Kindergarten Classroom Website: A Usability Study of a Teacher Website

Abstract

Communication between a teacher and families is critical for a positive learning environment. Various forms of communication between the teacher and families can encourage parent participation as well as foster the growth of existing relationships. It is important for parents to have ac- cess to important school and classroom information in one convenient location. The current school website has limited features and design capabilities for teachers to provide information to parents. To address this need, a teacher-created classroom website was created. The purpose of this usability study was to develop and evaluate the ease-of-use and navigation of a Kindergarten Classroom Website: A Usability Study of a Teacher Website (https://kinderclasswebsite.weebly.com) designed to provide parents with one convenient location to find all important and necessary school and classroom information. The website was created using Weebly, a cloud-based web development platform. The design of the web- site used Gestalt’s Principles with components from Rosena and Purinton to focus on the cognitive parts of the design. Three rounds of usability test- ing were conducted with three participants in each round. Data was collected via surveys and during the walkthrough sessions. Revisions were made based on feedback received from participants to improve the overall site and user experience. Based on the data, minor revisions were made to the site. The methods, participant data, design implications, and website modifications will be further discussed in this paper.