So, here is my webignosis for the Independent Study Course Math 110:
- The Syllabus has one of the highest bounce rates on the whole site. This may indicate that the syllabus is either overwhelming in its content or format. Granted, polynomials usually made me want to bounce too, but perhaps a feature could be included so that when students are enrolled in the course, the syllabus provides links directly to each lesson or topic listed so they could get more information. What if you could mouse over a topic and see an example problem pop up? Redesigning, including adding color or reducing the text somehow, might encourage people to stay longer or move forward instead of exit the site.
- More links to enroll in the course. From what I could see, students sometimes found the Orientation material, Syllabus, and Begin Course pages without first going through BYU's Independent study website. I tried this approach and found that it was extremely difficult to know how to enroll in the course from those pages. Linking students back to where they can enroll would prevent circular clicking around looking for registration. This is like trying to sign up for your classes in the Talmadge Building when you actually need to be at One-Stop in the Wilk.
Questions I had included the following:
- What does it mean on Lesson 1 Page Session (where students are directed to log into something and start the homework assignment) and the rates are as follows:
- Does this mean they are leaving the site or logging in to start their assignment? If they are starting their assignment, great. If not, we may want to look into encouraging more students to read through the material and immediately apply it on the assignment.
From what I could see it appeared as though they couldn't start an assignment and come back to it later. It was arranged as an all-in-one sitting assignment. That would make me exit if I were a student as well, especially because math takes a long time when you are doing new problems or reviewing stuff you are rusty on. This means students have to schedule out a chunk of time to read and do the assignment without knowing how long it will take. - What kind of goal pages would be most helpful here? We don't have a shopping cart or flight arrangements to measure learning. Is it when students complete the assignments? I guess I missed some of our discussion on what KPI are appropriate for learning instead of trying to make money.
