Presented May 31, 2012 A Report Prepared by : Ali Amirvand Brett Allchorn Emily Mattevi Robert Lee

A COMPREHENSIVE MARKETING GUIDE

As a Project for BUS 418, Under Supervision of Professor Stern Neill

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.. 4 RESEARCH BRIEF.. 5
RESEARCH PURPOSE...6 METHODOLOGY.... 6 TARGET MARKET. 7 CONCLUSION...8 RECOMMENDATIONS. 10

APPENDIX A: OBSERVATIONAL FIELD NOTES 14

APPENDIX A.1: KENNEDY LIBRARY FIRST FLOOR. 16 APPENDIX A.2: KENNEDY LIBRARY SECOND FLOOR 17 APPENDIX A.3: KENNEDY LIBRARY THIRD FLOOR... 18 APPENDIX A.4: KENNEDY LIBRARY FOURTH FLOOR19 APPENDIX A.5: OBSERVATIONAL SYNTHESIS CONCLUSIONS..20 APPENDIX A.6: EMILYS FINDINGS 24 APPENDIX A.7: ROBERTS FINDINGS 27 APPENDIX A.8: ALIS FINDINGS.. 31 APPENDIX A.9: BRETTS FINDINGS34

APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW FINDINGS. 36

APPENDIX B.1: INTERVIEW SYNTHESIS..38 APPENDIX B.2: EMILYS INTERVIEW42 APPENDIX B.3: ROBERTS INTERVIEW... 45 APPENDIX B.4: ALIS INTERVIEW.. 48

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APPENDIX B.5: BRETTS INTERVIEW53

APPENDIX C: QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT.55

APPENDIX C.1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE. 56 APPENDIX C.2: DAILY VISITATIONS (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS).59 APPENDIX C.3: IMPORTANCE ON HOMEPAGE (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS).60 APPENDIX C.4: SATISFACTION RATING (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS)..61 APPENDIX C.5: IMPORTANCE RATING (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS)62 APPENDIX C.6: CUSTOMIZATION (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS)...63 APPENDIX C.7: CUSTOMIZABLE FEATURES (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS)..64 APPENDIX C.8: RECOMMENDATION (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS)65 APPENDIX C.9: ACADEMIC YEAR (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS)66 APPENDIX C.10: COLLEGE (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS).67

APPENDIX D: FOCUS GROUP68

APPENDIX D.1: FOCUS GROUP FINDINGS72

APPENDIX E: VISUAL AIDS ...78

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Our main research purpose was to determine the needs of Cal Poly students, of all years and majors, in regards to the content, design and layout of the My Cal Poly Portal. Specifically, we focused our attention of how the portal could be altered, making it more aesthetically pleasing and convenient for student use. We began our research with secondary research, gathering preliminary information to set the stage for the remainder of our project. We continued with our first field research assignment, with each of our team members observing student behaviors while working on computers in the library. Next, we created a series of interview questions pertaining to both the old and new portal, and interviewed 4 Cal Poly Business students of various years. With this information, our team developed a questionnaire that polled over 55 students gathering information on the importance and desirability of individual aspects of the portal, as well as customization options. Upon receiving positive feedback about customization from the surveys, our team broadened our research purpose to encompass portal personalization along with design and aesthetic alterations. As a final part of our research process, our class conducted two focus groups, gathering additional student insight. The first focus group was lower-division students from various colleges, followed by the second, consisting of upper-division students from various colleges as well. Based on our collective research, our group came to the conclusion that the portal needs to focus on the overreaching theme of portal personalization, supported by design modifications, content alterations, and customization ability. Due to our findings, we have concluded that students want the option to customize the portal to their exact specifications and likings. Starting with a standard design that is simple and professional looking will not only attract students, but allow for more effective use of the portal as well. Looking into content preferences, students indicated the need for very few and specific links on the homepage: specifically My Classes and the Single Click Access links. Our teams recommendation is to focus on portal personalization. We want to give students the ability to customize the portal to their individual liking. Creating a standard layout that is basic, simple, and professional looking is a great starting point. Incorporating major-specific information on the portal, as well as a link to Cal Poly news and event updates, provides students with useful resources in a way that is not distracting or over-whelming. The success of the portal depends on student feedback and usage. With these implementations, students will be provided with a more visually pleasing and effective portal, catering to the needs of the thousands of students here at Cal Poly.

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RESEARCH BRIEF
_____________________________RESEARCH PURPOSE____________________________
In order to utilize our limited time given in this project, we have limited our scope of research to a few aspects of the issue. Our primary research questionthe overall main focus of this project, is as follow: How can the Cal Poly Portal be altered, making it more aesthetically pleasing and convenient for student use? This research question is a refinement of our original research question after completing our observational research. The refinement process, along with the different approaches we took to the question, are discussed below.

Secondary Research
At this point of time, we still have yet to abide to a specific research question, leaving this research process an opportunity for us to understand more about the industry as a whole.

Observation Research
Going into this stage of research, we have developed a rather general research question, What are the observed behaviors of students working with computers in a learning environment? This question guided us through the observations and was eventually refined into a more specific and focused onenamely our final and current research question.

Interview Research
Our purpose of the interviews was to gain student insights on the aesthetic aspects of the portal, specifically the layout and design. Through investigating students opinions on the look and functions of the portal, we were able to draw conclusions regarding successes and pitfalls of the portal. These conclusions provided important insights for recommendations regarding the redesigning of the portal.

Questionnaire Research
While we abided to our research question in this research, we approached it from a more quantitative perspective. Prior to this stage of research, our client has indicated interest in data regarding what the essential functions are on the portal. The large amount of data collected allowed us to support our conclusions with solid evidences.

Conclusions and Recommendations

This final stage of research acted as a synthesis of all the previous researches. We looked at all the research results together as a whole and were able to come up with recommendations after synthesizing insights from all the researches.

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______________________METHODOLOGY_____________________________ Our methodology involved gathering data through observational research, secondary research, questionnaires, and focus groups. We had to gather this information in hopes of presenting our client, Darren Kraker, with viable recommendations that presented our findings from the data. Our secondary research started our project off by having us identify secondary data sources, develop the ability to evaluate secondary resources, and to understand and perform a SWOT analysis. The secondary data allowed us to inadvertently learn about how to tell which resources were important to our goals. This could be translated over into the project, as we had to gather data from secondary resources throughout our project, some of which were imperative to our findings, and it was up to us to discern this. Our observational data allowed us to see how the typical Cal Poly student interacts in a designated study zone. We had done so by going undercover in the Robert E. Kennedy Library, on Cal Poly's campus, each of our team members assuming a different location in the library. Each member of our team took a floor of the library, from floor two through five. From these locations, we were allowed to pick any location on our respective floors, based on random selection. Our questionnaire data allowed us to gather a better understanding of the student that we were dealing with. Our questions started from a more broad perspective, asking what year the student was, and what major they were in, to eventually asking what specific features they had decided to keep on their portal, after their customization. This allowed us to further refine our research question, How can the Cal Poly Portal be altered, making it more aesthetically pleasing and convenient for student use? After the questionnaire data was received, we further refined this research question to focus more on Portal customization, as we felt that was what was the most important to the Cal Poly student. From the questionnaire we watched and absorbed data from the two focus group sessions. The groups were divided between upper-division and lower-division students. In the first group, the lower-division students were completely anonymous and had to be described based on what articles of clothing they were wearing. The upper-division students of the second group were identified by first name, year, and major. The insights that were generated from the focus groups were the result of moderator and student interaction. The use of probes was very prevalent and allowed for more answers to be drawn from the participants. All of the findings led to the next step in our project in a free flowing way. The findings from each of the respective forms of data gathering have given our team enough of a scope to give our client an accurate recommendation for improving the Portal for student use. (6)

Secondary Data

Method: Conducted on time outside of class Objective: To gather information about the industry and worldwide portal usage. Method: Observe Cal Poly students in natural working environment. Objective: To gather information about student computer use and interactions.
Method: Constructing a survey and sending it to Cal Poly students via the web. Objective: To gather data on common uses and reactions towards the portal. Method: Using a questionnaire-style format, asking students about the portal in a professional and safe environment. Objective: To gather additional data from students regarding the portal.

Observational Data

Questionnaire Data:

Focus Group Data:

_____________________________________TARGET MARKET____________________________________ The average person in our target market: This brunette female from the beautiful shores of Santa Monica majoring in Biology with a concentration in pre-med is in desperate of a efficient portal to fulfill her needs. Considering the fact that she isnt living on campus, she needs a portal which allows her to efficiently communicate with her professors and fellow classmates. Because of her rough 16 unit schedule, also consisting of three labs, she needs a portal which makes it very clear of which assignments are due. She also needs a portal which has essential information and instructions on it that could easily be found. In order to help her more efficiently use the features which the portal has to offer she needs to be able to have access to a portal which allows her to customize in any way necessary in order to fulfill her needs. Cal Poly consists of roughly 19,325 students, all of whom who fall into our target market. Every student uses the portal one way or another and they need this new one to be very good.

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____________________________CONCLUSIONS___________________________
Throughout the quarter of our Bus 418 Listening To The Layout Customer class, we have been Customiz and conducting various types of research, ation Design which includes: secondary research, observational research, questionnaires, and focus groups. Content Our main focus is to assist the Information Technology Services Department in reformatting and reinventing the My Cal Poly Portal for the students of Cal Poly. Always keeping in mind our focus-- the New Portal aesthetics and visual layout and design of the portal, we were able to collect data regarding customization ability of the portal, specific layout and design preferences, student usage, and desired content material that would be included. Based on our research, our team has decided that the three main themes for the Information Technology Services Department needs to focus on when creating the new portal are: customization options, improving the layout and design of the portal, as well as altering informational content to better suit the needs of students.

Customization
Our team's comprehensive findings from various methods of research have proven a common theme:

Students want the option and ability to customize the portal to their exact specifications and interests.
From personal investigations, observations, and Maybe make it available for additional field research methods, it became everyone to customize their apparent that students are all unique in the fact that they want information to display that is Portals more. Every color I guess? specific to their involvements on campus. They - Interview Findings enjoy having the option to exit out of information that they never used, or change the background color to make it more pleasant to look at. It was suggested on several occasions that beginning with a simple Portal design with only the necessary tools and links would allow the student to specify the portal to be as complex or simple as they would like.

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Layout and Design Preferences

The current design and layout of the portal is cluttered, difficult to navigate, and a distraction to look at.
This is why many students dislike using the portal and have negative connotations associated with it. Another conclusion that our team came to was that the visual design and content layout of the portal should be improved to better serve the students of Cal Poly. When students were shown the new prototype of the Portal, they had very positive reactions and comments about it. They offered constructive criticism as well, which they felt would improve the overall design; all students at Cal Poly use the portal and want it as easily accessible as possible. Comments such as, Looks simpler, not too busy and not too many boxes, and sleek, streamlined and colorless, provide evidence that the ITS department is moving in the right direction with improving the Portal prototype. Again, below we have broken down the data collected throughout the quarter in accords to each type of research method, all supporting this conclusion. Current layout is not professional looking (See APPENDIX B) Graphics and colors are the 2 aspects that students are least satisfied with the current portal (See APPENDIX C) 28.3% are at least somewhat dissatisfied with the graphics of the current portal (See APPENDIX C)

Portal Content - What People Want

The final conclusion our group established was that students want specific information on the Portal homepage. The informational content presented on the portal is just as important as visual aspects. While some students were hesitant to state what they wanted, or simply didn't know what they wanted, there were strong ideas collected through our persistent research. Student responses showed evidence that the most highly used links were the 'My Classes' and the 'Single Click Access' links. Those should be up front and center and easy to find. Students also suggested having an easier access to events and sports updates instead of a running bullet of them on the side of the portal. They want to be kept informed about campus happenings, but not overwhelmed with information. While we have strong data supporting specific content to be included on the Portal, we will be conducting additional research to get an even better idea of the exact content students want on the Portal homepage. The research we have collected thus far is divided below according to the

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research method that was used. I only use the 'My Classes' and 'Single Click Access' links. (See APPENDIX B.2) Taking percentages directly from survey responses, 63.7% of students rated schoolwide information to be important information on the portal. Another statistic was that 69.1% of students claimed that having links to campus amenities was important. A professional look what considered important by 65.5% of students. (See APPENDIX C)

_________________________________RECOMMENDATIONS________________________________
Imagine a portal that excites students and entices them to spend time on the portal for reasons other than simply looking up a classroom number or gathering homework assignments. Receiving positive feedback and making the time spent improving the portal worth the sweat and tears would be a victory for the Information Technology Services Department. With our teams recommendations, we believe we can help make these things happen, and in turn help the students of Cal Poly as well. Taking into account our extensive research and customer insights we have gathered, we are happy to present ITS with our recommendations centered around PORTAL PERSONALIZATION. Under this theme we have broken down our recommendations into three distinct categories including: customization, content displayed, and design modifications to the portal.

