deadlines and news, then direct visitors to more details.

$5 keyword have been integrated based on analytic data and usage statistics to help with usability and search engine optimization.

These changes are all part of phases to continually help site users as they navigate through the site. More changes are planned for the next few months, the true driving factor will be additional user testing and feedback. Initial feedback has been extremely positive, especially the creation of the drop down login option.

Before Redesign

After Redesign