alumni tree jack debrief final minus appendix

Alumni Website: Tree Jack Debrief

Research Lead: Angela BoodooDigital Team

May 2015

Monday 1 May 2023 1

• There were 5 key areas that participants struggled to locate in the tree: • Q1 – Careers mentoring via other Alumni • Q2 – Corporate giving • Q7 – Ex-academic staff volunteering • Q9 – Social enterprise event sponsorship• Q13 – Continuing professional development

• Support Surrey• This section contained Level 3 pages which led to participants spending

extra time navigating within the structure • 3/5 topics that participants struggled to locate were under this category• Participants gave feedback that there were too many options in this

category, which could result in missing vital details

• Reunions• Are considered both part of “Keep in touch” and “Events and Awards”

Executive summary

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The Alumni & Relations team want to optimise their current website to better serve their audiences.

Project background

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Objectives: 1.To create an identity for the Surrey Alumni Network2.Make donor material accessible via digital channels3.Make lifelong relationships (learning, giving, volunteering) easier to manage via the website 4.Use the website to engage an active, vibrant community of Surrey Alumni

This will be achieved through: •Bringing the Surrey Alumni website into a consistent look & feel with the main website •Migrating existing content from NetCommunity to Drupal •Optimising content and navigation structure through application of user-centred design techniques

The user centred design process

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Using Optimal Workshop software we conducted an online remote Tree Jack study.

Research methodology

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Tree Jack testing is a usability technique for evaluating the findability of topics within a defined navigation structure.

Tree Jack testing aims to answer the following: - Is your content hierarchy well structured? -Is the taxonomy and labelling appropriate? -Can users find what they’re looking for ?

We based the Tree Jack structure in this test on the prior Card Sort recommendations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_testing

We gave participants 13 scenarios and asked them where in the structure they would most likely to find a topic.

Participant number/validityAs recommended by Jakob Nielsen, we opted to find a minimum of 15 participants to achieve a 0.90 correlation in similarity scores

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_testing

http://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-many-test-users/

A total of 16 participants from the Surrey Alumni community were invited to take part

Participants

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11 Male

5 Female

The Tree

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Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Revised Tree

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Level 1

Level 2

Results

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Key: Success = % participants who selected the correct location in the tree Directness = % confident selections (without going back up/down the tree)Score out of 10 = an overall weighted average of success & directness at a ratio of 3:1 and scaled to a value out of 10. Scores of 5 and below should be considered fails.

Hover over the scores to see a recap of the question topic.

Results overview

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3/10

1/10

7/107/10

6/10

9/10

2/10

7/10

1/10

9/10

7/107/10

5/10

It is assumed that career support is open to all Alumni. Are there differences in support for recent graduates vs general alumni?

1. You've been working for 5 years and are considering a career change. You want to connect with fellow Surrey alumni who may be able to support or advise you. Where would you go?

What we found Careers mentoring with fellow alumni



1. You've been working for 5 years and are considering a career change. You want to connect with fellow Surrey alumni who may be able to support or advise you. Where would you go?

What we foundCareers mentoring with fellow alumni

This topic best suited to: -Professional development-Careers support

What we found Corporate giving partnership


2. You work for a multi-national technology company which is looking to establish a corporate giving partnership with a reputable academic institution, such as Surrey. Where would you go find out how to do this?

There was confusion about where to locate content for corporate audiences


2. You work for a multi-national technology company which is looking to establish a corporate giving partnership with a reputable academic institution, such as Surrey. Where would you go find out how to do this?

This topic best suited to: -Support Surrey -Global partnerships

What we found Corporate giving partnership

What we found Leaving a legacy


3. You have fond memories of your time studying at Surrey and would like to leave a donation in your will. Where would you go to do this?

What we foundLeaving a legacy


3. You have fond memories of your time studying at Surrey and would like to leave a donation in your will. Where would you go to do this?

What we foundCareer mentoring from the University


4. You're a recent graduate and are looking for a career mentor from the Surrey Alumni network. Where would you go to find a mentor?

The differentiation between “services” supplied by the University and connecting to fellow alumni should be made distinct. Networking is facilitated through events.

What we found Career mentoring from the University


4. You're a recent graduate and are looking for a career mentor from the Surrey Alumni network. Where would you go to find a mentor?

This topic best suited to: -Careers support -Professional development-Mentor a student

What we foundForever Surrey Magazine back issues


5. A fellow alumni tells you about an interesting article in an old edition of the Forever Surrey magazine from 2014. Where would you go to see if you can track down the article?

What we foundForever Surrey Magazine back issues


5. A fellow alumni tells you about an interesting article in an old edition of the Forever Surrey magazine from 2014. Where would you go to see if you can track down the article?

