MBA 604 Course Guide: Evaluation of the Course Web

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Ricci Street | MBA 604 | marketing
computers | design | discussion forum

Evaluation of the
Course Web

Looking only at the Hypertext Design Checklist, I pretty much practice what I preach with this course web.

Only four of my pages and two of Bruce's exceed the 40K rule of thumb.

Of the 400+ images, only the top 10% exceed 15K. Still, I think if I worked on them one by one, the images could be reduced overall by a third. Thus, download times would decrease.

The ALT tags were something I kept reminding myself to do but didn't very often.

As helpful as it might be, this checklist covers mechanics. It doesn't get to the heart of the web, its content. Nor will this evaluation.

We want this evaluation to focus on the course web's usefulness.

Remember the in-class usability study on TALK? That's the mindset we'd like you to bring to this evaluation. Tell us about your experience as a user. Already, we know for sure:

the TALK software is a dog and will be replaced by a whole system that's much improved

graphic design is a weakness that I need to address in a big way on many levels

Why Hypertext?

You can turn this course web into a paper textbook easily. Print out every page, punch holes in them, and put them into an orange binder. In what order? Why not the order on index.html in the left-hand column below? At the next level, you could arrange these large sections as in the right-hand column below.

course guide the standard Course Disclosure Statement
and syllabus

student projects Student Projects as on projects.htm

content Peeling the Orange as on peel1.htm
Seed Pile as on seedpile.htm

talk chronologically within thread?

You'd then have the standard, linear textbook. It's been decades since I sat down and read a non-fiction book cover to cover. The orange binder would get the same treatment. I would use the table of contents, the index, and the headers and footers to find my way around.

It wouldn't cost much for us to print out this course web, photocopy it, and charge you cost. It probably would be cheaper than your accounting textbook.

If we aren't going to do that, the question becomes:

what do students gain from hypertext?

Specifically, how can we make this one better fulfill its goal:

make a lot of
complex new information
more accessible and understandable

MBA 604 Course Web
Evaluation

1. How long did it take you to move from a novice and disoriented user of the course web to whatever degree of expertise you finally gained?
hours over weeks

2. Of the roughly hundred pages (.htm files), what portion did you

look at

read

understand well

note for rereading
after course is over

3. Of the roughly fifteen hundred links away from the course web and out onto the World Wide Web, what portion did you click on at least once?

4. Of the time you spent with the course web, some of it was with a live web connection and some without, looking at pages from your default cache or wherever you stashed them. What portion did you spend online?

5. Of the time you spent with the course web, what percentage did you spend with

paper copy

H225 PC

laptop from school

home computers

office computer

other

It'd help if this list added up to a hundred. Please specify other in the comments box below.

The Kewl Factor

Please rank the usefulness of the following features of the course web. By email, I mean email access to the instructors between class, especially on the weekends.

6
search 7
forms 8
TALK 9
list 10
email

didn't use at all didn't use at all

didn't use enough to rank didn't use enough to rank

used because I had to used because I had to

used a lot
used a lot

Worth the Effort?

Compare this course web to a paper textbook. Both have advantages and disadvantages. To what extext do the following features, often cited as advantages of hypertext, justify the disorientation and cognitive overload? In other words, are the advantages worth the effort?

11. timely

Compared to a printed paper textbook, at best two years old, a course web has up-to-the-minute information.

not worth the effort worth the effort

12. adaptable

During the course, the web can change according to the students' needs and interests. Printed text can't change.

not worth the effort worth the effort

13. responsive

During the course, the students and the webs' authors (including other students) can communicate. A printed textbook's author is not as easy to find.

not worth the effort worth the effort

14. open-ended

Following a reference in a printed text means going to another book, which often means going to the library. You seldom do this; you expect texts to be self-contained and comprehensive. With a course web, the references are clickable hot links.

not worth the effort worth the effort

15. searchable
When you're looking for something, you can often find it more quickly with the search function than you could relying on a printed index or your memory.

not worth the effort worth the effort

Cognitive Overload

We don't want to minimize the disorientation and cognitive overload of hypertext. But catch this front page headline in the June 25, 1998, New York Times:

Hooking Up The Nation
Internet Is the Future, And Faster Is Better

Clearly, we must learn to better understand and reduce disorientation and overload. Because they are so variable and individual, here are some open-ended questions.

16. Tell us about your disorientation in the course web.

17. Tell us about your difficulties with the technical aspects of the course web.

18. Overall, what did you like most about the course web?

19. What did you like least about it?

20. What's the first three things you'd change?

21. Any further comments or follow-up on "other" answer to #5?

Thank you very much. Please check back to see how this course web changes.

last update: September 24, 1998
http://toLearn.net/marketing/htexteval.htm