Results from “My UW-Madison”

Spring Portal Focus Groups

Prepared by Mary McEniry

Focus Group Team: Jane Terpstra, Barry Radler, Mary McEniry

Division of Information Technology

University of Wisconsin-Madison

May 2001

Overview

Three focus groups were held (Wednesday, April 18^th, Tuesday, April 24 and Thursday, April 26) with a total attendance of 4 biology students and 21 engineering students as a follow-up to the Fall 2000 My UW Madison portal focus groups. The Spring focus groups were organized in a similar fashion and used the same methodology (see Fall Spring Focus Group Final Report). It is also important to point out that there were no major changes made to the portal in time for the Spring focus groups. (There were changes made to the front page of the portal to make it “look and feel easy” and changes to the My Record tab to increase EASI functionality.) Therefore, the Spring participants evaluated almost identical features as did the Fall participants. The Spring participants did, however, see several mockups of new looks for the portal and gave feedback on these potential views.

The objective of the focus groups was to evaluate the usability and functionality of the “My UW-Madison” web portal. Of interest were the same questions used in the Fall:

· How can we improve the portal?

· To what degree are students currently using the portal and does it have potential for a more expanded use soon in its current version?

Students were asked for their individual comments and then participated in group discussion. Both individual and group comments are presented in the appendices attached to this report.

Results

Table 1 shows a list of broad needs obtained from the Spring 2001 focus groups. (Appendix A provides a more detailed description of student needs/wants/expectations).

Table 2 provides a high level summary of the student’s assessment of the portal. These results are similar to the Fall focus groups and although in some cases the Spring averages were slightly lower than the Fall averages. (The appendices of this report describe in more detail the many comments that the participants produced.)

The same type of comments can be made regarding what appears to be missing for students:

· Interesting and engaging appearance

· Content or features that attracts students to use the portal on a daily basis

· More personalization of the portal

· Information that they cannot already obtain from current existing links

There were again some students who thought something was still missing but were not able to clearly identify what the missing element was.

Future plans for the portal were again described to the focus groups (web-based e-mail, on-line registration, advisor e-mail, improved calendar, more financial and housing account information, WisCard). There was overall consensus that these improvements would increase their evaluation scores of the portal. It is important to point out, however, that content and providing useful information to students may affect overall satisfaction much more than visual images.

Table 1: Student Identified Needs (Spring Focus Groups)

1. Fast (less clicks and fast loading time), easy (search using keywords and phrases, sign-in), friendly, straightforward, one stop access (links right there)

2. Up-to-date and no old news

3. Do everything that commercial portals can do

4. Things of interest to me—useful--(entertainment, lectures, class schedule and description, jobs, important dates, resources)

5. Customized information, totally configurable (colors, etc)

6. Visual site, compact design

Table 3 compares the results of the portal evaluation between Fall and Spring. The overall average assessment was almost identical which would be expected since there were no major changes made in the portal between the Fall and Spring. In some cases, the average for the individual tabs were slightly lower for the Spring focus groups.

Table 2: Student Assessment of Portal:

Portal Feature	Average Score	Examples of Ideas for Improvements Identified for Future Portal Version
Overall Assessment	77	-Not everything is useful -Don’t know how much would use it
My Front Page	70	-Bland, hard to find add/delete -Meaning of module not clear -Needs more comprehensive search engine -Not a WOW, something missing—nothing new -Slow loading
Academic	68	-Way back to portal with links -Need course grid -Too many scroll down lists -Won’t use some of these modules -Timetable too big
Calendar	65	-Expected to see a calendar -Too much stuff -Too long to scroll through modules
Library	78	-Clunky -Not what I needed -Same as library site -Resources not that helpful; some are funky
Campus	76	-Missing athletics -Today’s events not working -Needs more listings -Not much for international students
Financial	72	-Have everything defaulted -Subjects are boring -Can’t find tuition or housing fees -Didn’t have what I needed
My Record	86	-Doesn’t have graduate information -Couldn’t change contact information

Table 3: Comparison of Portal Focus Group Evaluation

Conclusions and Recommendations

The results from the Spring focus groups comprised of biology and engineering students provide continued evidence of the usefulness to students of the My UW Madison portal. Further testing and feedback from students, however, will be required to obtain feedback on features such as web-based e-mail, personalized calendar and online registration.

The following are recommendations:

1. Plan more focus groups that will obtain feedback on the improved version of the portal with web-based e-mail, personalized calendar and enhanced financial tab.

The Fall 2000 and Spring 2001 focus groups have resulted in an accumulation of knowledge regarding students needs and wants in regards to the portal. It is highly recommended to continue such efforts to better understand what different groups want and need. This is especially true since the major changes to the portal (e-mail, calendaring, financial tab) were not completed in time for the Spring focus groups and are, as of yet, untested with students. An evaluation of the portal over time using student feedback should show improvement.

2. Continue to address all additional content-related improvement issues raised by the students..

The Spring focus groups produced many comments that can be used to improve the portal. Some of these issues have already been addressed. It is important to continue to systematically address these issues.

3. Develop a communication and education plan to aid students in the optimal use of the portal.

It is again apparent from the focus groups that almost all of the students were not using the portal as their entry point to the Internet. Many, in fact, had not used the portal at all. There is still need for continued assistance in understanding how to fully use the portal, how to personalize options and how to use portal features. A more expanded tutorial may be needed, in addition to talking with students about how to optimally use the portal.

4. Continue to work on development resources, campus coordination and policy issues.

It is again important to point out that to address students needs will require significant development resources in addition to campus coordination and clarification of policy issues related to the portal. These issues are being discussed and a structure for addressing these issues has been proposed (Appendix D). It is also advisable that a other key decision makers on campus become involved in deciding policy issues regarding the portal.