Customizability
1. Students want the option and ability to customize the portal to their exact specifications and likings. We suggest that a standard layout is designed, being used as a starting point. From there, students should be allowed to customize content and design aspects to fit their needs. We found re-occurring information that showed students desire for the ability to customize the portal. (See APPENDIX C and D). 2. Each students portal should be designed based on his or her individual student information (college, clubs) A students portal should be designed based on the college in which they are enrolled. Students wanted major/college specific information on the portal. Implementing the students major flowchart on the portal was mentioned, as well as having personalized information such as meal plan points available. (See APPENDIX D). 3. We recommend that more options in terms of colors, themes, and layouts be provided. It would also be nice to allow students the option of choosing their own background. Our research suggests that students are quite content with the simple Google Chrome layout, where users can drag and drop objects and customize background. (See APPENDIX A).

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4. We also Suggest to Include Tabs Within the Portal Page It would tremendously improve user experience if new tabs could be opened within the portal. This allows for increased organization and increased efficiency. These tabs can either be tabs like those in Google Chrome, or individual mini-windows that are implemented within the portal page. This is just another change that could be implemented on the portal making it easier to use for students.

Content Changes
1. School-wide 'News' and 'Notifications' be a part of a separate link that takes the user to a new tab with all of the 'Cal Poly News Updates' Allowing students to navigate to a separate page with the sports updates, campus events, club meetings etc., will allow the news updates to better do their job in informing the student body rather than just occupy valuable space on the portal homepage. 2. Major-Specific information would be helpful Another suggestion made by students was to include major specific information on the portal. Currently, students have to dig through their respective department to find corresponding flowcharts, curriculum, course description, concentration declaration forms and minor application forms. If a link to a website containing the above could be implemented, the students will have to go through much less trouble to obtain their required information. The flow charts and even curriculums could be posted directly in a tab called Major Information, for example. Perhaps a function of checking-off completed assignments could be implemented. 3. Contents to Include on the Homepage We have concluded that as little as possible should be kept on the homepage to implement simplicity, while ensuring efficiency. As a result, we suggest that the decision of what to keep on the homepage should be limited to the top used ones. According to our research, these include: PASS, Student Center, Classes, Mustang Jobs, Email, and Housing Information. The choice of contents can also be further investigated by examining the click-through data in the ITS database. For an on-going adjustment of content, please refer to APPENDIX B1 in the Customization Aspects section. 4. Notifications and Reminders Our client has discussed with us their vision for the 'NOTIFICATION BOX'--an impressive but underdeveloped idea. We suggest that ITS should utilize its function to a greater extent. For example, they could include reminders about financial aid deadlines, class registrations, housing application deadlines, and even provide links in accordance to the notifications or reminders. 5. Additional Content There might be additional contents students want that we have not thought of. To account for this problem, we suggest ITS to include an option of customized content, where students can put any link (even third-party links) on the portal for easy access to those pages. For more detailed discussion on this topic, please refer to (2) in the Customization Aspects section.

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6. Recommendation Closing Overall, we understand the dilemma of balancing between simplicity and efficiency, and we have come up with recommendations that will solve those problems. By limiting the content that appear on the portal homepage to only the necessary ones and then allowing students to fine tune it themselves, we envision the portal to be a platform where students can maintain good organization of the work in their hands.

Design Modifications
1. We suggest that color be implemented in a way that is not too distracting The portal would be enhanced by making changes to the aesthetics and visual aspects of the layout and design. Take for example the new portal prototype: it is clean, professional looking, and organized. It succeeds in surpassing a minimalistic approach, however, students expressed the need for just a bit more color, calling it bland, colorless, and plain. 2. Keep the Tabs as Easy to Read as Possible The current prototype has the name of one tab on two separate lines, making it difficult to decipher which is the actual link. The general consensus from observed student data was that they wanted a portal that was easy to navigate. Something that looked easy to use. Students have little patience when it comes to the portal, so if something looks difficult to maneuver, it will either not be used effectively, or at all. 3. Design Content Closing: Students voiced their concerns about the Portal's design. The evidence extends from all of our past data, and we are convinced that design and layout on the Portal is imperative to its success. Adding these design recommendations to the modification of the most recent prototype of the portal would greatly improve the design and visual aspects of the portal, encouraging student use, and better serving the student body here at Cal Poly.

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Portal Personalization
Design Modifications Content Modifications Customization Aspects

Not distracting Colors

Easy-to-Read Tabs

News and Updates as Links

Major Specific Information Limit the Amount of Contents

Ability to Customize Portal to Exact Likings Customizatio n Based on Individual Information Increase in Customizatio n Options Tabs Within Portal Page

OUR TEAMS VERSION OF THE PORTAL

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APPENDIX A: OBSERVATIONAL FIELD NOTES Observational Fieldwork Plan

Research Question: What are the observed behaviors of students working with computers in a learning environment? Behaviors To Be Studied: Type of web browsers students use Type of computer students use Websites students frequently use. Interactions with environment, including o Other people, either in person or online. o Objects nearby Activities students engage in while working on computers. Distractions that take away attention from homework/studying while using computers. Methodology: Privacy Concerns: Due to privacy research ethic concerns, our team has agreed upon sacrificing the invisible aspect of the observation. Instead, we will be obtaining informed consent from our subjects before any observation or data-collection. This will be the only interaction that takes place Duration: Data Recording: Each team member of the team will complete observations of different durations but totaling thirty minutes each Group members will be using computers to take notes, create Excel graphs and charts, and taking photos during observations.

Location: The observation will be conducted in the Kennedy Library at Cal Poly, with each team member studying students on a different floor: - Emily: 1st floor - Robert: 2nd floor - Ali: 3rd floor - Brett: 4th floor Library is a great location to observe students working on school related work. Many desktop computers and laptops are used on every floor of the library.

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 The library is a known public place where students access websites that could potentially be seen by many people.

Observational Data Table Observer Location

Emily Library, floor 1

Date
04/18/12

Time
9:4010:10am

Justification
Students using both PCs, Macs and laptops can be found in the Poly Connect Lab, a public computer lab for Cal Poly Students. A public location makes for more ethical observational research. A randomly selected population of students. Several students occupied the second floor of the library, thus there were many subjects to choose from. I chose people that I am familiar with. It made it easier for me to ask them whether I could observe them. A randomly populated area in the library equipped with computers and workstations.

Robert

Library, floor 2

04/19/12

12:301:30pm

Ali

Library, floor 3

04/22/12

8:309:00pm

Brett

Library, floor 4

04/18/12

1:302:00pm

Description of individual sites of observation and observational synthesis follow.

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APPENDIX A.1: KENNEDY LIBRARY FIRST FLOOR

View of the entrance to Robert E. Kennedy Library at Cal Poly State University Accessed April 21, 2012

This image displays the line of sight from observer Emily Mattevis observation location against the back wall of the Poly Connect Lab Taken April 18, 2012

Date, Time, and Observer: On Wednesday April 18th from 9:40-10:10am observational research concerning student behaviors while operating computers was recorded and documented by Emily Mattevi. Sample Size and Duration: 6 students were observed, for a total of 5 minutes each. Students consented to participating in observational research Important Observations: 1) Students worked at individual desktop computer stations and with personal laptops. - In the lab there are a total of 48 desktop computer stations. 2) The computer lab is a public drop in lab with students coming in and out periodically. - Public place of observation where ethical issues do not come about. 3) The computer lab had a lot of background noise and presented many potential distractions for students. 4) Students observed were multi-tasking while working on computers. - Drinking coffee, on Facebook, checking phone messages, or browsing the web. 5) Most popular websites visited were Facebook, Google Chrome, and Yahoo! - Several students chose to use a Google site over any other web browser.

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APPENDIX A.2: KENNEDY LIBRARY SECOND FLOOR

Kennedy Library, Second Floor Date, Time and Observer: On Thursday April 19th from 12:30 1:00pm, observational research was conducted on the second floor of the Kennedy Library by Robert Lee. Sample Size and Duration: 3 students were observed for 10 minutes each, summing a total of 30 minutes. Students were asked to partake in research prior to observation. Important observations: 1) Many people are observed to be multi-tasking while working. - This includes operating various work-related windows at the same time, working and engaging in other non-work related activities at the same time, and working and consuming food or beverages at the same time. 2) Two out of three of the observations were using Macs while the other was using a PC - This also remotely resembles the distribution of MAC and PC users on Cal Poly Campus. Another observation regarding computers is that laptops that were used ranged from 13-15 inches. 3) Safari and Chrome remain the two most popular browsers - Similar to the other observations in this report, these three observations find Safari and Chrome the most used web browsers 4) Search Engine usage - Most subjects were observed to engage in usage of a search engine, namely Google Search.

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APPENDIX A.3: KENNEDY LIBRARY THIRD FLOOR

Date, Time and Observer: On Sunday April 22nd from 8:30 9:00pm, observational research was conducted on the third floor of the Kennedy Library at the long tables near the elevator by Ali Amirvand concerning how students behave when working on homework in a study environment. Sample Size and Duration: 6 students were observed for 5 minutes each, summing a total of 30 minutes. All students chosen were friends of mine, so they had no problem giving me their consent. Since it was crowded, I had to sit in various vantage points throughout the third floor of the library. Important observations: 1) It seems that people only use their My Cal Poly Portal to access PolyLearn. From there they look up the rubrics/ prompts their teachers have posted on PolyLearn. None of them used the My Cal Poly Portal to communicate with the teacher or other students. Each subject uses some other means to communicate. Some used their email accounts (not the Zimbra email service provided by My Cal Poly Portal), while others used Facebook. 2) People didnt seem to use the databases Cal Poly has provided for its students on the My Cal Poly Portal. Instead they used Google or some other search engine when trying to find sources to help them with their projects. 3) None of the students did their online homework on their My Cal Poly Portal. Instead they used Word documents to work/ finish their assignment(s) and then copied and pasted it onto their classes PolyLearn site.

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APPENDIX A.4: KENNEDY LIBRARY FOURTH FLOOR

Date, Time and Observer: On April 18th, 2012 observational fieldwork and research was done on the 4th floor of the Robert E. Kennedy Library from 1:30-2:00pm. The observational notes included that of the activities of students working both at 1 of the 6 computers, as well as the students at the 2 table stations. Observer, Brett Allchorn, documented the running record. Sample Size and Duration: A total of 11 students were observed for a combined total of 30 minutes. Students were not consented to the observational research Important Observations: 1) Students worked at 6 of the Cal Poly computer stations on Cal Poly-owned PC computers. 2) This section of the Kennedy Library was located in a quiet study section. 3) There are 6 computer stations in this particular area of Kennedy Library. 4) Because this was a quiet study floor, students who were talking were mumbling, which could still be seen as a distraction. 5) Students were observed multi-tasking: Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo! and soft mumbling between students was frequent.

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APPENDIX A.5: OBSERVATIONAL SYNTHESIS CONCLUSIONS Common Themes

1. There was frequent use of Facebook by students observed. - 9 out of 21 students using computers were observed on Facebook.

Facebook Login Page

4.

[Emily I2 Observations:] Directly from field notes: Web browser open to Facebook, scrolling through pictures. The student observed spent the majority of the observational time on Facebook looking at her own profile, and scanning through pictures of friends on Facebook. Even when she opened a separate web page, Facebook was still an open tab, easily accessible to switch back to. 5. [Robert I2 Observations:] Student observed scrolling through notifications on personal profile site, clicking on each notification to get more information on it. Student also appeared bored and distracted while doing work. 6. [Ali I2 Observations:] Student observed using Facebook to use the chat function to communicate with a friend online. 7. [Brett I2 Observations:] Students observed quickly checking Facebook updates and notifications, and then switching back to another website to continue homework.

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2. All subjects observed were multitasking while operating computers - 21 out of 21 students were engaged in some other activity while simultaneously using the computer.

Multitasking on computer with multiple programs open

[Emily I2 Observations:] Directly from observational research analysis: Almost every student I observed had something taking their attention away from the computer and distracting them even for a couple seconds. The culprit tended to be coffee, an iPhone, a notebook and pen, or people watching. These sorts of activities were all taking place while the subject was still using the computer, thus evidence of multitasking. [Robert I2 Observations:] The students were observed to multitask, both on their computers and physically. They were observed to switch between windows either for work purposes or for entertainment (such as Facebook and YouTube). At the same time, they were observed engaging in other activities such as eating, drinking, and conversing with friends. [Ali I2 Observations:] Several of the students were doing something other than their homework. Some of them were chatting with friends on Facebook. Others were talking to their friends (sometimes about the homework). [Brett I2 Observations:] 6 out of the 11 students became distracted from their work within the first 15 minutes of observation. Students were either talking to each other about the group work they were engaged in. One of the students left all together at one point. There was a consistent soft mumbling that was sometimes hard to locate throughout the observation.

