A Set of Usability Heuristics and Design Recommendations for Higher Education Institutions' Websites

Author(s):  
Bhim Sain Singla ◽  
Himanshu Aggarwal

Usability evaluation of a website is a key element in identifying the areas where the end-users might experience problems while interacting with it. The usability parameter has a great impact on the performance of a website, an organization's image, user satisfaction, and their intention to revisit the site. In the recent past, there has been a tremendous increase in the use of websites for seeking requisite information about admission to various courses offered by higher education institutions. There has been a lack of an effective and efficient set of heuristics that can be used to evaluate the usability of these education institution websites. The present study differs from earlier studies by providing a new set of 43 usability heuristics and categorizing them into eight distinct factors on the basis of their empirical validation. These eight identified factors exhibit strong psychometric properties and are ease of navigation, design quality, information architecture, credibility, functionality quality, content quality, simplicity, and learnability. The findings of this study are highly useful for the website designers and evaluators of higher education institutions' websites, who are concerned with evaluating and improving the usability of these websites. The findings of this study have theoretical as well as practical implications.

Author(s):  
Jekaterina Kuzmina

Since the beginning of the XXI century, there have been clear modifications in the sector of higher education, when the institutions have moved near to the economic sector. These changes were primary introduced as the consecutive response to the transformation processes within the society, which should be embedded in the following construct: there was a clear move towards a more competitive and market-based system. Due to the changes in the operating environment financial sustainability and its management for the higher education institutions became one of the core elements. The main objective of the current paper is to discuss the practical application of the methodology for the management of higher education institutions based on the example of Latvian private higher education institutions. The author would like to argue that the paper contributes to the fundamental discussion of financial sustainability in the field of higher education institution management. Moreover, it has got practical implications for the management of the organizations not only in Latvia but also in other countries when efficiency and effectiveness are primary issues.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Cueva Zavala

This research has a singular and notable importance, because if something should concern a Higher Education Institution, it is knowing what is the destiny within society of the human resource trained in its classrooms, that product that the institution delivers to the community who are its graduates and professionals. For the Institutions of Higher Education it is satisfactory on the part of employers, that the training received in the Institution of Higher Education is indicated, that the majority of graduates and professionals are incorporated into the occupational market; that is to say; some exercise their profession and others do it in occupations that do not correspond to their profession, which is justified, being aware that one of the great problems of the contemporary world is undoubtedly the lack of demand for human resources for stable work, which according to Authorized and reliable studies of every 10 people who join the economically active population, only 3 have real possibilities of fully joining the labor market, either in the private or public sector.


Author(s):  
Volodymyr Ryabchenko

There are following prerequisites outlined in this article: worldwide democratization trend; complexity of structures of social systems; growing needs in human capital development; autonomy of national higher education institutions; civilizational problem of Ukraine in national elite. Conceptual problems on a road to real democracy in higher education institutions were actualized and analyzed. Determined and characterized three models of higher education institutions activities based on the level of democratization needs of their social environment as: negative, neutral and favorable.


Author(s):  
Rizaldi Sardani ◽  
Demi Ramadian ◽  
Wahyu Fitrianda Mufti ◽  
Suci Oktri Viarani M

Website is an important part of any organization namely in the government, business, health and education sectors. In the world of higher education, website can be used to disseminate information related to campus life as well as a medium for promoting the existence of the campus to the outside world. As a higher education institution, Polytechnic ATI Padang own a website which is used to display various information about campus academic activities. In its management, the level of user satisfaction of the website of Polytechnic ATI Padang has never been measured. The Webqual 4.0 method used in this study aims to measure the satisfaction of internal website users by looking at the dimensions of Usability, Information Quality, Interaction Quality and Customer Satisfaction. Measurements performed by using a questionnaire instrument with Likert scale then calculated with the help of SPSS software. The results obtained that the independent variables, namely Usability, Information Quality, Interaction Quality have an influence on the dependent variable Customer Satisfaction of 70.1% and there are still 29.9% of other independent variables that can affect the dependent variable Customer Satisfaction. Furthermore, based on the results of the calculation of the satisfaction level with Likert scale, it was found that the variables of Usability, Information Quality, Interaction Quality and Customer Satisfaction received a satisfied interpretation, so it can be concluded that the Polytechnic ATI Padang website provides good service to its users.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-276
Author(s):  
I. G. Hlukhov ◽  
◽  
M. P. Pityn ◽  

