Usability Study of a Website to Orient Incoming Students into a Journalism Course

Abstract

The majority of teachers receive new students at the beginning of each school year. However, teachers that work at a military impacted school have to accommodate for students coming and going throughout the year. The continual stream of students entering and exiting at a particular school on a military base warranted the development of an orientation site for a year-long Journalism elective course. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the content, aesthetics, and organization of the site through a usability study. The website-builder, Weebly, was used to create the site, and instructional videos were embedded using the software Camtasia. The orientation site uses Google Classroom, which is the learning management system for the course. To ensure the site would be user friendly for new students, two rounds of usability testing were completed, with revisions made based upon data. Usability participants navigated through the site to complete scenarios that the target audience would encounter. Pre and post surveys gathered additional data that revealed demographics, comfortability levels with technology, and recommendations for the site in regards to content and aesthetics. Some lessons learned consisted of how multimedia can enhance a website, the importance of color on a website, and how a paper document checklist provided on a homepage can assist with completion of orientation activities. The conclusions made from this study could serve as a model for other situations with a transient population that could use a website to help with an overall adjustment to a new environment.