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3. Several students were observed using some version of Google software - 12 out of 21 students were seen using either Google Chrome or the Google search engine.

Google Chrome homepage

Google Search Engine

[Emily I2 Observations:] A total of 2 of my observational subjects used Google Chrome as their preferred Internet source. As stated in the field notes of my first observation, Opens a new tab, Google Chrome. In the second observation of Google Chrome users, the field notes stated, Using Google Chrome, clicks on various website links and reading articles online. Both subjects intentionally opened the Google Chrome Internet source, despite the wide variety of Internet sources available to choose from. [Robert I2 Observations:] Even though only one of my observation subjects were observed using Google Chrome as their primary web browser, all of them used the Google Search Engine to either find websites or information. [Ali I2 Observations:] Two of the students used the Google search engine to help them find information. Three of the students were using Google Chrome as their Internet browser. The other three students used Safari. No student used Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer. [Brett I2 Observations:] The students I observed were all using PC computers that were property of the Kennedy Library. The PCs used Internet Explorer as their Internet on all 6 of the computers that were in use. None of the students used any other type of web browser.

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Conclusion of observation and insights: In our observation of sample size of 26 totaling 120 minutes, we have come to a couple significant observations regarding students behaviors while working on computers. In terms of applications and softwares, around half of the students that were observed using Facebook at some point of the duration of the observation. Google products also appear very common among students (over half of the students were observing using either Google Chrome or Google Search Engine). These observations introduce a potential of integration or utilization of popular applications in the portal. In terms of studying behaviors, all students multitask while working. These three main observations have led us to an interest in how we can optimize the portal to adjust to and enhance the working behavior of the students. The refinement of our research question will be discussed in the following section.

Refinement of Research Question: While our original question was a good starting point, we have decided as a group that it is not the exact research question we wish to answer through the entirety of this course long project. While the data collected is still useful, in regards to preferred websites and online activity of students, we want to take this information to the next level. Using the information collected, as well as the future information we will gather through interviews, questionnaires, and focus groups, we want to explore the layout and visual preferences of students in regards to the Cal Poly Portal. The research previously conducted will be a key factor as we continue with this project. We will examine popular websites and features, identifying the most desirable. These identifications will be good insight to the types of features that should be incorporated on the revamped version of the Cal Poly Portal. Overall, our research will not be considered a waste, but rather, an asset, which has helped guide our group in the direction, we wish to continue for the remainder of this project.

Refined Research Question: How can the Cal Poly Portal be altered, making it more aesthetically pleasing and convenient for student use?

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APPENDIX A.6: EMILYS FINDINGS

Date: April 12, 2012 Time: 9:40 10:10am Location: Kennedy Library, Poly Connect Lab, Cal Poly Campus Observer: Emily Mattevi Time
9:409:45am Female Web browser open to Facebook, scrolling through pictures. Drinking coffee in a travel mug, wearing gym clothes and has a folded up yoga mat. Still searching on Facebook (3 minutes total). Opens a new tab, Google Chrome. Goes directly to Cal Poly Portal, PolyLearn, and then goes to the assignments tab. Highlights the information and due dates that appear on the screen, tries to click on the dates but does not work. Exits out of PolyLearn, switches tabs back to Facebook. 9:469:50am Female Wearing work out clothes, has a binder, sunglasses and iPhone on the desk that she periodically checks for a total of 4 times. Using Google Chrome, clicks on various website links and reading articles online. Has a notepad and pen next to her and begins taking notes, then typing on a word document. 9:519:55am Female Working on a laptop in a comfortable chair with moveable desk attached, has a spiral notebook and stapled packet of paper that she continuously is referencing. Web is open to a database website, every few seconds looks up from computer to examine the room. Continues to read from packet of paper rather than on the computer screen. She takes a break from reading, talking to a girl who is seated in a chair next to her. As the other girl gets up to leave she says, Good Luck on your midterms." 9:5610:00am Male Prefers the comfortable chairs when doing work, maybe the computer stations are too stiff and not conducive for studying. Eventually needs a break and wants human interaction. Focusing on school, working on homework possibly, but always needs to be connected to iPhone and the virtual world. Student seems to have come from the gym. Side tracked on Facebook. PolyLearn doesnt work correctly, thus gets frustrated and resorts back to Facebook.

Running Record

Observers Comments

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Sitting at desktop computer, face very close to screen, on an engineering drawing program, using the computer mouse to draw various cylindrical figures and objects on the page. Referencing a book while drawing, stops to stare at the drawing for a few moments. Has a notebook, writing small notes every few minutes, 3 people walk by him but he does not seem to notice nor direct his attention away from the computer. 10:0110:05am Male Logs onto computer, pulls out a large textbook and reusable water bottle from backpack. Opens internet to Yahoo!, reads articles on front page of Yahoo!, scrolls down page and continues to read. Clicks on a link to one of the articles from Yahoo! page. Article has words and pictures, pauses to look at pictures on article. Exits out of current article, opens a different article via Yahoo!, continues to read article. Logs on to portal, connects to PolyLearn, clicks on a link on a classes homepage via PolyLearn. 10:0610:10am

Engineering student most likely, very focused on his design project. Not distracted easily and is "in the zone" while completing his homework.

This student seems interested in national news. Yahoo! seems to be his preferred website for news updates. Possibly taking a class that requires daily news articles to be read since he also linked to an article through the portal?

Female Sits in comfortable chair with the moveable desks, pulls out personal laptop and turns it on. She has a binder on her lap, flipping through the pages. Someone starts talking next to her, immediately she looks over at the guy who was talking, then goes back to make notes in her binder. Looks up again when someone says something next her. Computer has four stickers on its cover, a hiking backpack on the floor, wearing hiking clothes and sandals, drinks out of reusable Klean Kanteen water bottle, continues to browse on her computer. She sees me look at the television on the wall above us briefly and she too looks at it and then continues to look back at her own laptop.

Student seemed unfocused, possibly not ready to sit down and do homework or study. Was very distracted and seemed to have other things on her mind.

Quantitative Data Number of students observed in Poly Connect lab: 6 people 4 females, 2 males Number of desktop computer stations in lab: 48 desktop computers Number of comfortable chairs with moveable tables: 7 comfortable chairs Students observed on Google Chrome: 2 students Students observed on Facebook: 1 student Students observed on Yahoo: 1 student Students observed using the Cal Poly Portal: 2 students

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Observational Research Analysis All of the subjects I observed to conduct my research were Cal Poly students. I sought out permission before commencing, yet that was the only communication to take place between my observational subjects and myself. Each of the six students were accepting of the idea of me studying their behaviors, giving me the impression that the average student to use the Poly Connect Lab is not worried about keeping their online activities private. The websites that were most used by the students I observed were Google Chrome, Facebook, and Yahoo. I came to assume that these websites are easy to use, and appeal to students both visually and contextually. Another observation made during my field time was that fads can be detected through monitored website usage. In a society with an overwhelming number of websites, social networking sites, blogs, etc. it is crucial to pinpoint the popular sites a target consumer is using. In example, Facebook continues to be a major draw to students. If a competing website hopes to find success, they should consider seeking to identify popular features of well-known sites such as Facebook, and in turn, incorporate similar features on their own websites. During my time in the computer lab, I also observed common distractions, such as side conversations and background noises which could be heard throughout the lab. This information shows me that students visiting this particular computer lab are not there in hopes of silence and a focused study environment. Rather, the lab is a friendly laid back setting where human interaction is expected and encouraged, as compared to the 5th floor of the library where silence is mandatory. Almost every student I observed had something taking their attention away from the computer and distracting them even for a couple seconds. The culprit tended to be coffee, an iPhone, a notebook and pen, or people watching. In general, operating a computer should be an easy task and engage the user, for it is far too easy to become distracted by outside elements. After analyzing my observational data, I came to the conclusion that while using computers, most people end up multi-tasking. Students are drawn to some websites more than others, providing evidence that the visual and contextual appeal of certain websites prove superior to others. If a new website, or in our case, portal, hopes to be successful, it must have a strong appeal to users and create an experience worth both their time and attention.

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APPENDIX A.7: ROBERTS FINDINGS

Date: Thursday, April 19, 2012 Time: 12:48pm Location: Kennedy Library, Atrium, Cal Poly Campus Observer: Robert Lee Time (mins from start) Running Record On computer Others take notes on notebook paper Bit fingernail, took more notes after thinking Leaned back and thought wrote down a small amount of words Hands on chin, bit more fingernails appears a little confused looks like he had the "light bulb moment"! Comments constantly referring back to comp. and seem to be in deep thoughts

Read article on 0 computer Scroll down, Continue to read 1 article 2 No action 3 Scroll up 4 scroll down scroll down to view data table, then go back up. This process 5 repeated 3 times Scrolling through the document, up 6 and down 7 No action 8 No action 9 Scrolled down

sat still for a little bit Dropped pen and then picked it back up Picked up laptop to put it on lap, picked up notepad and took notes mid-air. Phone rang, took call, continued to take notes and read Took more notes while reading and talking to friend at the same time

trying to find something? not comfortable? multitasking! appears to be more efficient while multitasking!?

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Date: Thursday, April 19, 2012 Time: 1:07pm Location: Kennedy Library, Atrium, Cal Poly Campus Observer: Robert Lee Time (mins from start) Running Record On computer Others Sips coffee Says hi to friend, converses Invites friend to sit down, ignored None None ouch :( Comments

0 Facebook, chats with 1 friend 1 Goes back to desktop 2 No action Opens a window explorer, with safari in background, performing Google search, opens ppt , switches back to Google, switches back to 3 Facebook chat, Back to ppt, scroll through the slides, quickly switches back to Google, went on Wikipedia, reads article about nuclear station, performs 4 Google image search Switches back to ppt, copy and pasts image of nuclear plant from Google search, back to Wikipedia, scrolls down and reads for about 5 5 seconds, back to ppt and type Back to Wikipedia, searches for image. Switches back to ppt for 3 seconds, then back to Wikipedia for 3 seconds, 6 then back to ppt Types (on picture), changes 7 font size, formats font Still trying to customize font on image slide, back to 8 "background" slide. Creates new "problems: ethical" slide. Quickly looks at 9 Sources cited slide.

None

Wow. That is a lot of switching windows!

None

So many windows!

1 hand on chin

Looks like he is trying hard to decide what to do.

None None None None

Multi-tasking. trying hard to find the font customizing function? Looks like he does not know how to do that? None

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Date: Thursday, April 19, 2012 Time: 1:32pm Location: Kennedy Library, Atrium, Cal Poly Campus Observer: Robert Lee Time Running Record (mins from start) On computer Goes on Facebook, scrolls down homepage and looks at posts and then 0 notifications. Then opens document. Opens Cal Poly Portal, clicks on one of the classes. Scrolls down and up quickly. Finds content in about 20 seconds, clicks on link and downloads 1 document. Opens PDF document, opens WORD 2 file. Searches "badminton" on YouTube and scrolls through the list of results before 3 picking one. 4 Watches YouTube video Continues to watch YouTube video for a while, then pauses and switches back 5 to PDF to read. Snaps YouTube window to the right and PDF window to the left of screen, 6 reads and watches at the same time.

Others Eats. Then drinks soymilk.

Comments Looks hungry Looking for something on the course page? Looks like he is in a rush to do work. ..or not. Distracted! None Looks like a big struggle for him to concentrate! Multi-tasking!!

Eats more. Takes out book from backpack. Replies to text. Eats more Continues to eat and drink. Replied to another text Pen in hand, made mark on book. Flipped through pages and read. Concentrate on book, left computer alone, not watching video/reading PDF. Pen still in hand. Wrote down a couple words on notebook. Opens second package of food.

7 PDF file still on, video still playing Opens new tab to Google search, opens 8 3 links Reads through web pages and took 9 some notes on WORD.

Can you really learn like that? Multi-tasking again! Finally concentrating on work.

