USABILITY ASSESSMENT:
Gordon College Web Site
www.withresonance.com
Project Overview
The purpose of the Usability Assessment was to determine how representatives of two key audiences
– alumni and prospective students – view the Gordon College Web site in terms of usability.
In the assessment, Resonance contacted 79 people and conducted telephone interviews with 22 of
them. During the interviews, participants were asked to use the Gordon Web site to answer six
fundamental questions relative to each audience. They were timed in how quickly they could locate
information on the Web site, then asked for comments on the experience and on the site in general.
Participants who could not locate the information within three minutes were stopped and classified as
“could not locate.”
Ten Gordon alumni participated in the project. Nine of these participated in the question-and-answer
part of the assessment and found information on the site. The tenth did not have time to participate
fully in the interview but offered comments on the Web site. The sixth alumni question, which asked
participants to identify Gordon College’s new four-year program, was discontinued after the first
interview because the answer was only contained in a news release and, thus, difficult to find.
In addition, 13 high school students (8 juniors and 5 seniors) mainly from the Atlanta region (two were
from St. Mary’s in south Georgia) participated in the assessment. None of the 13 students had ever
visited the Gordon site. For their participation, Resonance sent a $10 gift card to each interviewee
along with a personal note of thanks on behalf of Gordon College.
All but one respondent (an alumnus) had high-speed Internet access of DSL or broadband. It should
be noted that the optimal conditions for conducting this usability assessment would be in-person
interviews in a laboratory environment, measuring the number of clicks to information. However, the
timed telephone interviews did uncover areas of usability that need to be addressed, as well as helpful
feedback from both alumni and prospective students.
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Key Findings
The chief conclusion from the usability assessment is that the Gordon College Web site would benefit
from streamlining its content to allow visitors to find it more quickly. Allowing for variable speeds of
Internet access, an acceptable time for locating answers to fundamental questions would be less than
60 seconds; and less than 30 seconds would be an optimal time.
Generally speaking, alumni struggled with answering the questions that pertained to them, such as
how to plan an alumni event and how to make a financial gift to the college online. The chief issue
appears to be the “layering” of alumni-related information on the site, which may be corrected by
adding an Alumni area outside of the Advancement area.
Most alumni liked the graphic design of the Web site and the photographs on the site. Nearly every
participant expressed interest in accessing more alumni information on the site, especially how to
contact other alumni. So Gordon College has an opportunity to strengthen its alumni relations by
providing additional information to alumni as well as making that information easier to access.
The high school students, all of whom were computer savvy, were able to get around the site with
greater ease. They occasionally began following a navigational path to a destination, but they were
more inclined to retreat on this path once they determined it would not lead to their destination. They
also employed more means to locate information, including the Search tool and the link to Frequently
Asked Questions.
Unlike the alumni, the students offered few or no comments on the experience of locating information
on the site. When asked what they look for on a college Web site, all student participants wanted to
know Gordon’s GPA and test score requirements, majors offered, tuition and fees, and a glimpse into
student life. Most thought the site was easy to navigate and liked the design. The most common
objections (offered by several participants) was that the site felt copy heavy, and that the type was
small and hard to read.
The Site Architecture project that follows this Usability Assessment is an opportunity to collapse some
of the information levels in the current Gordon College Web site to provide quicker access to key
information. It will also enable the College to evaluate some of its current content, and to introduce
new content based on the input of alumni and prospective students. For example, the next version of
the Gordon College Web site could paint a vivid picture of the Gordon College experience, as well as
life in the greater community.
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Usability Assessment: Gordon College Alumni
Following are summary responses to the six questions asked of the 10 Gordon College alumni who
participated in the usability assessment. (Their names appear in Appendix A.) Following each
summary response are sample comments offered by the participants.
1. Let’s suppose you wanted to take a class in cake decorating at Gordon College this spring.
Tell me when it is offered.
Navigation path: Home / Administrative Departments / Community Education / Community Ed Catalogs
Four out of nine could not find the list of community education courses in under 3 minutes. Of the five
who did find it, one person used the site map, another used the search tool. The other three were able
to find it through the standard navigation.
 Average time for the five people who located the information: 1:26.
Comments:
 “This is a problem I had before with the Website – it’s not intuitive.” Courses should be under
“courses,” not community education. Didn’t know what that meant.

“First place I looked was calendars and schedules. Looked under schedules, then looked
under academics. Started rollovers and found it. Never would’ve looked under Administrative.”

“How would I have known to click on administrative?”