Appendix A:

Summary of Student Expressed Needs, Wants and Use in Regards to the Portal

Three focus groups were held (Wednesday, April 18^th, Tuesday, April 24 and Thursday, April 26) with a total attendance of 4 biology students and 21 engineering students. Each focus group met for about 1 1/2 hours. Students provided written comments and then participated in a group discussion of the portal. They identified their wants/expectations, how they currently use the portal, difficulties with the portal, tab by tab description of strengths and areas of improvement, an overall assessment and background information. Numerical assessments were obtained for the different features and the overall portal based on the following 0-100 scale:

0 Worse score possible—little evidence of excellence—start over! This is not a good idea!

25 Below average---really needs a lot of work—students will be really turned off by it

50 Average—acceptable but nothing special—some students may or may not find it helpful

75 Above average---moving towards excellence/definitely has promise/students will want more

100 Best score possible---level of excellence---highly recommendable for students to use—students will love it!

Spring My UW Madison portal focus groups

Biology Students—Individual Comments

Wednesday, April 18th

Part I

Describe what you want or expect from the “My UW-Madison” portal

Access to the library system.

Fast service/link-up time.

Access to EASI

General information – different colleges, majors.

User-friendly

Similar things as the WISC home page.

Class schedule

Madison events – city and school

Spring My UW Madison portal focus groups--

Tuesday, April 24^th---Engineering Students—Individual Comments

Part I

Describe what you want or expect from the “My UW-Madison” portal

An easily read and visual site with which to access information as quickly and as easily as possible. As well as being customizable to show what I am most interested in up to date.

I would want to be able to search for things using keywords and phrases. I would want to be able to find a lot of information about UW-Madison events and such (more so than other search engines.)

Access to class descriptions. (What each class expects you to learn.) Professors rating in classes.

Easy access to information that I need. Available anywhere.

List of campus events: speakers, entertainment.

Notices of important dates: drop deadlines, earliest registration, first/last day of classes.

Links to class web pages, other links.

Fast loading time, no unnecessarily expensive operations. Not totally devoid of aesthetic things, though. Well organized, or at least some sort of logical arrangement.

Search engine for classes, professors, etc. Personalized information, links to sites.

Easy and useful links to classes, resources (library, etc.), news about the city of Madison as a whole

Briefly describe how your currently use the “My UW-Madison” portal. Also describe any difficulties encountered so far.

Haven’t used it before.

Never used.

Haven’t used it yet.

Wednesday, April 25^th---Engineering students—Individual Comments

Describe what you want or expect from the “My UW-Madison” portal

• Register classes

• View grades, classes left to fulfill majors.

• Easy, fast sign-in.

• Total configuration – color, some layouts.

• Some web space for more configurability.

• Local weather, radar, news, e-mail, instant messenger.

• Personal information.

• Class links.

• Allow auto-login for personal machines (home computer).

• Compact design.

• Flash option for quicker, visual and more interactive interface.

The portal should have news update, phonebook service, links, weather channel, sports score, currency exchange, and email. The portal should be user friendly and up to date. How about adding bill payment, too? so you can pay your cell phone bill or electricity using the portal? e-bay version.

Links to EASI and all the necessary wisc sites – timetable, campus map, phonebook. Ability to put custom links on the page easily. Ability to search the web.

I expect to get some useful information around the campus, about education, college activities, or daily news on related departments that use heavily this portal

To be able to access different types of information regarding my classes. Access to see what classes I need to take for graduation, suggested classes.

I would like the following which would help organize both my academic and extracurricular schedule: my class schedule, grades, a method of keeping track of my grades throughout the semester, some sort of organizer, a list of which classes I have complete and which are still necessary to complete my major, links to my favorite or most frequently used web sites, bank account information, billing information, upcoming events of organizations that I am involved with, and easy access to my email account.

I would like to be able to have easy access to all my course pages in one location. It would be nice to be able to keep track of grades, email addresses, etc. Not only would it be helpful for things related to school, but extracurricular activities as well. I don’t know if it would be possible to filter out the activities that I am interested in or just keep track of the web sites that contain information about certain activities. Also, it would be good to have a place to keep track of financial information dealing with tuition, loans, etc. It also has to be easy enough to be able to use in the case of students without a ton of computer experience.

I would like to be able to easily find information about basically anything and everything at UW-Madison.

I actually have absolutely no idea what it is, but I would expect it to have e-mail, maybe access for classes, in terms of quizzes or something (like Web-CT).

Briefly describe how your currently use the “My UW-Madison” portal. Also describe any difficulties encountered so far.

To browse my identity and status at the campus.

Currently don’t use my UW-Madison portal.

So far, I didn’t see any difficulties using this portal. It looks very straight-forward like any other web site. So each section has been grouped with certain function so I know what I am gonna use with that section, for example, like the directory to find people in the UW.

Never used.

I have never used the “My UW-Madison” portal.

Never used it before.

Appendix B:

Student Written Evaluation and Comments

0 Worse score possible—little evidence of excellence—start over! This is not a good idea!

25 Below average---really needs a lot of work—students will be really turned off by it

50 Average—acceptable but nothing special—some students may or may not find it helpful

75 Above average---moving towards excellence/definitely has promise/students will want more

100 Best score possible---level of excellence---highly recommendable for students to use—students will love it!

Spring My UW Madison portal focus groups

Biology Students

Wednesday, April 18^th

Part II

Score	Strengths	Areas of Improvement
My Front Page Tab
50	I like the add/delete modules. The weather is always nice to have right in front of you also. The phonebook is great. Good to have your bookmarks right there.	It should catch your attention more. It needs maybe a little more color or some icons. You might want to emphasize the phonebook more to let people realize it’s there.
75	· Add/delete button · Can customize this page. · Easy to follow and use.	· Aesthetics – scrolling · Students may not know what “modules” are.
30	Good to have “search” part available	Not visually appealing – too many words. Add/delete button is “hiding.” You have to scroll down to get to the majority of info on the page.
75	Welcome is clear and neat. Weather, news and Google.	Color
Academic Tab
75	I like the Undergraduate advising toolkit. There is a lot of information worth looking at.	Access to previously taken courses and also a course list of what you have now.
75	Same strengths as My Front Page. Wonderful access to things many students will need, i.e. undergraduate catalog.	Most modules are to set up as default.
80	Great links, especially advisor information.	Same for add/delete.
75	Good options and links.
Calendar Tab
75	Academic calendars and Wisconsin Week.	Maybe recent national, state or world news if wanted. Add a calendar.
50	Easy to follow.	Was expecting a calendar grid. Have actual month calendar with links to list of events on campus and in Madison.
80	Course grid access great. (Can you pick which semester is showing?) Wisconsin Week is good because you can know the big things on campus.	Don’t have Academic Calendar up as default. Course grid might be a better, peak more interest. Calendar lists are too much.
100	Really good, centralized spot for hard-to-remember dates. All modules were important. Default should begin with all modules.
Library Tab
100	I love how all of these links are right in one spot.
100	Everything you could want know about the libraries.
100	Easy access to everything. Someone in science and research could want. Love “The Scientist” module
(None given)	Library catalog very useful.	News ought to be more prominent.
Campus Life
25	Union Events	· Music events listing · Sports (Football!!) · Theatre · Maybe even more listings.
80	TITU	· Sporting events? · Today’s event highlights not working.
80	ESCAPE module – thumbs up. Cardinal Link. Housing Services good.	Today’s event highlights, that would be great if something came on the screen for it. Highlight of week’s events would be good.
100	· Off-campus housing · Digital Cardinal · Student computing	I’ve made it a habit of automatically adding all modules.
Financial Tab
75	Like the Financial Services.	Include occupations for biology or engineering majors only.
80		Scholarships should be default.
100	The Peterson Building can be frustrating and financial questions don’t always find easy answers. This looks like it could help.	Scholarship links not working.
75	Scholarship tab is good. Not something for the employed.
My Record Tab
100	Good.	Include your course grids.
90	Information in a place where you can go for everything you need.	Gives same information as EASI.
80	Course grades good to be able see grades and lists of classes you’ve taken. Easier than EASI.	Missing graduation information.
100	WOW, DARS is cool.	Security?
Login/Logout
100	Fine.	You might want to just say it’s the same password as your email account.
100	Easy, as long as you have a WiscWorld account.
100	I think that takes care of security issues.	Since you are able to spend so much time. I forgot I had logged on. Have reminders to log out.
100	Easy!
Add/Delete Modules
75	Once you get into it very helpful!	IF you are a first-time user, you probably won’t know what they are about, so draw more attention to it.
100	Easy to use.	Have everything default then be able to delete and add as needed.
50	They really allow you to make the site “yours."	They are so wonderful, but really hidden.
75		Include all of automatically.
Help
75		Make links to FAQs so you don’t have to scroll all the way down.
80	FAQs answered.	Too many words.
50	Good information	Have a search for questions similar to Microsoft?
75	Good FAQs	Could use a search.
Personalize
75	I think it is fun to choose what you want. Colors.
100	Easy to use, very straight forward.
25		What is the point? Is this necessary?
50		Too many options.
Feedback
100	I’ve never tried, so great as long as the reply is quick.
100	Link for email.
100	Straight forward.
100	What else could you want?

Spring My UW Madison portal focus groups--

Tuesday, April 24^th---Engineering Students

Part II

Score	Strengths	Areas of Improvement
My Front Page Tab
80	Student, faculty search (campus phonebook). Bookmarks are very nice. Ties together all of the time.	Maps didn’t work. Could be more compact.
80	Very fast and customizable. Nice weather page.	For the search engine, you could maybe make other ones available besides only Google (i.e. Yahoo, Excite, Dogpile).
75	Phonebook, Webster, weather forecast	Would appreciate a week’s notice on upcoming events. Useful to center phonebook according to country/student association, etc.