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Observational Research Analysis [Multi-tasking]: All three of my observation subjects engaged in some sort of multi-tasking activities, whether it was academically related or not. For observation 1, subject conversed with friend on the phone while working, ad it appeared to have increased the speed and the amount of writing that he put down on the notebook. In observation 2, subject constantly switched between tabs and windows. It seemed like this was the way that he consolidate information in his mind. The subject in observation 3 was obviously just distracted. But there is clearly a trend that most people multitask when they work. This could be an opportunity for the redesigning of the portal. For example, it could implement the use of tabs (not hyperlinks that lead to a new webpage). [Food and Beverages:] All three of my observation also engaged in consumption of either food or beverages. This reveals hat there might be a general study habit that students like to eat/drink while working. A potential opportunity for the portal could be to implement a little tab/box on the webpage indicating the closest campus-dining place and its hours, or even a link to the SLO restaurant of the week. [Search function:] Two out of three of my observations used some kind of search engine (Google Search for observation 2 and YouTube Search for observation 3). The portal could consider implementing the function of a spotlight search (either within the Cal Poly server or bigger) to minimize the tab/window-switching that students have to do.

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APPENDIX A.8: ALIS FINDINGS

Date: Sunday, April 22, 2012 Time: 8:30 9:00am Location: Kennedy Library, 3rd floor, Cal Poly Campus Observer: Ali Amirvand

Time
8:30-8:35pm Male

Running Record

Observers Comments

Originally was working on a Word document. Went to My Cal Poly Portal to see project guidelines. Went to Google to find sources. Began working on Word document (actually typing stuff). Went back to Google to find more sources. Checked email account on Yahoo!. Went back to Google to find more sources. Typed more on Word document

Subject was working on an assignment for his Chemistry class. He had a fruit cup and coffee.

8:35-8:40pm

Male Asks other student where the homework guidelines are on PolyLearn. Other student takes a minute or so to find it. Goes back to main page of My Cal Poly Portal. Talks with other student about a certain part of the homework assignment. Other student tells him there is an example prompt of the homework assignment. Goes back to classs PolyLearn site. Opens up prompt. Goes back to working on the homework assignment in his notebook. Male Working on homework on a sheet of paper. Goes to check his email on Yahoo!. Closes Yahoo! window. Looks through his book. Writes down something for his homework. Turns pages of the book again. Writes another thing on his homework. Goes back to Yahoo! (received an email from chemistry lab partner regarding the homework). Goes back to his book.

Subject was working on engineering homework. He had a bottle of water and was working with another student. Also had his engineering book and a notebook where he wrote down his homework.

8:40-8:45pm

Subject was working on chemistry homework. He had his chemistry book with him along with a notebook filled with his notes.

8:45-8:50pm

Male

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Is originally on his biology classs PolyLearn site. Opens up a folder to review the guidelines regarding his homework. Types up his homework on a Word document. Talks to other person about certain aspect of the homework. Goes back to typing on Word document. Other person asks him about a certain aspect of the homework. Opens up the homework guidelines again on PolyLearn. Goes back to typing on Word document. Goes onto Facebook.

Subject is working on his biology homework which is due online the next day. Subject is working with another person in his class.

8:50-8:55pm

Female

Checks her email on Gmail. Is on Google looking for sources. Goes back to typing on Word document. Goes back to Google to look for more sources. Goes onto Facebook to chat with a friend. Goes back to Google to look for more sources. Opens book up to look for more information. Starts to type on Word document again. Gets notebook from backpack to look for notes. Goes back to her book to look for more information. Starts typing on Word document again.

Subject is working on a project for her psychology class. She has her psychology book with her.

8:55-9:00pm

Male

Looks up problems in physics book. Works on homework in his notebook. Opens up physics classs PolyLearn. Goes back to working on homework in his notebook. Goes back to physics book to find out how to solve a problem. Works on homework problem again. Goes on Facebook. Checks his email on Yahoo!. Goes back to Facebook.

Subject is working on his homework for physics class. Has his notebook where he writes his homework in and his physics book.

Quantitative Date Number of students observed in 3rd floor of library: 6 people 5 males, 1 female Students observed on Gmail: 1 student Students observed on Facebook: 2 students Students observed on Yahoo!: 3 students Students observed using the Cal Poly Portal: 3 students Students observed using their class textbook: 2 students

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Observational Research Analysis It seems that people only use their My Cal Poly Portal to access PolyLearn. From there they look up the rubrics/ prompts their teachers have posted on PolyLearn. None of them used the My Cal Poly Portal to communicate with the teacher or other students. Each subject uses some other means to communicate. Some used their email accounts (not the Zimbra email service provided by My Cal Poly Portal), while others used Facebook. Also people didnt seem to use the databases Cal Poly has provided for its students on the My Cal Poly Portal. Instead they used Google or some other search engine when trying to find sources to help them with their projects. None of the students did their online homework on their My Cal Poly Portal. Instead they used Word documents to work/ finish their assignment(s) and then copied and pasted it onto their classes PolyLearn site.

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APPENDIX A.9: BRETTS FINDINGS

Date: Wednesday April 18, 2012 Time: 1:30pm-2:00pm Location: Kennedy Library, 4th Floor 'Quiet Study' Section, Cal Poly Campus Observer: Brett Allchorn Time 1:301:35pm One of the table stations is occupied by two females sitting on the same side as each other. There are 7 students using all 6 of the computers. Of the 7 students at the computers, 1 female is on Wikipedia, 2 male students are on Gmail accounts, 1 student is on Microsoft Windows, and the other 3 students (2 male, 1 female) are not using the computers at all, just the desk.1 of the male students that was on Gmail leaves and doesn't return 1:361:40pm 2 male students are working together on what appears to be Calculus homework. Another male arrives and takes the computer previously in use by male student that left. Soft mumbled is occurring from the 2 females farthest away from me in the row of computers. I have heard sneezing from 3 different students. 1:411:45pm 1:461:50pm Male student is on CA.gov website. Female leaves at 1:42pm, leaves City of San Luis Obispo website open. Male student on CA.gov website is renewing license. Male students are talking about linear conversion. Females in distance mumbling, unable to discern what they are saying. The observation subjects are all wearing long pants and thick flannels while it is 85 degrees outside. Female behind me on computer logs into Facebook and opens the San Luis Obispo Bicycle homepage, then proceeds to compose an Email on her Gmail account. Glad it's not me doing Calculus. Apparently previous male was leaving all together. Must be allergy season already. Last one [male ID] might have gotten lost/stolen. -Can't remember the last time I had a conversation like that [about linear conversion]. I was the odd one out [85 degrees]. Procrastination of sorts [for Gmail]. Both females are working on math homework. The computers are definitely of importance. Very busy at the library today. Going to the bathroom or leaving all together? Running Record Observers Comments

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1:511:55pm

No one else has left the computers or chairs since the one previous male left and was replaced shortly after. Male that sat in front of computer most recently is now on Yahoo! Answers reading an answer to a question about policies on renewing license. Floor has begun to rumble-- I realize that I am one floor above the library loading dock. One of the female students sitting at one of the desk stations gets up and grabs a book titled Marine Biology from the book shelf, she returns to her desk to read it. The female behind me on one of the computers logs out of the computer and leaves. More mumbling happens, not able to tell from which students.

-Lots of work to be done at the library [no one has left]. -Wonder what happened to the first license? Earthquake? Makes me want to go to the beach. I think she saw my observation notes.

1:562:00pm

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APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW FINDINGS

The purpose of student interviews is to get student insight on the aesthetic aspects of the portal, specifically the layout and design, following up our observational research. We are attempting to answer our research question: How can the Cal Poly Portal be altered, making it more aesthetically pleasing and convenient for student use? Based on responses and reactions to both the current portal design and prototype of the Cal Poly Portal, we will be able to synthesize the data collected, drawing conclusions and acknowledging pitfalls. Analyzing interview data as a group will allow us to find parallels and commonalities between responses, providing stronger evidence of themes and shared user experiences. [Individuals Interviewed]

Interviewee
1 2 3 4

College
Business Business Business Business

Year
1st 2nd 2nd 2nd

Date
4/27/2012 4/27/2012 5/02/2012 5/02/2012

Time
11:10am 11:20am 5:00pm 5:10pm

Location
Kennedy Library Kennedy Library Kennedy Library Kennedy Library

[Sampling Methodology] Our sampling strategy for the interviews was a convenient sampling. We felt that doing this type of sampling allowed for a comfortable environment, making it easier for interviewees to share their personal insight and views. Knowing the interviewees ahead of time also allows for the collection of demographic information prior to the start of the interview. [Class Status of Interest] Our focus was on lower classmen, specifically either freshman or sophomore. Our reasoning behind this sampling specification was that the lower classmen and early on in the college careers and still have many years to go. They are current and future users of the portal thus have a reason to seek improvement in the portal. Our worry with interviewing upperclassmen was that they were on their way out of Cal Poly, and as a result, did not have

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an interest in the transformation of the portal, given that they would not benefit nor even use the newer version. [Interviewee Recruitment] Our team, consisting of 4 members, paired off to create interview teams. Each member brought along an individual to be interviewed by his or her partner. This was done to ensure that neither interviewer had any previous connections with the interviewee. By doing this we were also able to ensure that no close friends or roommates would interviewed, potentially compromising the professionalism of the research. [Location] The interviews were all to be held in a public location, namely the Robert E. Kennedy Library on Cal Poly campus. We felt that the library on campus was a neutral and public place to conduct the interviews. It is a common destination on campus that many students use regularly, allowing for a true sense of comfort. It is a centrally located building as well, easily accessible by both the interviewers and interviewees. [Interview Questions] 1) Can you tell us a little about yourself? To get the interviewee to feel comfortable and relaxed. 2) What are your top 3 uses for the My Cal Poly Portal? To introduce the main focus of our interview, the Cal Poly Portal, and identify the top uses of the portal by students. 3) Can you log onto your My Cal Poly Portal homepage and explain to me your opinions on the current portal layout and design? Observing physical interaction between the student and the portal allows us to better understand the exact features used, as well as their exact feelings towards the portal. 4) What are your initial reactions to the new prototype layout? To provide a comparison of the current portal to a newer version. Also, allow for the opportunity to comment on likes and dislikes of the design and layout of the portal. 5) What features would you like to see included in your ideal portal? To give students the opportunity to bring in personal needs and requests of the portal.

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APPENDIX B.1: INTERVIEW SYNTHESIS

As a group, we decided that the most effective method of synthesizing our data was to each individually analyze our interview findings and then look for common themes and categories among them. The categories we found included: functionality, complaints, layout and design, and new proto-type.

Categories
1. Functionality

Use portal to access PolyLearn My classes is a main section used on the portal Used as a click-through tool Only uses portal to access course information and PASS Not a helpful tool other than accessing class information As summarized in the table, some of the main uses of the portal include PolyLearn

and PASS. However, many indicate that they only use the portal as a click-through tool. They say that they open the portal merely just to find the links to the other websites or applications that they need, and that the portal is not much of a helpful tool other than accessing class information. Insights from the interview showed us that students only use the portal when they need to. It is somewhat of a hassle to use the portal because it is so confusing and difficult to navigate. Even the information and tabs that are currently available on the portal that may be of great use to students are not being utilized because students simply cant stand spending that much time on the portal. If the portal is going to be transformed into a helpful student tool, it must provide a reason for students to spend their time on it. No student is going to spend time on the portal outside of what they must, if there is no benefit to them. In response to this, our team is considering the possibility to integrate the above functions into the new portal. The finishing product will resemble more of a platform than just a webpage that contains a bunch of links that students need. This platform, we envision, will integrate PolyLearn PASS, and some other functions that the students have indicated useful to them, such that the students will not have to open another new window to access the above functions but rather directly operate them, all on 1 page of the portal.

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2. Complaints Mainly, throughout all the interviews, people expressed that they did not like the overall format of the My Cal Poly Portal. They want it to be more aesthetically pleasing, looking nicer to the eye. It seems people are also fed up with additional links on the portal, including PASS. They believe that it is outdated and inconvenient to use. In addition, it seems that students are having a hard time adjusting from Blackboard to PolyLearn. Below are a few points addressing the students complaints regarding the above categories.

Home Page Distraction of portal Only a couple things used Lack of aesthetic Lack of customizability

Complaints

PASS Difficult and confusing to use

PolyLearn Hard to use Sophisticated special features Not used to its full potential

. In general, we received many complaints during the interview exclaiming that the portal was difficult to navigate, unpleasing to look at, cluttered with unnecessary information, and in serious need of a face-lift. Students express that the flooding of excessive information is overwhelming and make it very distracting and hard for them to find the information that they actually need. The lack of aesthetic, they said, is also another aspect that they feel strongly about.