“I just scrolled thru everything as it was popping up.” She thought it was hard.
2. A friend has told you that she heard the musical “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the
Forum” was going to be performed at Gordon College this spring. Find the date that the play
opens.
Navigation path: Home / Calendars & Schedules / Drop-down tool for Theatre (or scroll)
All alumni found the answer to this question, and most chose to use the Quick Reference or Calendar
as their path. Most people found this in less than a minute. Two of the participants took longer than two
minutes to find the information.
 Average time for the nine people who located the information: 1:03.
Comments:
 “Quick References is easiest. People are going to click on anything that says ‘quick’.”

“It’s about three levels deep. I would expect to see some kind of ‘upcoming events’ on the
home page. Or something like that.”

Went to quick references –Theatre – upcoming theatrical productions
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3. You’ve agreed to help out a neighbor whose son wants to enroll in Gordon College’s nursing
program. You said you’d find out what kinds of classes are offered in the nursing curriculum.
Find that list of classes.
Navigation path: Home / Academic Programs / Nursing & Health Sciences / Nursing Curriculum
All alumni found the answer to this question, and all but one found it in less than 90 seconds. The one
who struggled found it in two minutes and had a hard time knowing where to start.
 Average time for the nine people who located the information: 1:01.
4. You’ve decided that you want to get involved in planning a reunion for you and your fellow
classmates. You want to see if the Gordon Web site has any information about how to do this.
Does it – and if so, where?
Navigation path: Home / Administrative Departments / Advancement / Alumni / Reunions
Eight out of nine alumni were able to find the answer to this question, but only two of them found the
answer in less than 40 seconds. Everyone else struggled.
 Average time for the eight people who located the information: 1:11.
Comments:
 “This was hidden. Would never have thought to go thru Administrative or Advancement.”

Participant knows VP of Advancement and knew to look under Advancement. “If I had not
known Alumni comes under her, I wouldn’t have been able to find it. I had a hard time once
before looking for it.”

Had a tough time – went to site map and did a search. Took me to Advancement page. I
would never have gone to Advancement.

Knew it was under advancement, (he’s VP of Alumni advisory board). Couldn’t find
Advancement (not on home page). “I’ve told them they need to put Alumni on the home
page.”

Went thru search function – found by clicking on Alumni. Would’ve been difficult to find under
advancement.
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5. You decide you want to make a gift to Gordon College online. How do you do this?
Navigation path: Home / Administrative Departments / Advancement / Foundation / Give Now
Four of the nine alumni were not able to locate the information in less than three minutes. The general
consensus was that this question was the most difficult to answer through the Web site. The average
time to answer bears this out.
 Average time for the five people who located the information: 1:28.
Comments:
 Again, knew to start with Advancement, but couldn’t find Foundations. Went thru “What alumni
can do to help,“ and item no. 6 was “Give online.” Says the list is hard to read, too long.

Got hung up on “Ways to Give” – it was a long list, and participant didn’t read on below –
thought that would be the way to go.

“You might want to make this one a little easier.” Says it’s “buried in the menu.”

Should be under the Alumni section – checked there first. Didn’t make the association with
Foundation.

Struggled with this. Got into financial aid, paying bills. Even though participant was familiar
with alumni relations, he couldn’t find it.

“I started at Business Office – when I couldn’t find it, I followed path of other question (going
through Advancement to Foundation). If I had known that, would’ve used Search first.”
Other questions and answers asked of the alumni:
Before today, when was the last time you visited the Gordon College Web site?
All but two participants had not visited the Web site in at least six months. The one who had was
looking for his transcript. Another wanted to read about his son, who works there.
What information would you like to see Gordon College add to the site that would benefit you
as an alumnus?
 “I would like to see where alumni are now. ‘Blast from the past.’ And older pictures, like from
the 1980s or 1990s. It’s fine if they’re in an alumni section. Right now it’s all 19-year-olds.”

“More on reunions – make that page easier to get to. And class lists of alumni.” He found it
accidentally through clicking on “Give Now Online.” There are class lists there.

“Make it easier to find the things you need to. Administrative departments is a tough path to
find information. Wouldn’t think certain things would be under that category.”

“I’d like to see community things first. I might come back to take a class.”
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
Have it set up so you can contact alumni thru Website – email addresses. Still need to
register, but make it available to others.

Alumni button on home page. And a ‘Does anybody know where John Doe is?’ feature

A tab for Fundraising.