75	Good information, fast. Like the weather area – very important.	Organizations. Your class information for that day.
50	Customizable, easy to use	Slow when adding or deleting modules
75	Decently organized has a good amount of utility.	Could use some more color.
65	Weather module, UW-Madison search engine, Phonebook.	UW-Athletics module has hard to read links. Features are already found on other sites.
79	Good weather link (wx.com)! Up-to-date Madison news.	Maps don’t work
Academic Tab
70	Liked the class list.	Could get a lot of this off of www.wisc.edu.
90	Nice links to classes and departments. Can’t think of anything else that is missing.	The College of Engineering curricula doesn’t have Geological Engineering.
50	Timetable, undergraduate departments and programs.	Good to have current professors’ or TAs’ information (office hours, room number, etc.)
50	Undergrad advisor tool kit.	Couldn’t do much.
60	Research information good. Lots of options.	Timetable not needed. Department list. Interface clunky. Why not provide links to resources instead of chunky windows?
85	Same as above, I like the class list and academic resources.	Two narrow, doesn’t use space effectively, could be squashed a bit.
60	Career information, Undergraduate advising, Engineering Student Services.	Timetable is to big, takes too long to load. Educational orienteering wasn’t much to help me. Class list and academic advisor don’t do anything.
75	Home pages	UW Department timetables – too many on pull-down menu. Should display schedule as it does on EASI.
Calendar Tab
70	Course grid, College of Engineering calendar, and easy access to registrar calendar.	Word coloring makes it difficult to read. Events calendar doesn’t work. Wisconsin Week and Registrar is too long. Most already on Front Page. Customizable to our schedule.
80	Should be more focused on “closer” events.	Events calendar could not be displayed.
90	Course grid and future academic calendars.	Colors on Wisconsin Week.
70	Good information	Should tell us events now – future not past – now. Calendar. lots of information.
70	Lots of good information. Course grid easy to access, upcoming events a neat feature.	List of calendars too long. Who cares about 2006? Academic calendar should be more dynamic. Show me this month, not a list of months.
75	Good reference as far as things/events going on.	Is there a way to customize the range of dates displayed?
75	Course grid, COE calendar.	Academic calendar. Registrar calendar too long. Event Calendar in Wisconsin Week doesn’t work.
70	Schedule blocks.	Don’t need semesters from 1988! Wisconsin Week – bad colors, same as My Front Page.
Library Tab
75	Like the factoids under access excellence. Liked news and current even sources.	The Scientist is too long.
80	I liked the “scientist” science updates. I like the searching for books. I thought it was pretty good.	Resources for looking for books don’t say where exactly the book is or if it’s checked out or anything like that.
80	Madcat	Databases
80	Madcat library lurk there!	The scientist? More personalized.
75	Lots of resources in one place.	Not very customizable.
85	Good information on library and nice direct links to the library search engines.
80	Madcat, Campus libraries.	The Scientist module has too many links – need to enter email. Memorial Library News links go to memorial home page.
90	Factoids! Access Excellence.
Campus Life
90	Off-campus housing services, Digital Cardinal, and student organization directories.	Today’s events highlights didn’t work.
95	I like the student computing guide a lot.	I think that a link where you can type in the name of a building (Library, Computer Labs, etc.)and a map would come up and show you where it is would be nice.
70	Registered Student Organizations and off-campus housing.	Traveling information (Van Galder, Greyhound, etc.) Points of interest for outside-Madison students.
95	Student Computer Guide, Union Events, McBurney, Digital Cardinal	Today’s Events Highlights?
75	ESCAPE Events calendar excellent.	Search housing listing buried, not something needed all the time
90	A lot of good information all in one place. Good with both university and city events.	Can’t think of any, it’s pretty good.
95	TITU, Student Computing Guide, Digital Cardinal, RSO Directory.	Today’s Event doesn’t work.
80	Housing, TITU	Wisconsin Union Events weren’t all listed, could go to a link. Not all things I would use.
Financial Tab
80	Job center good couldn’t find.	Undergrad scholarship index not functioning.
85	Job center was really nice. Scholarship information really useful.	Personal information would be nice to be able to access.
80	Job center	Tuition and housing information.
70	Job center	I don’t use financial aid. Not something I’d use.
60	Concise, nice selection of links. Housing balance nice.	More information would be nice. Status of applications for aid, balance with registrar.
70	Decent listing of financial services and scholarship and fellowships.	Not too terribly useful, but it is nice to have it there if you need it.
80	UW Job Center	Undergrad Scholarship Index – doesn’t work.
75	Job Center	Undergraduate Scholarship Index doesn’t work
My Record Tab
90	Good presentation of useful information.
95	DARS thing would be nice. I like having my grades and credits and stuff right here.
90	Course grades	Course grades for other semesters.
90	Good information
75	Logout nice	Wish I could change my information.
80	OK, information, nothing too stunning but very straight forward and pain, something I like.	Could be improved aesthetically.
95	Course Grades.	No links for changing information.
95	Course grades all in one place.