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Regarding PolyLearn, students show great frustration with this new platform that was recently launched. PolyLearn, according to them, is difficult to comprehend. Also, the special features that were not presented in Blackboard like Wiki and such are difficult to operate. Not only so, they feel that the teachers are not using PolyLearn to its full potential, which has led us to question the actual benefits of PolyLearn over Blackboardif they are just serving the same purpose, why go through all the hassle? Other than PolyLearn, PASS is also something that every student has to use. Students express that the current PASS program is confusing and has great room for improvement. The current PASS, they say, is out of date. While some of the complaints may have been harsh, it is this constructive criticism that allows us to take a look at what students are thinking, and the features they would most like to see a part of a newer version of the Cal Poly Portal. 3. Layout and Design The current layout Students want the layout to
Have a cleaner layout Be more like Google or Facebook Highlight necessary information only

Is too cluttered Is not professional looking

Has too much color Has too much information

Be more organized

Is too ugly

Be more user friendly

Be easier to navigate around

After reviewing the multiple interviews, it was apparent that students had definite opinions regarding the layout and design of the portal, which is our groups main focus for this project. Students wanted a more professional design for the portal, which they felt would make it more appealing. They voiced ideas about making the portal more like popular websites and social media networks such as Facebook and Google Chrome. Appearance is important to students, and if ITS is hoping to make the portal more attractive to Cal Poly, changing the visual aspects of the portal will make a big difference.

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4. New Prototype

Concise

Clean

Professional Looking

Reaction to New Prototype

Students were impressed with the new prototype of the portal. Immediate reactions touched on how clean the portal looked, incorporating much less color and information. The information that presented was concise and not distracting, allowing for a more efficient and effective visit to the portal. Overall, students were very responsive to the new prototype, and this further encouraged our group to continue believing that the aesthetic aspects of the portal are just as important as the content, and hence the reason why our group is focused on the visual layout and design of the portal.

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APPENDIX B.2: EMILYS INTERVIEW [OPENING]

Interviewer: Martin thank you very much for letting me interview you today. To start off, could you tell me a little about yourself? Interviewee: My name is Martin; Im from San Francisco. I am switching to Econ even though Im Biochemistry major right now, yeah. Interviewer: Okay, very cool. Well, the main purpose of this interview is directed around the Cal Poly Portal, which I am assuming you have used before? Interviewee: Yes I have. Interviewer: Great, well then lets begin.

[INTRODUCTION]
Interviewer: All right, so what are your top 3 uses of the My Cal Poly Portal? Interviewee: I use it to go on PolyLearn, I use it to check my dining credits, and I use it to renew books. Interviewer: [Informational Probe] You say that you renew books through your Cal Poly Portal, could you expand on that? Interviewee: Yeah, there is a link on the portal somewhere where you can renew your book that you have checked out from the library. Interviewer: Okay that is a very cool feature to use.

[TRANSITION]
Interviewer: Would you mind logging onto your my Cal Poly Portal homepage for me? Interviewee: (Logs onto his personal Cal Poly Portal). Interviewer: Could you explain to me your opinions on the current layout and design of the My Cal Poly Portal? Interviewee: UmI think it is way too cluttered. There is way too much stuff going on. Like most of the stuff, I have never even looked at. Interviewer: [Silent Probe]

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Interviewee: Like these two tabs, and this tab, completely pointless. I have never even looked at them. (He references tabs by pointing to them on the screen). Interviewer: [Reflective Probe] So you have never looked at the Campus Necessities, ASI, and the Technology tab, and never use them either? Interviewee: Yeah, I have never even clicked on them. Interviewer: [Silent Probe] Interviewee: Yeahand some of these links are pretty pointless too. (Referring to the Single Click Access Tab on the left hand side of the portal). Like the technical service request, and health center, never looked at those. The student assistant time sheet, I feel like there are much better time sheets available to me, so I have never used that. Interviewer: [Nudging Probe] Uh-huh? Interviewee: Yeah, I think thats about it. Interviewer: [Clearinghouse Probe] Before moving on, is there anything else you would like to add? Interviewee: Umlet me think here. Not really. Interviewer: Okay thank you.

[KEY]
Interviewer: So we are working with the information Technology Services Department and they are currently working to make improvements on the portal. Here is the prototype to a newer version of the portal. Can you tell me your initial reactions to this new prototype layout? Interviewee: Looks much cleaner, there is a lot less color to it. Interviewer: [Silent Probe] Interviewee: Yeah, I like it, it is a lot better looking than the one we currently have. Interviewer: [Informational Probe] You have said that it is a lot cleaner, what you are meaning by that? Interviewee: Yeah, mainly just a lot less clutter to look at. Interviewer: Perfect.

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[ENDING]
Interviewer: So what features would you like to see in your ideal portal? Interviewee: Umnever really thought about that. (Long pause) I feel like PASS should be more accessible. Interviewer: [Clearinghouse Probe] Okay, is there anything else you would like to add? Interviewee: Yeah, other than that I cant really think of anything. Interviewer: Well thank you very much for allowing me to interview you. It was really nice to meet you and I appreciate your time. Thank you.

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APPENDIX B.3: ROBERTS INTERVIEW

[OPENING] Me: Alright Kevin, my name is Robert and thanks for letting me interview you today! Today were just gonna ask you for a couple opinions or thoughts about the Cal Poly Portal because were working on re-designing it. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Kevin: Im Kevin, Im a econ major, second year. Um from northern California, thats about it. [INTRODUCTION] Me: Hmm econ major, yea. So what are your top three uses of the Cal Poly Portal? Kevin: I go on to check uh homework assignments, check my grades, and then check the weather. Me: Weather? (Mirror) Kevin: Yea, which is like Me: Like all the way down there? (Information) Kevin: Yea. Check it every day. Me: Nice. You dont use like, Google or other things? Kevin: Nah, this is more convenient for me.

[TRANSITION]
Me: Alright thats good. Anddo you mind logging onto your Cal Poly Portal? Kevin: Yea. Me: Right here. So, what do you think about this current layout? Kevin: I think theres a lot of stuff I dont use. Basically I just use it to check PASS and see Student Center. Me: Mhmm. (Nudging) Kevin: All my emails are forwarded to my gmail so I just use that, and thenIm sick right now so I check the health center so thats about it. Me: You check the health center? (Mirror) Kevin: Yeah. Me: What do you use it for? (Information) Kevin: Just to see the hours and like make appointment. Me: Okay. And sodo you use any of these things on the side? Kevin: Ive taken the quizzes beforetaken the polls. Me: And then check the weather?

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Kevin: Yea check the weather. Me: You kinda have to find it all the way down there, huh? Kevin: Yea its right there, so Me: I think you can move thismeh. Kevin: But yea, thats about it [silent probe] Kevin: And also for Mustang Jobs. Me: Mustang Jobs? (Mirror) Kevin: Yeah thats right. Me: Is that useful? Kevin: Ummyea, I havent applied for any of the jobs but I can see whats on there so Me: Is it confusing to use? Cuz Ive been there and you have to like, go through the tabs and Kevin: Yea, its hard to find what youre looking for, so see like, if they can improve that. Me: They can improve that. (Mirror) Kevin: And if they have the five-day weather forecast, then I wouldnt have to go on every day, so Me: On Mustang Jobs? Or on here? Kevin: On Cal Poly Portal. Me: Okay. (Nudging) Kevin: So they should change that.

[KEY]
Me: Cool. Sowe are working on this new portal layout, and this is our prototype, for now. I dont know if this is gonna come true, but whats your initial reactions about this? Kevin: I like it, its more clean. Me: Mhmm. (Nudging) Kevin: Yea, basically. Me: Would you think that its like Kevin: I see a lot of improvement, cuz, theres a lot of stuff on there that I dont look at. Me: Mhmm. (Nudging) Kevin: And here, signs are fixed, so I can just go look at PASS or Student Center and check my class or somethingsince thats all I do, so Me: Do you think anything is missing here? Kevin: The weather. Me: The weather? So the weather is very important to you? (Reflective)

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Kevin: Mhmm. Me: Hmm, any other things that you want them there? Other than the weather?(Clearinghouse) Kevin: Nah thats about it.

[ENDING]
Me: So, what are the mostlike, if you had to pick, the couple things that you want on the portal? Like, aspects-wise. What are the most important elements, you think, should be on the portal? Kevin: The new one? Me: Um yea, the new one. Kevin: It looks pretty good to me! Me: Looks pretty good? (Mirror) Kevin: Yeaexcept for no weather. Me: Okay. So you like it better than the old one? Kevin: Mhmm. Me: Okay. Do you think this is going to help you work more efficiently? Or speed wise or Kevin: I think Ill work the same itll just be more convenient. Me: Okay. (Nudging) Kevin: Yea, cuz I know where Im going when I go on the portal, just a lot of stuff there. Me: Soits more user-friendly youre saying? (Restatement) Kevin: Yea, its user-friendly. Me: Gotcha. Alright, is there anything you wanna add? On the portal? Cuz, if you say it now, we might add it on the actual portal! (Clearinghouse) Kevin: Nah Im good. Me: Youre good? Alright. Kevin: Yea. Me: Thank you for your time, Kevin! Kevin: Mhmm. Me: Yea, thanks! Kevin: Yup.

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APPENDIX B.4: ALIS INTERVIEW [OPENING]

A: Hey [interviewee], hows your day been so far? I: Its been alright, went to my lab this morning, then hit up the Ave afterwards, and now Im here. A: What did you get at the Ave? I: Spicy chicken A: Mmmm.. thats sounds really good right now. I: Yeah, it always hits the spot. A: So bud, could you tell me a little bit about yourself? I: Yeah, so Im a second year Business Major attending Cal Poly. A: What made you decide to become a business major? (Information) I: Its just something that Ive always been interested in. A: Have you given any thought as to what concentration you want to do? I: Im most likely going to do management. A: Sounds good, hope you enjoy that. Where are you from? I: Im from Camarillo, its a city just south of Ventura, a couple hours from here. A: Oh nice, I drive by there all the time. I: Yeah, its a chill place to live. Haha A: You play any sports done there? Any hobbies perhaps? I: I played baseball all my life. Also, played football for a year; never got too much into that though. A: Any non-sport related hobbies? (Restatement) I: Well, I enjoy going out, long walks on the beach with a beautiful girl next to me, and just relaxing and going to the beach and the pool and stuff. A: Thats awesome man, so Im going to tell you a little bit about what this interview is about. I: Alright

[INTRODUCTION]

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A: What were trying to do is to find out what the student wants in their My Cal Poly Portal. We want to know what the students like, what they dislike, and from there we want to figure out what we can do to make the portal experience better for everyone. I: Oh nice, so this interview actually is important huh? Haha A: Haha, yeah thats what we like to think. So now that you know where were going with this, could you tell me what you usually use the My Cal Poly Portal for? I: I use the Portal for Pass, to register for classes, and to check my grades. A: How do you fell about Pass? (Information) I: I feel like its pretty self-explanatory. Its not really confusing at all. A: Anything you could think of that might make it better? I: Not really, its simple; it makes sense, no need to make it any more complicated than it needs to be. A: Ok, now do you use PolyLearn at all? I: Yeah Im not a big fan of the PolyLearn. A: What about it dont you like? (Information) I: Well, I just got used to using the what was is called? A: Blackboard? I: Yeah that, I just got used to using that and now they just switch it up to something pretty different. Still trying to get used to it and stuff. A: What about the PolyLearn are you finding hard to get used to? I: Its just formatted differently. A: Do you not like the way its formatted? Or something else? (Information) I: Its just something new that Im still needing time to get used to. A: Are you having a harder time getting used to the PolyLearn more so than with BlackBoard? (Reflective) I: I wouldnt say that Im having a harder time. Its just that I havent really put in the time to look at it really? A: Do you like the way Blackboard was set up more than PolyLearn? I: Not necessarily, its just that not all my teachers use PolyLearn so I havent really gotten used to it. A: Oh, so is this your first quarter using PolyLearn for any classes? (Information) I: Yeah, pretty much. A: Ok, what was that last use you said? (Reflective)

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I: Checking my grades? A: Yeah thats it, so your other main use is just to check grades. Dont you check your grades on PolyLearn? (Reflective) I: Well yeah, at least for the teachers that use it. A: How do you check your grades for the other classes you have that dont have PolyLearn? I: You gotta go find out for yourself. Might have to email a teacher or even sometimes go to their office hours. A: Ok, well when you do go check your grades on the Portal, how do you feel about the experience? (Information) I: What do you mean? A: I mean, is it easy to find grades? Or I: Nah, its pretty easy. I mean its pretty hard to miss the grades link on the side haha. A: Ok, well thats good then. Glad to hear that. Could you do me a favor? I: Yeah sure.