A schedule of special activities that are going on, special programs, sports schedules,
speakers, etc. What’s going on on campus. It would help with the community. More of a
community outreach tool. Community has to get over bitterness with past president. New
president is very involved. For years, alumni meetings were not being held. Nothing at Gordon
was happening to promote golden reunions. New president was very encouraging of him
wanting to plan a 50th reunion – and the school helped. “Great reception from new president
and his staff.” Formed an alumni advisory committee.

Would like to see a separate area for nursing alumni, ways to keep in touch. Who is coming to
reunions. “We’ve had trouble trying to stay in touch.” No one place to get in touch. There are
1800 graduates.

“Well, I can think of several things. I would really like to see alumni get their own page. There
needs to be more sex [appeal] on the site. It’s probably ok for as far as it goes. The colors are
very bland, and that sort of bothers me.”

“From the point of view of content, once you figure the site out, it looks like they’ve got it there.
You just have to look several layers deep. I know they’re working on a budget. Sometimes it
can get expensive to do these things.”

Alumni events. Probably wouldn’t visit the Website regularly.
What do you think about the design of the site?
Most like the color and the feel of the site, and how the pictures refreshed. They also liked how the
side navigation on the home page was set up, and the mouse-over option to give you choices.
Other comments:
 Choices are too big – take up too much real estate.

Wish print was a little bigger.

The pictures are nice. It’s much better than it used to be. Pictures reflect how the campus
looks now. Not community college looking.

Compared to others I’ve seen, doesn’t look sophisticated. No pizzazz.

Not as user friendly as it could be – shouldn’t have to hunt for things as hard as I did.

Not a lot fluff – gets to the point. Very user friendly. Easy to find stuff.
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What other changes / improvements would you suggest for the site?
 Too many layers: A lot of information is buried deep. Tabs on left side aren’t helpful – where
they take you is vague. 7-8 layers when it could’ve been 1-2. Put more alumni info.

Pages are too long and copy heavy – like on the master calendar

Quick References should be covered in other areas as well – should be doing this more all
over site. It’s difficult to get into certain places (i.e. Alumni). If someone is looking at Gordon
College for the first time, some areas are too difficult to find. May act as a deterrent.

More info on events going on campus: This could attract alumni and the community. Also
make accessible. For example, continuing education classes were buried.

Improve Alumni section:
ought to be a stand-alone button on Home page – not thru Advancement.
“A good alumni section would really draw me to the site. That would lead me to see what
else is going on.”
Implement some way to post a message, get in touch with other alumni. “If there was a
designated spot where people could voluntarily register and establish that
communication, that would be great.”

Improve Giving section: “If you want people to give money, wouldn’t make it hard to do”.

Admissions page – make it more colorful to go with the rest of the site.

“More hyperlinks, so things weren’t three layers deep. Think in terms of whether you hover
over something, and you’re able to see what’s underneath it. Some things aren’t logical – like
that cake [decorating class]. It’s buried under several layers. Bring those to the top.”

More information on main tabs – when you’re scrolling down (i.e. what does advancement
mean
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Usability Assessment: Prospective Students of Gordon College
Following are summary responses to the six questions asked of the 13 high school students who
participated in the usability assessment. (Their names appear in Appendix A.) Some of the summary
responses include sample comments offered by the participants; however, the students had fewer
comments to offer than alumni, and for some questions found information quickly.
One student used the Search tool to answer all questions. Others used the site’s navigation.
1. Does Gordon College offer a degree in Theatre? (Once they find it, ask what the degree is.)
Navigation path: Home / Academic Programs / Humanities
Only one student had difficulty finding the answer to this question. Everyone else found it in less than a
minute and a half (most were under a minute).
 Average time for the 13 people who located the information: 0:54.
2. A friend has told you that she heard Gordon College offers classes in places other than its
campus in Barnesville. You want to know if one of these locations is close to you. Use the Web
site to find out.
Navigation path: Home / About Gordon / Off-campus Locations
This proved to be the easiest question for students to answer. All but one found it in under 50 seconds
– one located it in 12 seconds.
 Average time for the 13 people who located the information: 0:36.
3. You’re thinking about enrolling in Gordon College’s nursing program, but you want to know
what kind of classes are offered in the nursing curriculum. Find that list of classes.
Navigation path: Home / Academic Programs / Nursing & Health Sciences / Nursing Curriculum
The difficulty one student had in locating this information slightly skewed the average. She looked
under Academic Catalog and struggled to locate the information. Most others found the list of classes
in 30 to 90 seconds.
 Average time for the 13 people who located the information: 1:04.
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4. You’re thinking about living on campus at Gordon, and you want to know if the dorms have
wireless Internet. Use the Web site to find out.
Navigation path: Home / Student Life / Residence Life / Residence Halls / Housing Amenities
Students had a little more difficulty with this question (and one could not find the answer in less than
the three-minute limit). None of the students used the navigation path. All but one of the 12 who
answered the question went through Student Life/Residence Life/FAQs. Another student went through
a site map search and found it through a different path (Student Life / Student Services / Computer
Services / Computer FAQs / Internet Questions).
 Average time for the 12 people who located the information: 1:16.
5. How much does it cost to purchase a meal plan as a resident student at Gordon?
Navigation path: Home / Admissions / Tuition & Fees / Download pdf
Because the answer to this question is only available in a downloadable document, only one student
found it within the 3-minute time limit. However, all students did successfully navigate to a page with
information on meal plans (Student Services / Dining Services / Meal Plans) but the cost of the meal
plan was not contained on this page.
 Time for the 1 person who located the information: 0:39.
Comments:
 Went to tuition and fees right away. If you want to find out how much something costs, it
makes sense to go to fees. (This was the only student to find the answer.)

