1
Evaluating the effectiveness of navigation and organization of a
classroom website through usability testing
Desiree Piercy
Learning Design and Technology
Univeristy of Hawaii at Manoa
Hawaii, USA
dpiercy@hawaii.edu
Abstract: In order for students to be successful, parents need to know what is
going on at school so they can help support their child/children. This usability
study was developed to improve parent teacher communication using a
classroom website in an elementary school. During the year there is a lot of
communication between families and schools. Although many newsletters and
flyers are sent home, parents still seem to never have all of the information they
need, perhaps because information gets lost in transit from school to home. The
purpose of this usability study was to evaluate the effectiveness of navigation
and the organization of the content for a classroom website to improve weekly
communication with parents at a Hawaii public elementary school on the
Windward side of Oahu. Peer feedback suggested minimizing text on web pages
by breaking up sentences for easier readability, adding a tab for homework, and
specifying names with room numbers. These suggestions were implemented in
the hope that the website would become more valuable in the future for
communicating to parents and helping them easily find information pertaining
to their child. This paper will showcase how the website changed and will
discuss design principles that informed choices in the redesign.
Introduction
In educational settings parents and teachers continually work together to help children be
successful in school. To make this happen, there must be constant communication
between the family unit and the teacher to ensure all needs are being met. According to
Unal (2011), “Research studies show that involving parents and families is one of the
most important ways to improve schools and help students succeed” (p. 43). When
teachers make it a priority to involve parents in their daily teaching practice then parents
will improve their interactions with their children at home (Unal, 2011).
Communication with the family unit is highly valued at the elementary school level.
Currently, the most common way of communicating with parents is through flyers or
newsletters at the elementary school in this study. Although every effort is made to get
information passed to the parents in a timely manner there is still a break down in
communication, perhaps because papers are getting lost or damaged in transition from
school to home or students just forget to show their parents the flyers/newsletters. Parents
are not receiving the information to help their child in school. When this happens the
parents begin to get frustrated because they’re not informed of what is occurring in the
classroom thus leading to feeling helpless to assist their children.
2
As a 5th grade teacher at a public school, I am looking to increase communication with
parents through the use of a classroom website. Throughout my years of teaching I have
realized that the more informed the parents are the better the outcome I get from my
students because the parents are up to date with what’s going on and can properly assist
their child and meet necessary deadlines. I keep my parents informed through a 5th grade
website with weekly announcements and general information about the grade level. This
website benefits my students as well as their parents. If students have questions or lose
documents they can refer to the website from home to look up important announcements
or access any important documents needed for class.
In order to make an effective classroom website, it needs to be easy to navigate and
include organized information that parents can easily understand and locate. To improve
the classroom website’s effectiveness and ease of use, a usability study was conducted.
The purpose of this usability study was to evaluate the effectiveness of navigation and the
organization of the content for my classroom website to improve weekly communication
with parents at a Hawaii public elementary school on the Windward side of Oahu.
Literature review
Technology continues to empower teachers to prepare our students for the future they
will inherit (Ertmer, Ottenbreit-Leftwich, Sadik, Sendurur & Sendurur, 2012). In
general, teachers are beginning to incorporate technology more into the classroom.
According to Bower, Hedberg, and Kuswara (2010), “There has been an explosion in the
number of Web 2.0 tools available for educators to use with their students”. In order to
close the achievement gap and increase student learning, LaRocque, Kleiman, & Darling
(2011) note that it requires the collaboration of interested groups, most notably parents.
One way to use technology and increase parent teacher communication is through a
website. Classroom websites are becoming more popular because of the ability for
parents to access information anytime/anywhere. In addition, websites also eliminate the
issue of documents getting lost transitioning from school to home. When parents
participate in their child’s education results have shown an increase with student
achievement (Unal, 2011). The goal of a classroom website is to increase teacher
communication with parents. Higher parent involvement doesn’t just increase academic
achievement but it also enhances parent and student satisfaction with the school itself,
which then results in fewer behavioral problems overall (LaRocque, Kleiman, & Darling
2011). According to a study done in the United Kingdom by Lewin & Luckin (2010),
using technology made it easier to share information with parents through websites and
other learning platforms. Incorporating technology such as a website, allows for more
independence for the learners and the parents and provides guidance for them when
needed (Lewin & Luckin, 2010).