The concept and content of control are important components of the theory and methodic of physical culture and sports. The consistency in processes and objective corrections of certain actions (processes) are provided by using of control. Actualization of scientific issues of control in the context of reforming the structure and content of higher education is gaining new importance. This is due to the higher dynamism and student-centered character of modern education. An urgent scientific and applied problem of modern physical education in higher education institutions is the substantiation of a systematic approach to training students swimming that will take into account existing experience and modern requirements. The purpose of the study was to substantiate the control subsystem in the training students swimming in higher education institutions during physical education. Material and methods: theoretical analysis and generalization, study of documentary materials, sociological methods of survey (questionnaire), system analysis, historical and logical research methods. Results and discussion. The control subsystem for the most aspects is management by a higher order system due to the close relationship with the control source, placement trends and the objectivity benefits. This subsystem is the basis for the differentiation of parts and at the same time for integration with the establishment of the organic unity of the whole system components. The key requirement for conducting control in the physical education condition in higher education institution is compliance with the specifics of the sport means as a variable component of the education content. Specific features of swimming have an important value for choosing complex of indicators. In the theoretical substantiation of control, there was observed requirements that are specified in the scientific and methodical literature. Among them are: availability of interval scale, reliability, validity, discriminativeness, availability of normative data, adaptability of the test, ease of execution and simplicity, limitation of test tasks, operationalization and verification of these tests / control exercises). It also takes into account a number of additional requirements for simplicity and low resource costs, regardless of the level of tests complexity, clarity and accessibility for teacher and student, conciseness and accuracy of execution instructions, the absence of external stimuli. Conclusion. Control is a fundamental element of conscious systemic human activity. The result of solving the generalized purpose of the system should be understood, accepted and acceptable to all participants of this process. Substantiation of the control subsystem of the training swimming system involves the formulation of a new category of individually-oriented content of control of students of higher education institutions and its variants. These variants must be built taking into account objective factors (the presence of different groups of students on the level of swimming preparedness, individual-motivational orientation of activity and trajectory of goal setting in the system of training swimming during physical education)


Author(s):  
Isaura Sousa ◽  
Márcia Gouveia ◽  
Tatyanne Rodrigues ◽  
Fernando Lopes Silva Júnior ◽  
Ana Maria Ribeiro dos Santos ◽  
...  

The present study aimed to map the evidence to provide an overview of actions implemented/executed and scales used in public higher education institutions to promote worker health. A scoping review based on the PCC (Population, Concept, and Context) mnemonic was conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus and Virtual Health Library (VHL). Population included workers from a higher education institution, the concept referred to studies focusing on the assessment of quality of life and health promotion actions and the context to higher education institutions. Electronic searches were held on December 2019. A qualitative synthesis of the data extracted from included studies (i.e. author, year, study design, sample, country, aims, action implemented/performed, thematic focus, evaluation) was performed. Electronic searches retrieved 3,330 articles that were screened by tittles and abstracts. Of these, 34 studies were fully appraised, of which four reported that actions implemented/executed related to sedentariness, posture and stress. The studies show 49 scales were identified to measuring at least one quality of life item. Through this scoping review the available evidence to provide an overview of actions implemented/executed and scales used in public higher education institutions to promote worker health. Future studies should consider more rigorous designs and objective measures to measure the quality of life of these professionals, and develop target interventions based on factors associated with the work. It is also necessary to evaluate whether the strategies work.


Comunicar ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (37) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Betty Collis ◽  
Jef Moonen

We have studied the construct of flexibility in higher education for many years, as researchers and practitioners. In this context we define flexibility as offering the student choices in how, what, where, when and with whom he or she participates in learning-related activities while enrolled in a higher education institution. In a textbook we wrote on the topic in 2001 we identified options that could be available to students in higher education to increase the flexibility of their participation. We studied these from the perspective not only of the student but also in terms of their implications for instructors and for higher-education institutions and examined the key roles that pedagogical change and technology play in increasing flexibility. Now is it nearly a decade later. We will revisit key issues relating to flexibility in higher education, identify in broad terms the extent to which increased flexibility has become established, is still developing, or has developed in ways we did not anticipate directly a decade earlier. We will also review our scenarios for change in higher education related to flexibility and contrast these with a more-recent set from the UK. Our major conclusion is that flexibility is still as pertinent a theme for higher education in 2011 as it was in 2001. Llevamos bastantes años estudiando la construcción de la flexibilidad en la educación superior, tanto desde la óptica de la investigación como de la práctica. Entendemos por flexibilidad la opción de ofrecer a los estudiantes la posibilidad de elegir cómo, qué, dónde, cuándo y con quién participan en las actividades de aprendizaje mientras están en una institución de educación superior. En el libro que escribimos sobre esta temática en 2001 identificamos opciones posibles para los estudiantes de educación superior con la finalidad de incrementar la flexibilidad de su participación. Lo estudiamos no solo desde la perspectiva del estudiante sino también desde las implicaciones para los profesores y para las instituciones de educación superior, y examinamos el papel fundamental que desempeñan el cambio pedagógico y la tecnología en el aumento de la flexibilidad. Ahora, diez años después, revisamos los temas clave relacionados con la flexibilidad en la educación superior e identificamos, en términos generales, hasta qué punto se ha ido estableciendo el incremento de la flexibilidad, si todavía está evolucionando o si ha evolucionado de una forma que no pudimos prever hace diez años. Revisamos también nuestros escenarios para el cambio en la educación superior relacionados con la flexibilidad y los contrastamos con un estudio más reciente llevado a cabo en el Reino Unido. Nuestra conclusión principal es que la cuestión de la flexibilidad en la educación superior sigue siendo tan pertinente en 2010 como lo era en 2001.