Wednesday, April 25^th---Engineering students

Score	Strengths	Areas of Improvement
My Front Page Tab
75	Has a lot of options, very nice modular design.	Too narrow- total width of screen is not utilized (Ugly colors-I want my own). Tab system is good, but side bar option would be good. Too much scrolling. Needs more flash and color.
75	Nice color-UW Madison colors. Nice window type of section-easy to use.	Faster Loading time. You should be able to reconfigure what you want in this section by yourself.
75	Like that it has TV. Ability to customize it has TV basic general information. Like that windows can be minimized.	Gets long with the way that modules open. The search takes up a lot of space for the windows.
80	Can arrange what information we want on the front page, and all sections are very user friendly.	None
60	Simple layout. I like the weather.	Maybe you can have a box that contains a directory to the site. This site doesn’t look like more than wisc.edu.
78	I often search for names and info within the University’s server, so those searches are very helpful.	I would want the news headlines tailored to my interests, in my case sports, not so many political issues. Once I add some bookmarks this page should include almost everything I use on a regular basis.
75	I like the fact that you can check email, use campus phonebook, and check weather all right away because those are the three main things I do right now anyway. I also really like that whatever I want I can keep or delete from the front page.	As far as the front page goes, right now I do not think there is much else that I would need immediately available. I would not put the news on the front page in my case. It is slow in loading.
70	I like the weather, phonebook, bookmarks, add/delete modules (customize for what you want.)	More aesthetically pleasing, only shows headlines of college currently in…what if someone wanted easy access to different college’s headlines, and slow.
70	None	None
80	Weather and search directory are good.	Should have general internet search as well. Should be able to add all modules from other sections. Would be nice to move windows up and down from front page. Calculator is cool, but probably useless- other calculators much better.
79	Has a lot of information. I really like the campus search and indexes-very helpful! Email will be a plus. Maps are also very helpful.	Athletic headlines could be condensed- too much and hard to read. Weather could have more future forecast.
55	Fairly customizable, lots of things to do. I like the search options. Weather is a nice touch. I like the bookmark feature a lot.	Busy looking, needs more attractive look. Kind of boring looking. Maybe let us add pictures and colors. More than just left panel/right panel format. Maybe a frames-type setup or something. Don’t want to have to hit EMA headlines and then go. Should come up without search.
Academic Tab
80	Very nice! Click URL’s are great for class pages.	Class list-option to see course grid. Open new window for course pages?
70	Faster loading. Class list was a very good idea. Print option on class list.	Need more stuff in it. The timetable should be personalized.
70	I like that it is linked to the current classes. Like that it has links to web CT.	Timetable should have ability to select which departments and semesters shown, rather than a list of classes put into a class schedule.
60	Get update with my class list or department.	It needs to have an organization of each section because most of the sections have many links of information, so we need to scroll further down.
65	I like the availability of seeing all of your class info right there.	This is still accessible from wisc.edu. If you wanted to integrate and improve, you could also have links to class homepages. For current classes email link to advisor.
59	Schedule is nice.	I would like some way to keep track of my grades. A link to my advisor would be nice. Exam schedule. List of upcoming employers.
60	I like having class schedules, however it is not very helpful after like the first week of class. I like having the timetable easily accessible.	Here I would like some way to keep track of my grades. I would like to have some sort of buddy list with people in certain classes. Not very much new here that I ca not get from wisc.edu. Add registration options.
60	Timetable, writing center, class listings.	Only has current college curricula/services that you are enrolled in. Class list should show current grades. Asks for eleven digit ID when thought only ten. Aesthetics-slow.
70	Contacts for UW catalog. Study abroad window.	Would be helpful if you could include course syllabus and instructor/TA office hours.
50	None	Need course grid-even highlight day. Need web CT-like features-grades, coursework, Prof. And TA info, etc. Scheduling would be great with type features. Should be able to select your major curricula.
75	Has current and future schedule. It gave direct access to a German portal, which was good. It knew that global gateway would be very helpful for students looking to study abroad.	Post exam times and places with schedule. Maybe put schedules in chart format like EASI. Engineering flow chart would be helpful.
50	I like the customizable modules. Good info there.	Want course grid. Maybe in section that describes each feature on the customize page. Takes a while to load.
Calendar Tab
60	Nice for “at a glance.”	Headline system for COE calendar, and option to save where you are on exit.
50	Confusing	Font in the news and events is too big. It looks crowded. Add more activities on the calendar. Links in Wisconsin Week are hard to read. What is the purpose of white blank? Personalize the events of the office of the Registrar monthly.
60	None	Need other semesters also.
50	None	Need more fancy features in it. Have our own daily activity recorded in one of the sections.
65	I like the option of laying it out yourself.	Ability to have a personal daily planner.
62	None	Blue on Maroon is a bad color scheme. Give it some palm pilot features and exam schedules.
50	None	Is it necessary? I would just move course grid to academic tab. I did not like the way that it all did not fit on the screen (course grid was cut off). Would there be any way that you could cut calendar events so that it would only show what is in the future? Need personal calendar.
60	Course grid, Wisconsin Week	Could have current date, more activities, listings, and a personal calendar. It is also slow.
55	Course grid is very nice-should be able to add extra activities.	Better organization.
40	None	Should have a calendar layout, and you select what things are displayed. Personal organizer with email reminders would be nice.
45	Course Grid	Registrar’s academic calendar and registrar’s calendar of events are too long. Should put the option of different semester course grids. A calendar homepage should have a calendar.
60	I like the grids. There is a lot of good information in there.	The white space is too wide. Do not need entire year, maybe next week. Always show certain things without having to link to them like the academic calendar.
Library Tab
85	Has all that I need to know about the library.	Automatic patron information, and customize the data listed like hours to specific libraries.
70	None	I would like library hours and a patron info box.
60	Link to UW Madison libraries.	Have MADCAT cut up into another window campus libraries seems useless.
70	This section looks very organized and can drive you to any website you want.	Takes a long time to load.
70	Functional for searching.	Direct link to campus libraries.
79	None	Method of bookmarking databases used on a regular basis.
90	It has everything that I would need from a library tab.	It is slow to load. I would like to know final hours and library hours.
70	MADCAT and library locations.	Writing too small and crammed. The scientist articles were not working with my email address.
75	Scientist articles and Biology resources. It has everything that a library has. Includes everything that I want for Physics, Biology, and Chemistry.	None
40	MADCAT search	Should have access to more information, links to library homepages, and hours and features.
60	MADCAT search	Could have map of where libraries are located. Do not really need scientist- it is not related to the libraries. Post library hours.
60	The Scientist is a nice feature. I like the online library catalog not just at libraries or ARCH.	Pages seem to this for screen. Takes a while to load. Do we need more news on this site? The Scientist is a bit lengthy.
Campus Life
80	Digital Cardinal and Escape Events are good forms of outreach.	WSUM- listen while you browse. Could use personal ads or classifieds, and specific event listings not link offs to them.
70	None	Student computing guide-hard to read links.
60	Digital Cardinal is good.	Show today’s events.
70	Links look neat and organized because it is straight-forward for some sections.	Needs more organization like having only links on each section. Thus by clicking the links, it gives you the web page you want.
65	Nice to see what is going on at the unions.	Have a module for job fairs, concerts, and sports possibly integrated with the calendar.
83	None	Bad color scheme on student computing guide.
80	Search for housing would be helpful-like seeing what is going on at the union.	Too long to scroll through everything.
70	Off campus housing, union events, and digital Cardinal are great.	Only has current college options. Could this be placed somewhere else?
60	Nice to know this stuff is here.	Nothing that I would use.
60	Online Cardinal	Badger Herald would be nice. Should put Tito schedule on page. Outside links like event listings.
70	Today’s events highlights and union events.	Student computing is hard to read. Digital Cardinal should not be under campus life. Maybe News?
65	I like the event calendar, but isn’t there already a link for this?	Some dead links. Theatrical calendar should have info on tryouts. Event highlights did not work.
Financial Tab
85	Looks fine, some links in development.	Job listing search should be easier to browse. More jobs?
60	None	Should have bill payment, credit card balance, and housing balance.
75	Student Job Center	Have ability to link to banks. I could not go to any undergraduate scholarship links.
60	None	I do not know how to use the student job center. It needs a link to show how to use it.
0	Not much	Should not be it’s own tab.
70	Job search was good, but somewhat confusing.	Link to your bank account more of scholarships work.
75	Liked how you could see current balance of housing, but would be nice to have tuition too. Scholarship info is good.	Have access to my personal bank account, or at least a link. Check the registrar.
75	Contained almost everything for financial services.	Job center? More scholarship opportunities and own financial information and eligibility.
75	Scholarships and financial services are helpful.	Scholarships did not have links.
70	Job center search and scholarship information is good.	There are dead links and I would like to have my financial information(scholarships, financial aid).
85	Job search and scholarship index is very helpful.	Could make a list of all scholarships available-Both annually and one time. Have a link to banks.
65	Scholarships-awesome!	Need to know what to do with the UW student job center, and payment due dates need more options.
My Record Tab
85	EASI	Edit contact information (or EASI link).
70	DARS	Personalized course grades, print option, and should have combined DARS and How to report DARS.
80	Like that it is basic. More windows without having to click.	Change course grades. Could not move anything around.
90	Works exactly like EASI to find out my academic record.	None
80	Good listing of personal records and info.	Ability to change info like address and email, etc. Make DARS available online.
80	Grades are important to have on there.	None
75	I like the condensed version of EASI all on one screen.	None
90	Basically everything was good.	None
80	Replaces EASI somewhat.	Give it the power of EASI.
90	Everything there is good.	Put all other EASI stuff in there.
85	Course Grades	None
75	Like this a lot. Good information with no need to use EASI.	Change contact information.