As we look into the future Shaltry, Henriksen, Wu and Dickenson (2013) note that with
great hope our new teachers will pave the path in integrating new technologies into their
3
teaching in ways that will be beneficial to their students, colleagues, and the greater
education community. Training teachers to use technology from the beginning will
increase the integration with it into their classroom. Involving web 2.0 tools in the
classroom will not only engage participants but it will build a community amongst the
users (Chua & Goh 2010).
Classroom websites can be used to disseminate information such as newsletters, blogs,
and a calendar of events. With a website parents can have access to what’s going on in
class and can find important documents if they lose them. According to a study by Tan &
Goldberg (2009) high quality school involvement can help parents provide better
assistance at home and more consistency between home and school.
When designing the website the most important thing to think about is the audience.
Creating websites with elevated levels of usability and accessibility opens opportunities
for the broadest audience possible (Foley 2011). Since the users will be utilizing the site
it’s important to keep them in the forefront during the design process. Additionally,
designers should consider varying levels of technological ability. When considering the
users of this website it is important to think about the students who will be using the
website and make sure it is designed to support their cognitive and motor skills (Gossen,
Hempel, & Nürnberger 2013). This project focused on improving overall effectiveness,
the organization of the content, and the ease of navigation for a classroom website.
Techniques such as placement, adjacency, and balance are powerful considerations for
designers to create a visually appealing website (Glore & David 2012). The best way to
have the most useful and powerful website is to conduct a usability test with the target
audience. According to Krug (2010), “The purpose of a usability test is to get insights
that enable you to improve what you’re building” (p.10).
Project Design & Development
The school has created each grade level with a Weebly website to provide additional
information for parents and students. The initial website was very basic and offered
minimal information for parents and students. Based on previous communication with
frustrated parents it was suggested to design a website that would expand the
communication lines between parents and teachers and better inform parent so they can
assist their child in school. Therefore, usability testing was done to evaluate the
effectiveness of navigation and the organization of the content of the grade level website.
Since the website was previously created, it was decided to use the Weebly web design
platform and improve upon it from it’s current status. I wanted to have clear lines of
communication between parents and teachers so their child can have a successful school
experience. The existing website was text heavy and not used frequently by parents. I
wanted this to be a website that parents would check regularly.
Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction was the design framework for the website. The first
step is to gain attention. So to attract people a visually appealing yet somewhat
sophisticated template for 5th graders was chosen for the website. On the home page I
4
placed a welcome message seen in Figure 1 with images and a blog with current
announcements and updates throughout the grade level. All tabs were labeled easily with
information you can find on them going straight across the top of the homepage. There
were scrolling pictures for visual appeal and to catch users attention when landing on the
homepage. The blog included current events and updates related specifically to the grade
level.
Figure 1. Website homepage
Underneath the welcome message and the scrolling pictures was a blog seen in Figure 2
that included current events and updates related specifically to the grade level. In addition
to the blog users could comment on each blog entry if they had any questions or
comments.
5
Figure 2. Blog
A tab across the top was included about curriculum in 5th grade shown in Figure 3. The
public school system had adopted two new major curriculums this year, which have
resulted in many inquiries from parents and students. Information for all the subjects
taught could be found when clicking on this tab.
Figure 3. Website curriculum page
6
A schedule tab seen in Figure 4 was included so parents could have access to the daily
schedule for each of the classrooms.
Figure 4. Website schedules page
A contact tab, displayed in Figure 5, was included so parents could easily contact their
child’s teacher. This form allowed parents to easily contact their child’s teacher through
email with any questions or concerns. Add something about Gagne’s nine events?