2020 ◽  
Vol 202 ◽  
pp. 03026
Author(s):  
Tri Handayani ◽  
Daivangga Maheswari

Diponegoro University is one reputable university belonging to Indonesia. This state university is located in Semarang, Central Java Province. Global dynamics have also colored its journey in implementing its traditionally assigned three missions: teaching, conducting research, and providing public services. These make this university highly confident heading to become a research university. A research university is a step to take that the university has its competitiveness to compete with the others in the world. There are some Higher Education-rankings institutions which evaluate all Higher Education Institutions in the world, such as Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, Times Higher Education (THE) University Rankings, 4 International Colleges and Universities (4ICU), and Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). Meanwhile, the ministry which has the function to make coordination with higher education institutions in Indonesia has also conducted higher education institutional ratings, primarily for Indonesian internal needs. The criteria of a research university refer to those evaluated by the higher education institutional ratings in the international level. A research university is a new paradigm which encourages a higher education institution in Indonesia to become highly confident to globally compete with the others in the whole world.


Author(s):  
Olha Yeromenko

The article raises the topical issue of training competitive professionals capable of working under modern market conditions. The transition to market relations changes the education policy and the system of educational services provision. The professional destiny of a future manager and the success rate of an educational institution depend on the quality of providing educational services to graduate students specialised in educational institution management. The purpose of the article is to analyse the results of a survey of graduate students aimed at determining the status of educational services given within the specialty 073 "Management" (specialization "Educational Institution Management") in various higher education institutions of Ukraine. Monitoring the state of the educational services provided to graduate students majoring in educational institution management has been carried out on the basis of general scientific and empirical cognition methods: comprehensive study of quality training of master-course students, observation, survey in the form of questionnaires, analysis of graduate students’ responses, analogy. The criteria enabling graduate students to assess the quality of educational services provided by higher education institutions have been defined: the fundamental nature of training; level of knowledge and experience of teaching staff; organization of the educational process; culture and communication level of teachers; reaction of teachers and administration of higher education institution to further demands of graduate students, etc. On the basis of the analysis and generalisation of the processed material, the basic demands of master-course students majoring in educational institution management for increase in the level of educational services have been defined: decrease in theorising of educational material; practice orientation; increase in the use of interactive teaching methods by teachers; expansion of the list of optional courses; increase in opportunities for individual counselling at a convenient time; involvement of leading specialists, experts, experienced educational institution managers in teaching; improvement of facilities and resources of an institution; increase in the level of additional educational services provision in higher education institutions. According to the results of the study, it has been concluded that it is necessary to establish a flexible system of training master-course students majoring in educational institution management.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niall Corcoran ◽  
Aidan Duane

Purpose The management of organisational knowledge and the promotion of staff knowledge sharing are largely neglected in higher education institutions. The purpose of this study is to examine how enterprise social networks can enable staff knowledge sharing in communities of practice in that context. Design/methodology/approach The study is framed as an Action Research project, covering three cycles over a 12-month period. During the Diagnosing phase, a conceptual model was developed for empirical testing. Data were collected through 30 semi-structured interviews and a number of focus groups. This was supplemented by content analysis and reflective journaling. Findings The findings support the conceptual model and provide insight into the antecedents necessary for the creation of an enterprise social network-enabled knowledge-sharing environment, the motivators for and barriers to participation, and the perceived organisational and individual benefits of increased staff knowledge-sharing activity. Research limitations/implications As the study has a higher education focus, all of the findings may not be generalizable to other types of organisation. Further development of the conceptual model and testing in other contextual settings will yield greater generalizability. Practical implications A number of findings have practical implications for the management of higher education institutions, such as the evidence of a divide between faculty and other staff. In general, the study findings provide an opportunity for educationalists to better understand the scope and impact of employing social media platforms for knowledge sharing. Originality/value This paper adds to the growing body of work on organisational implementations of social media, and should be of interest to practitioners and researchers undertaking similar projects.


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