[TRANSITION]
A: Great, could you log onto your My Cal Poly Portal homepage and explain to me your opinions on the current portal layout and design? I: Sure (logs in to his Portal) A: So what do you think about it? Any comments, opinions? I: What, what do you mean? What about it? A: Well, what stuff on the Portal main page do you actually find to be useful? (Information) I: Couple boxes, two boxes. A: Which two boxes? I: The My Classes box and the box with Pass and the other stuff on it. A: Oh ok, so not too much of it hmm? (Nudging) I: Yeah, dont really look at the other stuff too much. A: What do you think we should do with the other stuff you dont use? I: Well, I personally dont look at most of the other stuff very often at all. A: What specifically dont you look at or use? (Restatement) I: I dont use that CMS Links box. I dont answer the surveys and polls very often. Never really look at Cal Poly Announcements box either. Oh and that Directory Information Channel thing; never really use that either.

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A: Do you find the things to be cluttered at all? I: Yeah it kinda is, but I think its pretty self-explanatory. Not that hard to find out where stuff is. A: Well didnt you say its mostly useless stuff? (Reflective) I: Well yeah, but just cause its useless to me, doesnt mean no one will use it. Other people might look at that stuff every day and use is pretty often and stuff. A: Oh ok, well could you open up your PolyLearn page for one of your classes? I: Yeah sure. (Opens up PolyLearn) A: Alright, thank you. And could you tell me how you feel about some of the new features on PolyLearn? I: Like what? A: The calendar, how your teachers post up stuff, anything really. I: Didnt even notice the calendar. Guess my teachers dont use that at all haha. A: Thats unfortunate haha. Ok then, now that weve discussed the My Cal Poly Portal as it is today, let me show the new prototype being designed for the new My Cal Poly Portal. I: Ok, sounds good.

[KEY]
A: Ok, so this is the new prototype layout for the My Cal Poly Portal. What are your initial thoughts of it? I: Well, it kind of doesnt have much information on it. A: Oh dont worry, its only the prototype. Were just trying to get a better understanding of what people feel about it so that we could ultimately make it better for everyone when Cal Poly decides to open up the new portal. I: Oh ok, well then. Its definitely more simple. I pretty much see less of what I dont want to see and just the stuff I actually need is there. So thats nice. A: Nice? (Mirror) I: Well yeah, I like how when you browse over your classes it kind of fades away and then comes back again. Pretty cool, I like that haha. A: Haha yeah thats a cool feature, hopefully theyll keep it so that youll be happy haha. I: Hopefully, but yeah other than that its pretty easy to follow. A: Easy to follow? How so? (Reflective)

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I: Well, theres not all this info cluttered into one page like before. Its more organized, and I can find stuff better. Like, I see everything that I might need. A: So, this prototype fulfills all your needs? (Reflective) I: Yeah, it most likely will from what I see.

[ENDING]
A: Well, thats great to hear. Before we finish though, are there any features you would like to see included in the next portal? I: What do you mean? A: Like, for instance, do you use Zimbra? Or some other email provider most of the time? I: I use Yahoo! personally. Everything just gets forwarded to that account, so theres no real need for me to use ZImbra. I dont think Ive been on it for a year or so haha. A: Good to know, why dont you use the ZImbra though? (Information) I: Im just more comfortable with Yahoo! Ive been using it since I was in middle school and its just easier for me, I guess? A: Ok then, so would you rather have Yahoo! be on the portal more so than ZImbra? (Reflective) I: Yeah thatd make it better for me at least haha. Maybe put whatever email providers other people use too. Like Gmail and Hotmail maybe. I dont know haha. A: Those sound like great suggestions. Way to not just think about yourself haha! I: Anytime, I try, I try, haha. A: Well then, are there any of other features youd like to see in the new Portal? (Information) I: I dont really know right now. I mean if that stuff I said before is on it and they dont drastically change the prototype too much or anything, Id be pretty happy with the new layout. Maybe some more color though? Its kind of plain. A: What colors would you like? I: I dont know, maybe make it available for everyone to customize their Portals more. Every color I guess? Haha. A: Alrighty then. Thats a great suggestion. I: Thank you. A: Youre welcome. Well, thats pretty much it. Thank you for letting me interview you. Its been very helpful and I hope you have a great day. Thank you very much.

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APPENDIX B.5: BRETTS INTERVIEW [OPENING]

[Me]: Hey James, thanks for letting me interview you for my class. I have a couple of questions to ask you about the Cal Poly Portal. We're hoping to get a few opinions and thoughts from you because we are looking to redesign it. Would you mind telling me a bit about yourself? [James]: My name is James, I'm a second year business student at Cal Poly. Oh, and I'm from New York.

[INTRODUCTION]
[Me]: You don't see too many Cal Poly students from New York out here. So tell me, what are your top three uses of the Cal Poly Portal? [James]: Uh, I mainly use it for PolyLearn, Financial Aid, and to check my personal email er, I mean, to find my personal information. [Me]: Email? (mirror) [James]: Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to say that. [Me]: (silent probe) [James]: Actually, I don't ever check the email, Zimbra, I guess is what it's called. I just have it forwarded to my Gmail account. So it's just something that never crosses my mind.

[TRANSITION]
[Me]: Alright. Now, would you mind logging in to your Cal Poly Portal for me and explain to me your opinions on the current portal layout and design? [James]: Yeah, of course. [Me]: So... how do you feel about the current layout? [James]: It's okay. It's good, not great. There's just really a lot of extra information that I never wind up using. [Me]: Such as? (nudging) [James]: Well, a lot of the announcements just aren't of interest to me, and a lot of the links are very repetitive. [Me]: Mhmm. (nudging)

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[James]: It just is very inefficient in the way that it's set up... to be honest, I just ignore most of the different facets of the portal, other than the top-left part. [Me]: you mean the portion labeled 'Single Click Access to...'? [James]: Yeah. [Me]: What do you use PolyLearn for? [James]: Just for basic class information to find assignments that I have to do.

[KEY]
[Me]: So in my class, we are working on a new portal layout, and this is our prototype [show prototype] at this point in time. What are your initial reactions to the new prototype layout? [James]: It's definitely more consolidated and clean, is my first reaction. [Me]: Anything else? (nudging) [James]: Yeah, it's definitely looking much better than the last portal. There are just so many things that I never even looked at on the portal we have now. It's way easier to access the things I use on this one. [Me]: Is there anything else you would like to see on the new portal prototype? [James]: No, it looks pretty good so far.

[ENDING]
[Me]: What features would you like to see included in your ideal portal? [James]: In reference to the new portal? [Me]: Mhm. (nudging) [James]: Well, to be honest, I think that the new portal looks pretty good. I wouldn't change too many things on it. [Me]: You wouldn't change too many things? (mirroring) [James]: Well, actually, I wouldn't change anything on the new one is what I meant. [Me]: Alright, well thank you very much for your time, James! [James]: No problem, man.

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APPENDIX C: QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT Research Plan

[Research Question] How can the Cal Poly Portal be altered, making it more aesthetically pleasing and convenient for student use? We decided to expand on this research question and parlay it into the subsequent questionnaire because we felt that the consolidation of resources on the My Cal Poly Portal and its overall aesthetic qualities were of paramount importance when it came to overall satisfaction with the Portal. Questions that were posed on the questionnaire sought to find the important features and information boxes that were on the Portal. It was an effort to find the most important and the most satisfactory facets on the Portal.

[Sampling Strategy] The survey will be distributed through a social media website, Facebook, via Team 1s individual contacts. We contacted acquaintances, friends, and friends of friends all of whom attend Cal Poly through the medium of Facebook to spread the word about our questionnaire. The questionnaire was constructed by all the Team 1 members then eventually transferred to the www.surverymonkey.com platform. By using the Survey Monkey platform, it was easier to spread the questionnaire virally. Web marketing of our questionnaire has allowed us to amass a sizable sample size and accrue vital data to further answer our research question.

[Questions] We decided to ask a total of 9 questions on the survey. We carefully selected each question to be included. The questions were all close-ended each which provided respondents with multiple options to choose from. Some were simple yes/no questions while others provided scaled responses testing importance level and satisfaction with specified features. We did not include any free response questions, for the reason that they are difficult to analyze and present clear and concise information. The questions throughout the entirety of the survey are organized from simple to complex. As the questions accumulate they require more thought and are a bit harder to answer. It is important to organize questions in this way, making sure not to scare off the participants right from the start and keep their full attention throughout the entire survey. The sequence of questions presented on the questionnaire is very important and essential in gathering the most accurate and complete data. At the beginning of the survey, we provided respondents with a set of instructions introducing the topic of the survey as well as the expectations of respondents.

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APPENDIX C.1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

The purpose of this questionnaire is to obtain student opinions regarding the layout of the My Cal Poly Portal. All responses will be used solely for the purpose of the redesigning of the portal by the ITS department. Please answer the following questions as accurately as possible, your responses will be anonymous and will be of great help as we continue with our research. Thank you.

1. How many times do you access the Cal Poly Portal on a daily basis? 0 1 2 3 4 4+

2. What importance do you place on the following features on the portal homepage? Not at all Important 0 School wide information/news 0 Links to various campus amenities 0 Graphics/pictures 0 Professional look 0 Customization ability 0 Use of color 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 Very Important 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5

3. How satisfied are you with the following aspects on the current portal? Not at all Important 0 School wide information/news 0 Links to various campus amenities 0 Graphics/pictures 0 Professional look 0 Customization ability 0 Use of color 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 Very Important 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5

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4. How important are the following features to be seen at first glance on the start page of the My Cal Poly Portal? Very Very Important Important

Email PASS Student Center Health Center Mustang Jobs Weather Housing Information Financial Aid

Library Resources
Classes ASI Information Student Assistant Timesheet 5

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

a)Are you aware that you can customize the layout of your portal? Yes No

b) If yes, which information boxes have you kept? Does not apply Single Click Access (PASS, student center, email...) My Classes Cal Poly Announcements Bookmarks Channel Weather CMS Links Cal Poly News Directory Information Channel (Search directory)

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7. If a friend asks you about the portal, how likely are you to recommend its use? Very Important 0 1 2 3 4 Very Important 5

8. What year are you at Cal Poly?

5+

9. What college are you a student of? Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences Architecture and Environmental Design Business

Engineering Liberal Arts Science and Mathematics

Thank you for your time!

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APPENDIX C.2: DAILY VISITATIONS (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS) Daily Visitations to My Cal Poly Portal
35.00% 30.00% 25.00% 20.00% 15.00% 10.00% 5.00% 0.00% Zero Times One Time Two Times Three Times Four Times Five+ times Zero Times, 1.80% One Time, 18.20% Three Times, 18.20% Four Times, 12.70% Two Times, 29.10%

Five+ times, 20.00%

Our questionnaire is centered on the My Cal Poly Portal, hence the need for an opening question which sets the tone and theme for the survey. The goal of this project is to improve the portal and obtain statistics and data regarding current student use. Collecting the number of times a students accesses the portal on a daily basis is important in seeing how highly students value the portal and its various functions. The question simply asked, How often do you access the Cal Poly Portal on a daily basis? Students could respond by choosing one of the following answers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5+. We felt that this type of answer was simple enough to not scare respondents away, yet still prefaced what the remainder of the survey would be focused on. The results from this question showed that 29.1% of students surveyed accessed the portal twice a day. While the percentage of people in this category was not overwhelming compared to the other categories, it does show us that people are using the portal multiple times a day. Students accessing the portal 5 or more times came in second among those surveyed, exactly 20% of our sample. Following close behind were students accessing the portal once or three times a day, each category with a percentage of 18.2%. These results show me that people access the portal each for different amounts of time, and most likely for different reasons as well. While we cannot discern student uses at this point in the survey, as we continue analyzing the survey questions we will get a better insight into specific portal uses. At this point, we can see solely how often students use the portal, and from our results we can concluded that an average of 98% of students use the portal, with visitation numbers varying from once a day to five time or more.

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APPENDIX C.3: IMPORTANCE ON HOMEPAGE (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS) Importance of Features on Portal Homepage
60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% Somewhat Important Very Important Not Important Somewhat unimportant Neutral

The second question on our survey was aimed at understanding the importance students place on certain features of the portal. We felt that gaining this information would better allow us to determine which features of the portal we should suggest to the customer to keep and which to be eliminated. Obtaining this information would be very beneficial and insightful to us as researchers as well as to the customer. One of the customers main goals with this project was to find what exactly it is that students want and how they want it presented. This question can help answer the first question, giving further explanation of what students want displayed and accessible on the portal. From the chart you can see that the aspects with the most importance placed on them, having respondents rate them as either Very Important or Somewhat Important, are school-wide information and news, links to campus amenities and professional look. Taking percentages directly out of the survey responses, 45.5% of students rated school-wide information to be somewhat important and 18.2% said it was very important. Another statistic was that 30.9% of students claimed that having links to campus amenities was somewhat important, while 38.2% said it was very important. A professional look what considered somewhat important to 38.2% of students, and 27.3% said it was very important. These features were the highest rated by students, followed closely by customization ability, with 27.3% calling is somewhat important and 20.0% calling it very important. These statistics lead me to believe that students really do have a preference of certain features on the portal over others. The ability to access school-wide information as well as having links to campus amenities are ranked among the highest. Following close behind is have the portal portray a professional look and design, as well as allowing students the opportunity to customize their own page.