Figure 5. Website contact page
Modifications
After getting peer feedback multiple changes were made to the website. First, the
curriculum tap was reorganized so that it wasn’t so text heavy for the user. Each subject
was separated into its own tab. When the user hovered over the curriculum tab there was
a drop down menu, seen in Figure 6 that listed all subjects taught in 5th grade.
7
Figure 6. Curriculum page after peer feedback
Within each tab the information was divided clearly by dividers and bolder font. Images
were added for visual appeal as seen in Figure 7. Separate pages were made for the main
subjects taught and an additional content tab was created for the extra curricular subjects.
Figure 7. Additional Content page
In order to keep the website consistent it was suggested to make all the tabs that
mentioned teachers names and room numbers include both instead of one or the other.
8
Therefore, wherever there was a teachers name, the room number was included for
consistency as seen in Figure 8.
Figure 8. Schedules tab after peer feedback
A back to top button, seen in Figure 9 was created to reduce the amount of scrolling for
the user. This made user navigation easier and quicker.
Figure 9. Newly created back to top button after peer feedback
The last modification made was a homework blog seen in Figure 10. It was suggested to
add this for students and parents to check if the student was absent or if parents wanted to
crosscheck to make sure their child was completing all of their work.
9
Figure 10. Newly created homework blog after peer feedback
Conclusion
Next Steps
Technology can help to increase parent support with their children, which can benefit the
teachers and the learners (Lewin & Luckin, 2010). Making the information more
accessible makes it easier for parents and students to know what’s going on at school.
Nearly everyone is connected online so most likely parents and students have better
chances of reading the information online on their phone than looking at the papers that
come home from school. Designing a classroom website is important to students and
parents to help increase communication between teachers and parents. This usability
study helped me design an organized website that is informative, useful, and easy to
navigate for parents.
Lessons Learned
As the designer it’s important to keep the user in the forefront of your mind when
designing your product. Since they will be the one using the product it should be useful to
them. It is important as the designer to stay consistent throughout your design. Keeping
consistent will make more sense to the user. Lastly as the designer it’s important not to
get too attached to your design. As a designer you will constantly be making changes to
make the product as user friendly as possible.
10
References
Bower, M., Hedberg, J. G., & Kuswara, A. (2010). A framework for Web 2.0 learning
design. Educational Media International, 47(3), 177-198.
Chua, A. Y., & Goh, D. H. (2010). A study of Web 2.0 applications in library websites.
Library & Information Science Research, 32(3), 203-211.
Ertmer, P. A., Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A. T., Sadik, O., Sendurur, E., & Sendurur, P. (2012).
Teacher beliefs and technology integration practices: A critical relationship.
Computers & Education, 59(2), 423-435.
Foley, A. (2011). Exploring the design, development and use of websites through
accessibility and usability studies. Journal of Educational Multimedia and
Hypermedia, 20(4), 361-385.
Glore, P., & David, A. (2012). Design and aesthetics in e-learning: A usability and
credibility perspective. International Journal on E-Learning, 11(4), 383–390.
Gossen, T., Hempel, J., & Nürnberger, A. (2013). Find it if you can: usability case study
of search engines for young users. Personal and ubiquitous computing, 17(8),
1593-1603.
Krug, S. (2010). Rocket surgery made easy. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.
LaRocque, M., Kleiman, I., & Darling, S. M. (2011). Parental involvement: The missing
link in school achievement. Preventing School Failure, 55(3), 115-122.
Lewin, C., & Luckin, R. (2010). Technology to support parental engagement in
elementary education: Lessons learned from the UK. Computers & education,
54(3), 749-758.
Shaltry, C., Henriksen, D., Wu, M. L., & Dickson, W. P. (2013). Situated learning with
online portfolios, classroom websites and Facebook. TechTrends, 57(3), 20-25.
Tan, E. T., & Goldberg, W. A. (2009). Parental school involvement in relation to
children's grades and adaptation to school. Journal of Applied Developmental
Psychology, 30(4), 442-453.
Unal, Z. (2011). Going the extra step for parental involvement: Connecting family and
school with the power of teacher websites. Journal of College Teaching &
Learning (TLC), 5(6). p. 43-50