Appendix C:

Student Group Discussion

0 Worse score possible—little evidence of excellence—start over! This is not a good idea!

25 Below average---really needs a lot of work—students will be really turned off by it

50 Average—acceptable but nothing special—some students may or may not find it helpful

75 Above average---moving towards excellence/definitely has promise/students will want more

100 Best score possible---level of excellence---highly recommendable for students to use—students will love it!

Spring My UW Madison portal focus groups

Biology Students

Wednesday, April 18^th

Like to have

A lot of things on UW-Madison Home Page but easier to get to events. Map of Campus (type in name of building). Excited about personalize options. (3)
Represent My Yahoo. (Expected TV, entertainment, stock quotes, yet like the way it has on it.) (4)
Jobs posted for my major. (2)
User friendly. (1)

Currently Use

· News, Union events (calendar, front page campus life). One time a week (use EASI and newspapers). (4)

· Phonebook – use whenever an address is needed. Three times a week. (1)

· Personalized – used early. (3)

· New user – library, phonebook. Easier to access information I want than library site. (3)

My Front Page [Scores: 50 (2), 30 (3), 75 (1), 75 (4)]

· More color. Available modules (need to be more noticeable). (2)

· Bland, lots of words, too much add/delete. Needs to be “click here first to see what all we have.” (3)

· Not catchy looking, liked it. Need description of available modules. (1)

· Can list what you want available modules – cool. (4)

Academic [Scores: 75 (1), 80 (3), 75 (4), 75 (2)]

· Like catalog, timetable, research opportunities – they need to show up right away. (1)

· Like class schedule. Like advisor name (friends don’t even know theirs). (3)

· Like class list. Academic site is not a 100 because it is not fascinating or entertaining. (4)

· Undergraduate tool kit is good. Not a “WOW” page; needs some more interesting modules. (2)

Calendar [Scores: 100 (4), 50 (1), 75 (2), 80 (3)]

· Good centralized site for important dates. I added all the modules here, like the calendar with personal events possible. (Add all the modules as default and let them get rid.) (4)

· Expected a grid calendar (like a wall calendar). (1)

· Like having dates. Add WiscWeek events. I would like to add more of my own appointments, etc. (2)

· Academic calendar – don’t care about 1992. Calendars scroll down – too much to list. The course grid is nice.

Library [Scores: 100 (1), 100 (2), 100 (3), 75 (4)]

· Everything is right here. Help is right here. (1)

· Has all I would need. (2)

· Easy access. It is all there. (3)

· Has all I need. News module should (???) (4)

· Misspellings: access, excellence, Memorial Library.

Campus Life [Scores: 100 (4), 80 (1), 25 (2), 80 (3)]

· Added everything available. Daily Cardinal added “organic” feel. Regular student organizations and off-campus housing are important. Most resourceful tab. (4)

· Need to add athletic events like athletics headlines. (1)

· Like Union part. More links to theaters, Annex 2, plays, movies, etc. (2)

· Today’s events is not working. Need more sites like Escape (title it culture). Athletics needs to be default. (3)

Financial Tab [Scores: 75 (4), 75 (2), 80 (1), 100 (3)]

· Subject itself is boring. Useful tools. Job search is cool. (4)

· Just bio jobs would be better. (2)

· Put every module up and let students delete. Need year’s estimated expenses. (Took me 28 minutes to find this.) (1)

· It is a boring topic. It is hard to get answers at the Registrar’s office. This might be better. Scholarship links not working.

My Record [Scores: 100 (2), 90 (1), 100 (4), 80 (3)]

· All you really need. Add course grids. (2)

· Can be found in EASI. (1)

· This was a “wow.” Additional password to get in. (4)

· Need expected graduation date. (3)

Login/out [Scores: 100 (4), 100 (1), 100 (3), 100 (2)]

· Easy and simple. (4)

· Need to use WiscWorld account. (1)

· “Don’t forget to logout” log. (3)

· Stress login is e-mail. (2)

Add/Delete [Scores: 75 (4), 100 (1), 50 (3), 75 (2)]

· Include in every module. (4) & (1)

· Good idea, but I didn’t notice this. (I ignore help.) (3)

· Visible (2)

Help [Scores: 75 (4), 50 (1), 50 (3), 75 (2)]

· FAQs, search feature. (4)

· Too many words, FAQ needs its questions bolded. (1)

· Too wordy, need search engine. (3)

· Too wordy, use bold. (4)

Personalize [Scores: 50 (4), 100 (1), 25 (3), 75 (2)]

· Not many options. (4)

· Easy to use, not many options. (1)

· Didn’t see the point, can only change color. Not much there; it’s a dead-end. (3)

· Fun to choose. (2)

Feedback [Scores: 100 (4), 100 (1), 100 (3), 100 (2)]

· All right there. (4)

· Everything there. (1)

· Works fine (3)

· Easy (2)

3.0 Version of MUM [Scores: 100 (4), 75 (2), 85 (1), 40 (3)]

· Advertise its resources to let students know how valuable it is. “Wowed” by it. (4)

· Library page, advising toolkit. Yet needs improvement. (3)

· Really useful but needs advertising and little improvements. (1)

· Defaults aren’t right. Add/delete hiding takes too much time to set up the way it’s set up.