This topic best suited to: -News & Publications-Forever Surrey Magazine

What we foundInternational events


6. You live and work in California and are wondering whether there are any upcoming Alumni events near you. Where would you go?

What we foundInternational events


6. You live and work in California and are wondering whether there are any upcoming Alumni events near you. Where would you go?

This topic best suited to: -International Events

What we foundFormer academic staff volunteering


7. As an emeritus professor, you would like to support the faculty you previously worked in - both financially and as a volunteer speaker. Where would you go?

“Giving back to Surrey” will replace Support Surrey. Ensure there is a clear information for how former professional staff can contribute in both time and money. Consider the link back to Faculty & Department/Schools sites

What we foundFormer academic staff volunteering


7. As an emeritus professor, you would like to support the faculty you previously worked in - both financially and as a volunteer speaker. Where would you go?

This topic best suited to: -Support Surrey -Create specific content for this audience

What we foundVolunteer – time-limited


8. You're looking for opportunities to volunteer at Surrey but have limited time available. Where would you go to find suitable opportunities?

What we found Volunteer – time-limited


8. You're looking for opportunities to volunteer at Surrey but have limited time available. Where would you go to find suitable opportunities?

This topic best suited to: -Volunteering-Current opportunities

What we found Social enterprise event sponsorship


9. You work for a start-up social enterprise and as part of your marketing activity would like to sponsor a Surrey Alumni event. Where would you go to find out how to do this?

What we foundSocial Enterprise Event sponsorship


9. You work for a start-up social enterprise and as part of your marketing activity would like to sponsor a Surrey Alumni event. Where would you go to find out how to do this?

This topic best suited to: -Support Surrey -Creation of new content focused on corporate sponsors

What we foundRegular donor thanks


10. You currently make a regular donation to the university totalling £100 or more per financial year. Where would you go to find out how the university recognises its supporters?

What we foundRegular donor thanks


10. You currently make a regular donation to the university totalling £100 or more per financial year. Where would you go to find out how the university recognises its supporters?

Donor Circle tiers (Acorn and Oak) were not well understood terms by all participants.

What we foundOrganise a reunion


11. It's 10 years since you graduated and you'd like to organise a reunion with your classmates on campus. Where do you go?

Reunions are secondarily considered as Events.

What we foundOrganise a reunion


11. It's 10 years since you graduated and you'd like to organise a reunion with your classmates on campus. Where do you go?

This topic best suited to: -Keep in touch-Events & Awards

What we foundPast events


12. You missed a recent Alumni event and have come to the website to look for details and pictures of the event to see if anyone you knew attended. Where would you go?

What we foundPast Events


12. You missed a recent Alumni event and have come to the website to look for details and pictures of the event to see if anyone you knew attended. Where would you go?

This topic best suited to: -Events & Awards -Past events

What we foundContinuing professional development


13. You are considering doing a further course of studies and are wondering whether you are entitled to any fee discounts. Where would you go?

What we foundContinuing professional development


13. You are considering doing a further course of studies and are wondering whether you are entitled to any fee discounts. Where would you go?

This topic best suited to: -Benefits & Discounts-Professional Development

User feedback


“ I almost wonder whether the current structure has too many options? I can see that I might miss the information I want because I have picked the wrong option. I wonder whether the list could be shortened, with more information and links on the landing pages. A good search facility could help to answer questions similar to those used in the exercise.”

--David P

“There isn't an obvious place to find information on how to hold a reunion. I found it hard to choose/navigate to the correct place re event sponsorship - I chose 'make a corporate gift' but this isn't a particularly good match.”

--Lucy E

“Some of the items may appear in one place, but pages were still easily identifiable within only a few levels.”

--Lewis Y

Recommendations


• Streamline Level 3 content under Support Surrey to 2 levels: • Consolidate sections “Support our students”, “Support our facilities”,

“Support our Projects” under Ways to Volunteer / Upcoming opportunities • Create tailored content for Corporate donors and sponsors under Support Surrey

and consider other areas of the site such as Business • Create tailored content for ways in which ex-Academic staff can get involved with

their former faculty/school/department. This content could also live on Faculty sites• CPD course discounts/opportunities for Alumni should be located in Alumni &

Community > Professional Development • Make the distinction between Career support provided by the university for recent

graduates vs Alumni careers mentoring as the total Careers support proposition for all Alumni

Recommendations


• Monitor site traffic for reunions in the new “Alumni Networks & Benefits” section to evaluate suitable fit for Alumni forum planned for the “Keep in touch”

Future opportunities


Appendix


alumni tree jack debrief final minus appendix

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