Could not find it. Looked in student life and found plans – no costs. When told it was under
tuition and fees, she couldn’t believe it.

It would be helpful if the costs would be listed next to each meal.
6. You’re thinking about running Cross Country for Gordon. What do you have to do to join the
team?
Navigation path: Home / Student Life / Athletics / Cross Country
Verify location: Home / Student Life / Athletics / Cross Country
This was another easy question for students to answer. Five of the 13 students needed more than a
minute, but all students located the information successfully.
 Average time for the 13 people who located the information: 0:50.
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When you look at college Websites, what kind of information are you looking for?
 What majors they offer, tuition, financial aid, intramurals. Is there Greek life? Northwestern
has a link “a day in the life” – gives a snapshot of daily college life. What is average SAT
score? Do I have a chance of getting in, or where do I need to aim to get in? That is hard to
find on many sites.

Test scores and GPAs of students who typically apply. Other requirements to get in.

Sports scenes, housing information.

Majors offered, what extracurricular activities, tour of the dorms. Club sports, intramurals,
activities. The Georgia Tech site was helpful – was easy to get around. I didn’t feel lost at all I
could figure out how to look for stuff.

I want easy access to the majors and how popular they are – sometimes they are hidden.
Intramurals, what else they offer. How big school is, what it’s like. I don’t like to go hunting. I
like it straightforward.

Fees, I did see that. Dorm information. Intramurals, sorority info.

General info, how big student body is, SAT requirement, tuition, if it’s way off from what I’m
looking for, I know to not pursue.

Programs they offered. Do they offer my major? What are the requirements to be accepted?
Dorm information. Tour dates look at the school myself. Fees, meal plans. Do they accept
Hope scholarship? Financial aid. Athletic programs – dance team. If it’s a good fit – if they
offer what I need.

I’d like to see “a day in the life” of a Gordon student. What is the campus like, what is college
life like? You want to get a feel for the college. Also what activities do they offer?

How much it costs, what I need to get in. What the campus living is like. Do they have my
major (education)?

I’m interested in sports. I look for a roster and how to contact coaches. After that, read about
student life in general and get a feel for it. A student perspective – experiences from the
students. I would look into resident life, campus housing. Dates of admissions. Tuition. Is it
private or public? List of majors.
What do you think about the design of the Gordon College site?
 This site is better than Auburn’s. Easier to find things – makes more sense.

It’s pretty good. Liked the side navigation.

Like it. Like the pictures, like the stripes on the home page. Site map is helpful.

Real straight forward. Easy to get around. Don’t like the colors.
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
Like the color scheme. Pretty easy to locate academic programs. I don’t see anything about
the average student that goes here. FAQs – long list – hard to read thru all of them. I was
scanning and ended up skipping over the one I needed. Liked the side navigation. Makes it
easier to find things.

I liked it. Overall it was a nice design. A few things gave me trouble.

Very professional looking. Navigation is good. I tend to be slow – probably look around and
find it. I like the way you can move cursor over it and gives you options.

Like the layout. Like the pop-ups under each category – side navigation on home page.
Makes it easy to look for things.

It’s the kind of Website I like. Straightforward and easy navigation.

I like the pictures. All the people look like they are friendly. Navigation made sense. Things
were easy to find. Has a lot of information – things you need to know.