New Look [Scores: 100, 90 – 100 (2), 50 (3), 100 (4)]

· Much better look. Cleaner, fits page, like different widths. (1)

· Catches my attention, pictures great, add/delete a little more prominent. (2)

· Happier with full screen. Graphics good – good compromise (not too much). (3)

· More personality. Like map and e-mail. (4)

· Want choice of “looks.” Exciting. (all)

Terrace Look (no scores)

· Fonts too small.

· To-do list great.

· Mail

· Improving

· Like “New Look” better

Bucky Look

· Change picture. Want neutral, colorful.

· Like four pictures on every one.

Rathskeller

· Change picture

· Like four pictures on every one.

Bascom

· On everything

· Like four pictures on every one.

New Features [Score: 100 (1, 2, 3, 4)]

All gave “thumbs-up” for the following features:

· Online registration

· Web-based email

· Calendaring (official and personal)

· Student account information

· WisCard

· Housing account information

· Financial aid information

Participants: Kelly. Dionne, Kristin and Brian.

Expectations

· A lot of things on UW web page (less clicks).

o Academic information.

o Events in the city.

· Map of campus (type in the name of building).

· Expected to look likeYahoo.com, AOL.com, etc.

· Campus life – employment.

· User friendly

User

News, Union events, calendar, Front Page, campus life, phone book.
New users – links right there.

Name	Score	Comments
My Front Page
Kelly	75	Meaning of module
Dionne	50	Plan – more add
Kristin	30	Bland, hard to find add/delete.
Brian	75	Clean and neat. Welcomes you personally.
Academic Tab
Kelly	75
Dionne	75	Toolkit
Kristin	80	Advisor information.
Brian	75	Would expect a WOW from a university web site.
Calendar Tab
Kelly	50	Expected to a see a calendar.
Dionne	75
Kristin	80	Academic Calendar – 92, 93 default. Too much information.
Brian	100	Good centralized spot.
Library Tab
Kelly	100	Everything is right here.
Dionne	100
Kristin	100	Easy access.
Brian	75
Campus Life Tab
Kelly	80	It is missing athletics. Today’s Events is not working.
Dionne	25	Needs more listings Movie listings Sporting events. Links to theaters, plays Annex, Barrymore
Kristin	80	Default
Brian	100	Digital Cardinal, Student Campus Guide.
Financial Tab
Kelly	80	Have everything defaulted.
Dionne	75	Link for just biology.
Kristin	100	Scholarship links.
Brian	75	Subjects are boring.
My Record Tab
Kelly	90	All the information is there. Redundant of EASI.
Dionne	100	All you really need.
Kristin	80	No graduate information.
Brian	100	Have an additional password.
Login/Logout
Kelly	100
Dionne	100
Kristin	100	Need a reminder to log out.
Brian	100	Easy
Add/Delete
Kelly	100
Dionne	75	Visibility
Kristin	50	Visibility. Hard to use.
Brian	75	Include everything automatically.
Help
Kelly	80	Too many words, needs bolding.
Dionne	75	Words, bold.
Kristin	50	Words, search engine.
Brian	75	Good FAQs, need search engine.
Personalize
Kelly	100	Easy to use, but didn’t know the options.
Dionne	75	Fun to choose color.
Kristin	25	What is the point? Misleading – dead end.
Brian	50	Vague and not too many options.
Feedback
Kelly	100
Dionne	100
Kristin	100
Brian	100
Portal 3.0
Kelly	85	Yes
Dionne	75	Yes, library link is good.
Kristin	40	Default settings not the right ones. Add/delete not visible
Brian	100	Yes, very useful.
myuwmad1.doit.wisc.edu – Advertise it
Kelly	100	Much better, cleaner looking.
Dionne	90 – 100	Pictures are great. Add/delete is better.
Kristin	50	Whole screen. Graphics good, but default settings are not right ones.
Brian	100	Has personality, spontaneous.
www.news.wisc.edu/myuw/: /terrace.html, /bucky.html, /bascom.html, /rathskeller.html . Chose Terrace and Bucky
Kelly	n/a	Like to-do list. You have mail.
Dionne	n/a	Font too small.
Kristin	n/a
Brian	n/a

New Features

All participants voted two “thumbs up” for the following:

1. Online registration

2. Web-based email

3. Calendaring system grid

4. Student account information – personalized accounts

5. WisCard balance

6. Housing account information

7. Financial aid information

Spring My UW Madison portal focus groups--

Tuesday, April 24^th---Engineering Students

Jane’s Notes

Eight attendees:

1. Greg

2. Bruce

3. Dave

4. Collin

5. Suzanna

6. Laura

7. Jeremy

8. Mark

Portal Wants/Needs

• Faster loading time (some tabs are really slow).

• Events for entertainment on campus (lectures, etc.)

• Search engine

• More descriptive course information than timetable.

• Class expectations

• Rating of professors.

• Easy access anywhere.

• Up to date, never old news

• Customizable list to class web pages or pages you access a lot.

• Search miscellaneous content like they have on commercial portals.

My Front Page [Scores: 71 (1), 65 (2), 75 (3), 75 (4), 50 (5), 75 (6), 80 (7), 80 (8)]

• Like news (1)

• Weather is good. (3)

• People search same as EASI.

• Expecting a different, comprehensive search engine. (6)

• A week’s notice for upcoming events

• Need phonebook with easier search.

• Not a WOW, something missing. (4)

• Nothing new – can get to all this other ways. Need new features to be a WOW. (2)

• Slow loading. Layout is blotchy, everything should fit on a page. (5)

• Like search and COE Headlines. More compact. (7)

• search engine – more than Google. (8)

• Phonebook needs to be more lenient. (8)

• Needs what is happening in class today. (3)

• Bookmarks for classes needed. (3)

Academic [Scores 75 (1), 60 (2), 85 (3), 60 (4), 50 (5), 50 (6), 70 (7), 90 (8)]

• No easy way back to the portal if you explore links. (You have to use the back button over and over.) (5)

• Need course grid. List advisor contact information.

• Good resources (3)

• I like all engineering home pages. Too many scroll down lists. Class schedules nice…need course grid (1).