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APPENDIX C.4: SATISFACTION RATING (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS)

Satisfaction with Aspects on Portal Homepage

Percentage of Rating

60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00%

Not At All Satisfied Somewhat Dissatisfied Neutral Somewhat Satisfied Very Satisfied

Aspects

This question is aimed to measure the students contentment with the portal. Since the portal include so many aspects, it might be hard for the students to give an overall assess of the portal as a whole. This is why we broke down the portal into different aspectsnot only does this allow us to get a more accurate measure of the students satisfaction, we can also use the results to determine where each aspect of the portal is standing currently. On the chart are the aspects Graphics, Customizability, Colors, News, Professionalism, and Links of the portal, respectively in an increasing satisfaction from respondents. The order of satisfaction is determined by the average rating of each aspect; for example, the average rating of Links is higher than that of Professionalism. The significance of this graph is that not only can one find what aspects the respondents are more satisfied with, one can also find the proportion of respondents that reported each level of satisfaction. As we can see, some of the aspects that students are the most dissatisfied with are Graphics, Customizability, and Coloramong which Graphics and Color directly link back to our research purpose.

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APPENDIX C.5: IMPORTANCE RATING (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS)

Importance of Features Seen at First Glance on Portal

5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0

Weather Student Assistant Timesheet ASI Information

Average Rating

Library Resources Health Center

Financial Aid Housing Information Email Mustang Jobs

Features

This questions main purpose is to determine what should be placed on the first page of the portal. During our chat, our client expressed that there is a large amount of information that is currently on the portal, and each of them are useful to different people. Going back to the aim of simplicity, they would like more data on what they should put on the first page. This question measures the relative importance of each feature to be on the start page in the population. On the chart are the features Weather, Student Assistant Timesheet, ASI Information, Library Resources, Health Center, Financial Aid, Housing Information, Email, Mustang Jobs, Classes, Student Center, and PASS, respectively in increasing perceived importance by students. The order is based on the average rating of importance that respondents reported. On the most right are three columns coded green, PASS, Student Center and Classes. These are the features that received an average importance rating of above 4.0. Moving down the average importance rating were features that were coded purple (3.51-3.99), coded orange (3.1-3.50) and red (<3.0).

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APPENDIX C.6: CUSTOMIZATION (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS) Awareness of Customization Ability

20.40%

Aware of Customizability Not Aware of Customizability

79.60%

Are you aware that you can customize the layout of your portal? This simple binary question is aimed to obtain a measure f the awareness of the customizability of the portal in the population. We have concluded that there can only be two degrees of awarenesseither the respondents know of it or they do not. The simple nature of this question allows us to have a very solid number of how aware the population (assuming the sample is representative) is of the customizability. Knowing this, we can make suggestions regarding the promotion of the customizability to ensure that students utilize that function. On the chart is the awareness of the customizability of the portal among respondents. In response to this Yes/No question, 79.6% of the respondents reported that they knew of the customizability of the portal while the rest, or otherwise 20.40% reported that they were not aware of it. It turned out that there was actually a surprising proportion of users that know of the customizability of the portal. We initially expected a far less number, but it looks like many do know about it. This is very significant to the development of the new portal because it determines how much emphasis we are going to put on the customizability. Referring back to question 3, the general satisfaction of this aspect is actually rather low compared to others. Combining these two observations, we suggest that more effort should be put into the development of the customization ability instead of the promotion of it like we have discussed earlier.

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APPENDIX C.7: CUSTOMIZABLE FEATURES (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS) Features Kept by Students After Customization
90.00% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% % of Students That Kept Feature

This question asks for the information boxes that the students have kept if they have customized the portal. The question is structured in a way such that the proportion of students that keep each feature can be recorded. This question also serves a purpose that is similar to that of question 4but a little less opinionated. This question actually measures the utilization of the below aspects whereas question 4 simply asks for the perceived importance of each aspect. This question is also a follow of question 5, helping to determine what should be left on the first page and what should be removed in the new version. The chart above shows the utilization of the different features. In decreasing proportion of respondents that kept the feature after customizing the portal are the features My Classes, Single Click Access, Announcements, News, Weather, Directory, Bookmarks, and CMS Links. These results are to a certain extent quite expected, but some aspects of it were entirely different from what we had thought. We use to think that the Announcement box was not widely utilized, but it turned it was among the ones that are most kept by students. On the other hand, thinking that Directory is a good and convenient way to look up information of peers, we expected it to be kept by most students. However, it turned out that only less than 30% of students that have customized their portals kept it. These results are very useful determinants for what we should and should not keep on the first page to maximize simplicity while maintaining functional purposes.

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APPENDIX C.8: RECOMMENDATION (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS)

How Likely Would a Student Recommend the Portal

This question is of top priority when considering consumer loyalty. While students arent left with much of a choice other than to use the My Cal Poly Portal, it is important to have loyalty and satisfaction with it. Word-of-mouth has become an extremely important form of marketing-- it shows that the recommenders are willing to sacrifice their opinion on a product to the recommended consumer in question. If people are satisfied with the portal, it is hoped that they will share their experience with other customers, which will perpetuate on. The data gathered showed that out of 53 respondents, 1.9% were Somewhat Unlikely, 7.5% were Neutral, 30.2% were Somewhat Likely, and 37.7% were Very Likely. Approximately 68% of these 53 respondents were at least Somewhat Likely to recommend use of the My Cal Poly Portal. This questionnaire data gave us a great insight into overall satisfaction with the Portal. As long as students are willing to recommend its use, we can assume that customer loyalty and satisfaction has a positive relation.

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APPENDIX C.9: ACADEMIC YEAR (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS) Year of Students Surveyed

This question was chosen in an attempt to gather a basic understanding of where each of the students answering the questionnaire was basing their experience. With each successive year as a student at Cal Poly, and therefore another year of using the My Cal Poly Portal, the student in question would, in theory, be able to provide more of an understanding of the opinions on the Portal. Freshman, having been only at Cal Poly for not even a full year yet, might not understand the full capabilities of the Portal, merely due to lack of experience. Whereas upperclassmen would have a much better grasp on features they felt were important on the Portal, and what they felt could be less featured, or even deleted in an effort to clean up the Portal. According to the data retrieved by this question, 69.1% (38 students) of respondents were first year students, 21.8% (12 students) of respondents were second year students, 3.6% (2 students) were third year students, 3.6% (2 students) were fourth years, 0.0% (0 students) were fifth years, and 1.8% (1 student) was a graduate student. The overwhelming majority of students surveyed were first year students at Cal Poly. The potential issues based on these findings could skew our data, as many of the first year respondents could be deemed to not have enough experience to offer a qualified enough opinion on the Portal and its efficiencies/deficiencies.

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APPENDIX C.10: COLLEGE (GRAPH AND ANALYSIS)

Students Surveyed by College

This question was used to further understand the student that was taking the survey. While the question might not help with improving the portal itself, it helped us to understand what type of student we were dealing with, and to possibly cater to their majors needs. This question was written with the understanding that not every major might use the Portal for the same universal purpose. Aside from core aspects like searching for classes and checking for email, the possibilities that each specific major might use the portal for are vast. According to the survey data, 12.7% of respondents (7 students) were Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences majors, 3.6% (2 students) were Architecture and Environmental Design majors, 23.6% (13 students) were Business majors, 36.4% (20 students) were Engineering majors, 12.7% (7 students) were Liberal Arts majors, and 10.9% (6 students) were Science or Mathematics majors. A majority of students that were surveyed were Business or Engineering majors. Being two of the biggest and most impacted majors on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus, it doesnt come as a surprise that most of our collected data came from these respective majors.

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APPENDIX D: FOCUS GROUP

Questioning Route
Research Question: How can the Cal Poly Portal be altered, making it more aesthetically pleasing and convenient for student use? Questioning Flowchart: [Welcome] Welcome Good afternoon and thanks for joining our discussion regarding the Cal Poly Portal. My name is ___________. [Overview] Weve been asked by the information technology services department to help them get information from their students about how the university can better serve you. You were invited here because we would like to get your input. [Ground Rules] There are no right or wrong answers. We expect that you will have different points of view. Please feel free to share these even if they differ from what others have said. Were here to express our opinions and ideas. We will be recording the discussion because we dont want to miss any of your comments. So please speak up, and lets have one speaker at a time. Your comments are confidential, and no names will be included in any reports. (Have them fill out a survey before we start to get demographic information) [Introduction] Please tell us your name, year, major and social security number. If you have not already, please go pick a donut of your choice, and tell us which one you picked. Now, please tell us how your donut reflects your personality. [Main Uses] (Frequency of portal usage is incorporated into pre-survey) Listing: On a piece of paper, please write down your 3 main uses, why you use them, and the problems that you encounter when using them. [Mobile] Please raise your hand if you are currently using any Cal Poly apps. What do you use them for? What would you like to see on a mobile app? Why? [Customizability] How many of you know of the customizable option of the Cal Poly Portal? Would you find it beneficial to have the homepage customized to your year and major? What would you like to do with the portal that you currently cannot?

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[Improvement] Paired activity: Discuss with the person to your left, to come up with what improvement will benefit you two the most in terms of changing the portal: 2 in each of the following categories: 1. Class/PolyLearn 2. Communication 3. Academic (grade/registration/dpr) 4. Community Please explain yourselves. [Tutorial] How do you usually learn to use new web applications? What do you think would be the best way to find information? Would video tutorials help? What would be the best way to transition between the old and new versions of the portal? [New Prototype] Word Association: On a piece of paper, please write down 3 words that come to mind when you see the current portal, and 3 words about the new prototype [Miscellaneous] Scenario Imagination: Imagine the portal was a person sitting right in front of you, and you can say 1 sentence to him. What would you say? (Clearinghouse probe)

Focus Group Strategy

[Moderators]: The purpose of this focus group is to gather insights into students perceptions and opinions in terms of the Cal Poly Portal. In order to accomplish this goal, we enlisted the help of four moderators to facilitate and run the focus groups. Each session had two moderators. Session one, with freshmen and sophomores, had Tanner Lauringson and Meagan McCall as the moderators. Session two of the focus group, with juniors and seniors, had Jackie Rainey and Ali Amirvand as moderators. The moderators were present to ask the main questions during the focus group as well as facilitate and encourage banter about the portal and its specific features. We felt that having two moderators lead each session would be beneficial in the way that having a partner would ease the nerves and anxiety of leading the group, as well as having two people to help carry on conversations and engage the participants.

Moderators Name
Tanner Lauringson Meagan McCall Jackie Rainey Ali Amirvand

Session
2:10pm lower division students 2:10pm lower division students 3:10pm upper division students 3:10pm upper division students

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[Sampling Strategy]: As a class, in the beginning of the planning process, we decided to hold two focus groups. The first session at 2:00pm was for lower division students, freshman and sophomores. The second session at 3:00pm was for upper division students, juniors and seniors. We wanted an even mix of participants from different colleges on campus. Considering the number of teams and the number of participants needed for both focus groups, it was decided that no more than three people from each college would be present. There were no specific guidelines regarding gender, thus the gender composition of the participants was decided to be a random mix. To acquire additional background information about participants, a pre-survey was administered prior to the start of the focus group. [Recruiting Strategy]: Recruitment for focus group participants was the job of each individual team. The teams were responsible for recruiting two participantsone underclassman and one upperclassman. Sign-ups were made available on the Focus Group Forum and were accepted on a first come, first serve basis. Incentives were offered to participants. Donuts and juice were provided, as well as $5 Starbucks gift cards, supplied by the customer themselves on behalf of the Information Technology Services Department.

Moderator Analysis
The moderators were different for both sessions and implemented individualistic attitudes and methods to communicate with focus group participants. For the first session the moderators were Tanner and Meagan. They created a comfortable environment for the participants right from the start. They had to deal with the challenge of having two participants walk into the focus group late but handled it smoothly and still kept the integrity of the group. They simply integrated the participants who came in late and continued the conversation. I also appreciated how the tone of the group was very casual and more like a conversation than anything else. One thing I think the moderates could have improved on is practice asking questions prior to the focus group. Some of the questions were a bit confusing and came out unclear and participants needed further clarification. Other than that, I felt they did a good job and encouraged conversation before the participants that seemed to pay off. For the second session, with upper division students, the moderators were Jackie and Ali. They too did a fine job at keeping the atmosphere during the focus group calm and collective. I think that the students actually connected better with Jackie and Ali than the previous focus group did with their moderators. They shared a lot more personal insight regarding the portal without needing to constantly be prompted. Jackie and Alis presentation felt more practiced and I think that is why they were able to connect better with the participants. While I think there attitude was perfect for this group of students, if it was a different group of people, maybe the moderators could have been a bit more professional and less like just another student in the focus group. Overall, each of the moderators I felt did a great job, and while there is always room for improvement, for their first time hosting a focus group, it went smoothly.