Academic programs didn’t really tell you everything you needed to know.

Pretty easy to find things. Subcategories directed you pretty well.

Some places had too much info crammed on one page. Type was small – hard to find what
you’re looking for. Lots of scrolling. Made it difficult. It wasn’t very creative. Not a lot of
pictures of the campus. Seemed more informational – text heavy.

I thought it was good. Has a nice look. But the type is way to small. It’s really hard to read.
What other changes / improvements would you suggest for the site?
 I thought it was cool. Like the fact you can click on top of any page to go home. Might want to
mark. It’s clean. Gets you to where you need to go. Not too flashy. Has good topics – good
navigation. I like how you can scroll over and get subheadings.

Just make it easier to read.

I didn’t see anything about the size of the school – I like to know the student body population.

Do they have Greek Life? Also, info about financial aid and virtual tours of dorms or housing.

Would like to see more pictures – pictures of campus life. To give you a feel for the college.
The pictures at the top are nice. Add testimonials – people talking about their experiences,
scattered among the pages – little snippets.

Pictures, live cam can see what the life on campus is like. Gives you a real feel for the college
and student life.

I’d like to see “a day in the life” kind of thing. What is it like to go that college?

Nothing.
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
I think it’s a pretty good site.

What it takes to get in. That info is important right off the bat.

More info on scholarships – can they afford to go? They seem to have everything – but it was
confusing to find.

Can’t think of any others.

More information about the town the college is in. Is it small or large, where is the campus
located within the town?
Comparison of what students wanted to see vs. whether Gordon already has it
They wanted to see: Requirements to get in (GPA, SAT/ACT Scores)
Does Gordon already have it: No. If you go to Admissions / Requirements, you have a choice of 14
options in the drop-down menu depending on the type of student (beginning freshman, transfer, home
school, etc.). Under “beginning freshman,” the only requirements listed are what qualifies as a
“beginning freshman,” and the types of classes required in high school to be considered for enrollment.
They wanted to see: How much college costs
Does Gordon already have it: Yes. Costs are generally easy to understand and are covered
thoroughly. One exception: meal plans. Students didn’t know to check the pdf document to see how
much the plans cost.
They wanted to see: Student life – what’s it like to be a student at the college
Does Gordon already have it: Yes, but could be improved. Student Services has the bulk of what
prospective students need to get a feel for what Gordon offers, but it’s two layers down. Also, the
number of students at the college is in a different section (About Gordon).
They wanted to see: Financial aid information – what’s available
Does Gordon already have it? Yes. The site is pretty thorough on the types of aid available
(including HOPE), how to apply, as well as policies and FAQs. Students can also download forms and
check their aid status.
They wanted to see: Tour dates
Does Gordon already have it? Yes. Under “Admissions” – Tour Campus Day – students can
schedule a visit, and then fill out a survey afterwards.
They wanted to see: Information about the town of Barnesville
Does Gordon already have it? Not really. In the “About Gordon” section, it says Gordon is located in
the “small, rural town of Barnesville.” But the site would benefit from giving students a sense of what
Barnesville is like.
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Appendix
Alumni interviewed:
1. Bob Rook
2. Virginia Carter
3. Charles Covin
4. Bob Wright
5. John Burnette
6. David Gassett
7. Don Neuner
8. George Scott
9. Sherry Holcomb
10. Allen Statham
Students interviewed:
1. Sarah Harber, Female, Junior at Decatur High School
2. Anna Rose Gable, Female, Junior at Decatur High School
3. Mason Wray, Male, Junior at Decatur High School
4. Allison Smith, Female, Junior at Decatur High School
5. Sam Shue, Male, Senior at Decatur High School (undecided about next year – has been
accepted at Duke, GA Tech and Emory)
6. Lauren Crean, Female, Junior at Parkview High School
7. Abby Bachelor, Female, Junior at Parkview High School
8. Rachel Taylor, Female, Junior at Parkview High School
9. Sarah Darden, Female, Senior at Marist High School (going to GA Tech)
10. Ryan Holman, Male, Senior at Marist High School (going to Auburn)
11. Riley Pelosi, Female, Junior at North Springs High School
12. Ashlie Zakutansky, Female, Senior at St. Mary’s High School, St. Mary’s, GA (going to
Valdosta State)
13. Michelle Reynolds, Female, Senior at St. Mary’s High School, St. Mary’s, GA (undecided
about next year – leaning toward Valdosta State)
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