• Won’t use some of these modules (2)

• Timetable too big and took long to load (2)

• Look at these once, but I won’t look at it again. (4)

• Pretty good information. Liked links to departments. No Geological Engineering. (8)

• A lot of information on the Home Page (yet that site makes it hard to find things). (7)

• Can’t do anything with advisor, no link to email. (6)

Calendar [Scores 70 (1), 75 (2), 70 (3), 70 (4), 90 (5), 70 (6), 70 (7), 80 (8)]

• Upcoming events neat. Course grid nice. (4)

• Academic calendars -- too many years (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8)

• Like course grid. WiscWeek – blue on red is hard to read. (1)

• COE calendar is better to use (2, 3)

• Course grid is good, but need more (past semester). (2, 3)

• Need class schedule. (5)

• Too much stuff. (8)

• Too long to scroll through modules. More customizable for our schedule, like COE calendar. (7)

• Academic calendar too long.

Library [Scores 90 (1), 80 (2), 85 (3), 75 (4), 80 (5), 95 (6), 75 (7), 85 (8)]

• A lot of information there. Nearly a WOW. (6)

• Clunky (8)

• A lot of good information, but I just go to the library anyway. If you go in depth, you have to use back button a lot. (7)

• Not what I needed. (3).

• Same as the library site. (3, 5)

• Interesting information.. (1)

• The Scientist is too long. (1)

• The resources not that helpful, some are funky. (4)

Campus Life: [Scores 90 (1), 80 (2), 85 (3), 75 (4), 80 (5), 95 (6), 75 (7), 85 (8)]

• University and city events good. (3)

• Nice, information I have never seen before; good resources; Today’s events not working.

• Not much for international students – I feel left out. (5)

• Need points of interest and transportation information (Van Gelder bus). (5)

• Liked the links and features. I wouldn’t use the Student Computing Guide. (1)

• Student Computing Guide. Need a map. (8)

• Useful information, especially Housing and Daily Cardinal. (7)

• Don’t use extra windows (e.g., off-campus housing – give a pop-up box only with link.) Escape events calendar nice.

Financial [Scores 75 (1), 80 (2), 70 (3), 60 (4), 80 (5), 70 (6), 80 (7), 85 (8)]

• Student Job Center is good. (1, 2, 6, 7, 8)

• Undergrad scholarship doesn’t work (2)

• No tuition or housing fees. Can’t find this. (5)

• Scholarship information would be nice. (8)

• Want financial aid information. (7)

• Financial not of interest. (1, 6)

• Need account balances. (4)

• Didn’t have what I needed, personal information.

My Record [Scores 95 (1), 95 (2), 80 (3), 75 (4), 90 (5), 90 (6), 95 (7), 95 (8)]

• Like the features all on one pager. No way to change contact information. (2)

• Good features. (2)

• Useful. One of the better tabs. Efficiency. (7)

• All right. (3)

• Couldn’t change contact information. Got exceptions when I try. Expected graduation date. (4)

• Good information (6)

Overall Score [Scores 80 (1), 83 (2), 78 (3), 75 (4), 80 (5), 80 (6), 88 (7), 85 (8)]

• Use information you want. (3)

• Could be nice to have, don’t like aesthetics of it. (4)

• Really like some parts, not all useful. (2)

• Don’t know how much I would use it. (1)

• Useful, functional (6)

• I will use it whenever I go to the computer. (7)

• Very useful, would use it everyday. (8)

• Use it once in awhile. (5)

New Version [Scores 85 (1), 83 (2), 83 (3), 85 (4), 80 (5), 85 (6), 90 (7), 90 (8)]

• Bucky (2,5,6,7,)

• Terrace (4,5)

• Bascom (8)

• None (1)

Mary’s Notes

Participants: Greg, Bruce, Dave, Collin, Susana, Leena, Jeremy and Mark

Wants/Expectations (All non-users of My UW-Madison Portal)

Semi-fast loading times.
List of events for entertainment, lectures, etc.
Search engine for classes and professors.

More descriptive than timetable.
What goes in the classroom.

• Workload

• Reading

• Rating of professor.

Easy access.
Up to date, no old news.
Customized intro to class web pages and other web pages.
Can we do everything that we can do with the commercial portals.

Tab	Greg	Bruce	Dave	Collin	Susana	Leena	Jeremy	Mark
My Front Page	79	65	75	50	75	75	80	80
Academic	75	60	85	60	50	50	70	90
Calendar	70	75	70	70	90	70	70	80
Library	90	80	85	75	80	95	75	85
Campus Life	80	95	90	75	70

Overall Assessment

Conclusions and Recommendations

Wednesday, April 18th

Part I

Describe what you want or expect from the “My UW-Madison” portal

Spring My UW Madison portal focus groups--

Tuesday, April 24th---Engineering Students—Individual Comments

Part I

Describe what you want or expect from the “My UW-Madison” portal

Describe what you want or expect from the “My UW-Madison” portal

Part II

My Front Page Tab

Academic Tab

Library Tab

My Record Tab

Login/Logout

Add/Delete Modules

Help

Personalize

Spring My UW Madison portal focus groups--

Part II

My Front Page Tab

Academic Tab

Library Tab

My Record Tab

My Front Page Tab

Academic Tab

Library Tab

My Record Tab

Like to have

Currently Use

Terrace Look (no scores)

Bucky Look

Rathskeller

Bascom

Expectations

User

My Front Page

Academic Tab

Calendar Tab

Library Tab

Campus Life Tab

Financial Tab

My Record Tab

Login/Logout

Add/Delete

Help

Personalize

Feedback

Portal 3.0

myuwmad1.doit.wisc.edu – Advertise it

www.news.wisc.edu/myuw/: /terrace.html, /bucky.html, /bascom.html, /rathskeller.html . Chose Terrace and Bucky

New Features

Spring My UW Madison portal focus groups--

Jane’s Notes

Portal Wants/Needs

Mary’s Notes

Wants/Expectations (All non-users of My UW-Madison Portal)

Tab

Tuesday, April 24^th---Engineering Students—Individual Comments