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Focus Group Participants

Focus Group One

Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 College Biology Engineering Business Administration Biomedical Engineering Business Administration Political Science Business Administration Engineering Year 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1

Focus Group Two

Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 College Materials Engineering Graphic Communications Graphic Communications Agricultural Engineering Liberal Arts Civil Engineering Agriculture Kinesiology Year 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 3

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APPENDIX D.1: FOCUS GROUP FINDINGS

[Students were not identified individually during the interview nor was it necessarily comprehendible whom it was who was speaking; thus it was not possible for me to attribute specific quotes to specific people. The comments that were said in the separate focus group sessions were separated and noted however. This was done in attempt to acknowledge specific insights of the individuals as best as possible.] [THEME 1: Customization is Key] [Analysis] In both focus groups, customization seemed to be a large topic. A lot was said between all of the participants in regards to customizing the portal homepage. Most participants claimed that just having the option was a nice thing to have. They like having the ability to change the background or the banner livening up the portal to their own preferences. A few claimed that they had never used the customizing features nor would ever expect to, but they still felt that a lot of people liked having such thing available, just to have options. There were however some students that did customize most of the information, leaving only the Class Schedule in the middle of the homepage as well as the Single Click Access Links. They also claimed that only about 20% of the information on the homepage was relevant or even needed. Many participants also liked the idea of having the portal homepage customized based on major. They felt it would better allow for them to be efficient and access important major documents. The idea of having a customizable calendar on the portal was brought up, and intrigued many people. From this information, I feel that even if there are some people who do not take the time to customize their portal, there are many students who like knowing that they have the freedom to do so if they please. Customization is a major factor in bringing student satisfaction with the new portal, thus I feel it should be implemented in the future design. [Quotes] 2:10 3:00pm Lower Division Students 22:55 I changed the picture, that definitely made it cooler. 23:00 I feel like it is beneficial even though I rarely use it. Just having the option is beneficial. 23:05 Yeah its nice to have the option. 23:20 Yeah thats a good idea [to customize the portal homepage to you and your major]. 23:50 It would be nice to have all your major stuff right there because every time I try to register I have to go online and find that. 30:00 For community information, we think there should be custom updates [news/information]. 40:15 I think it would be nice to be able to customize the calendar. 45:30 I like keeping it simple and then allowing the user to customize it by changing the background or something simple, but keeping the standard layout still. 3:20 4:00pm Upper Division Students

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30:55 Would you be able to organize the tabs [at the top of the portal] to what you think is most important? 31:05 Depending on what you click on the most it would automatically sort it. 33:50 On the old one I tend to block out a lot of stuff and I dont even look at a lot of stuff. 33:02 I probably on use about 20% of what the current one has to offer. 34:05 I dont use the housing tab, that should really only be on your portal if you live on campus. 34:10 I only use the My Classes and Single Click Access links. [Unanimous] 35:20 If it is suppose to appeal to thousands of people, I think the more simple the better. It shouldnt be too complex. You should still have the option to customize it and add stuff to it. I think that would be okay because Im sure some people still use it, but I dont think the majority of us do. 35:35 If you could add your own background, or banner at the top, that would be cool, like Gmail, if anyone uses that. I think that would be interesting. 43:45 I think people will definitely use it [customizable features]. 43:50 I feel like a lot of people at least with the old Cal Poly portal have at least changed their bannerthat was kind of a simple change. But changing the number of boxes you have on the screen, I dont think people will take the time to completely fully customize. I think the simpler easy quick changes, are what more people will utilize. 44:20 Talking about making it different for different years. For the freshman, if you could show how to customize everything. [THEME 2: Positive Reactions to New Proto-Type Design] [Analysis] Immediately when showed the new proto-type version of the portal, unanimously, the group participants were enthralled by the design and had automatic positive reactions and comments towards it. Collectively the most common words to describe it were, clean, less cluttered, and more professional looking. These features turned out to really grab the attention of the students and impress them with how much the design had changed from the original one. The second focus group even asked to see the two portal designs side by side to get a better idea of just how much it had changed. Because of the positive feedback, I most definitely think that this proves that a simpler and less cluttered portal is what the students are searching for. Many said that it looked streamline, giving the portal somewhat of a facelift to say it in my own words. I think that the Information Technology Services Department did an excellent job condensing the information and providing Cal Poly with a more sophisticated mock up of the new portal, and I think most students would agree. The only somewhat negative comments about the new proto-type, if you can even call them negatives, were that it was somewhat bland or plain. Personally I feel like they are only saying such a thing because it is such a drastic difference from the current one. I also think that the stated problem could be fixed via page customization. Providing a simple standard portal is needed, and then if people wish to add more color or content, they can do so on their own time. Overall, the new proto-type got excellent reviews by both focus groups, showing me that ITS is on the right track for improving the portal. [Quotes] 2:10 3:00pm Lower Division Students

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39:10 I already like it. 40:30 I miss the weather tab already though. 43:10 More advanced, futuristic looking, and its well organized. Everything is easy to see, I can see where everything is, and its kind of bland. Not necessarily in a bad way just like kind of plain. 43:30 Clean, accessible and un-cluttered. 43:40 Simple, clean and easy. 43:45 User friendly, useful and basic. 43:50 Basic, more organized and less cluttered. 43:54 Sleek, streamline and colorless. 45:20 I like it how it is. If you added too much it would just get more cluttered and confusing. If we just keep it as simple as possible I feel like that is better. 45:45 The way it highlights words is pretty cool. 49:08 Someone cleans up nice. 49:15 Welcome to Cal Poly. 49:20 Youre easy. 49:25 You are straightforward and I like you. 49:35 I think you have a bright future. 3:10 4:00pm Upper Division Students 31:18 Very clear, it makes a lot more sense. 33:40 I like the new one, in that its just simple. 35:00 Looks simpler, not too busy and not too may boxes. 39:25 Simple, clean, and bland were the first things that came to mind. 39:39 Professional, stream-lined, bare. 39:50 Simple, organized, peaceful. I like it. 40:15 Simple, organized and plain. 40:40 Simple, basic, necessities. It has just the things we need and I like that. 41:40 [It is] promising, but still needs some fine-tuning. [THEME 3: Aesthetics Are Important Too] [Analysis] As expressed in the second focus group, aesthetics and visual display of content and colors is very important. Many of the participants had ideas of how to improve the portal and make it more visually pleasing. The first group did not have nearly as much to say, if anything that has to do with specific design elements outside of customization capabilities. This has me thinking that the students who have been using the portal the longest, i.e. the juniors and seniors, have more experience and thus more opinions about what it is exactly they want to see when they log onto their portal. They were more comfortable with the portal itself and had enough time and experience with it to really formulate some opinions and suggestions about altering the design of the portal. The conversations and comments that were centered on the aesthetics of the portal were helpful and very insightful into how the portal should be redesigned for future proto-type versions. [Quotes] 3:20 4:00pm Upper Division Students 35:05 The more important things make them bigger, or more bold or something. Like Zimbra, student center and those things, make them more noticeable I guess.

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42:35 I am actually bothered by the toolbox how it says, Student and Center on two different lines. To me it almost seems redundant to have the second little color shading. 42:55 Could you put them on one line? It makes them look like they are two separate links. Having student and center on different lines and having student and timesheet on different lines, I dont think that really works. 43:10 The old one kind of shouts Cal Poly and this one kind of whispers it. If you could find some sort of medium maybe. 43:20 Maybe like not having the whole thing be green and having all the different images, but just having those things on the bottom left or some type of similar opening as the old one that is not as lively but more muted. [THEME 4: Improved Promotion of Campus Events and Happenings] [Analysis] In both sessions students expressed the need for improved notifications and promotions of campus events. They communicated that the portal currently does a poor job of informing the student body of sporting events, club meetings and campus happenings via the portal. The events information of the present portal is shoved in the corner of the portal with too much information and words making it difficult to read and pick out the important and meaningful information. It was suggested that there be a separate page for events which would include links to all Poly sports and event updates. Students would prefer to not see such an overloaded amount of information on the homepage, but rather be directed to a different tab that presents the information in a more organized and concise manner. From the responses, it became apparent that students want to stay informed and place a high importance on having such information as well. Another idea that was brought up in the first session was the implementation of positive PR for the Greek system. The students were hoping that the Greek system could potentially collaborate with the portal to advertise the positive activities, philanthropies and charity events that are a part of Greek life. Many ideas were thrown out regarding the topic of campus events and happenings, all of which students are hoping to see improvement with. [Quotes] 2:10 3:00pm Lower Division Students 30:50 It needs to be more evident when sports and club meetings are. 31:10 I dont even know when any sports games are at all. 31:15 Following what he said, ASI needs to advertise, like comedy shows and stuff, you never really hear about that stuff. 31:25 They should definitely have a link to all of the ASI events. 31:45 Greek system could get involved with portal somehow. It would be really awesome, if positive PR was communicated through the portal. 32:00 Like putting philanthropy and community service on days so everyone on campus knows what we are doing. 32:15 We are required to give so much back to the school and the community begin Greek, and its almost not fair that no one wants to give to us just because we are Greek. 32:25 It goes unnoticed by the rest of the school, and they think that the Greek system is just party and stuff, but there are a lot of other things that go on behind the scenes that I think should be made more aware to the rest of the school via

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the portal. 32:45 Its a big problem with the entire Greek system at Cal Poly and ASI does a horrible job showing what we are really about and I think that would be a really good idea for the portal. 3:10 4:00pm Upper Division Students 26:05 I think having a better events link or spots link with all stuff like that directly on the portal would be good. 26:15 Right now its really tucked away. 26:17 Like in a reject corner. 27:20 We thought the same thing, like a sports, health events on campus link, something to get them updated on Poly either monthly or weekly. 27:30 Yeah I know what you mean with the events link on the page, it is convoluted in the sense that it has what people submit as well as what Cal Poly submits. People can just submit things, like your own club or something. [THEME 5: A Need For Additional Links on the Portal] [Analysis] Students are hoping to turn the portal into a major information outlet. In both sessions again students gave great insight into links and information that they would like to see included on the portal. It was suggested that things such as major specific information and flowcharts were provided, possibly bus routes and times, and even advisor communication tools. As mentioned previously, students considered the possibility of formatting the portal to each students individual major, but even if such a change did not take place, students still want direct links to major documents and information. The comments about adding links to the portal were made all throughout both focus groups, not just at one point in time. The longer the focus group continued, more ideas popped into the heads of the students and led them to discover a problem they would like answered through the implementation of new and improved links. I am happy to say that students do have strong opinions and good ideas regarding the portal re-design, and with more research, additional input will surface. [Quotes] 2:10 3:00pm Lower Division Students 21:00 One thing I thought would be really cool was to have each college for each major have their flowcharts posted on the portal. It could be something you could reference instead of finding a hard copy. I know you can find them online too, but it is sometimes hard to find if you need it fast and urgent. 23:52 Maybe some form of instant communication. Almost like an instant message, which could take the place as a quicker form of email. Maybe your advisor or assistant to advisor always has access to it and checks once in a while, and they can answer your questions because its kind of a hassle trying to go to your advisor. 24:45 To have all the workshops for your classes, like all the dates and times. Also all of the clubs that are specific to your major and stuff. If you are going to make it specific you want it all in compassing. 25:00 Office hours for your professors and tutor hours for your enrolled classes. Class/Major blogs or forums on the portal. 47:14 What about adding a bus schedule?

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3:10 4:00pm Upper Division Students 19:45 Having advisor information online would be a cool link to have. 25:40 A link that tells seniors what they need to do to graduate, academics, grades, all that stuff. 25:50 Having a direct link to the degree progress report, because it is kind of hard to get to right now. Also having an email alert when I grade it posted. 26:35 Maybe having an advisor section by major so that people will know who their advisor is and get in contact with them. 31:40 Is there a weekly view for the classes? 31:45 I wouldnt use the portal if it didnt have a weekly view.

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APPENDIX E: VISUAL AIDS

CURRENT PORTAL

CUSTOMIZED CURRENT PORTAL

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PORTAL PROTO-TYPE

OUR TEAMS VERSION OF THE PORTAL

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