Last week, I had the pleasure of participating in a group exercise with several “Adult”, no “non-traditional”, no “new-traditional” students at a well-known Catholic University. The intent of the exercise was to get students feedback on the University’s web site and to better understand their user experience. Our team learned a tremendous amount from that exercise.

One of the most fascinating discussions was in relation to the web site tabs or the “nomenclature” and how the students refer to themselves vs. how the University categorized them. There has been a lot written recently regarding the non-traditional or new-traditional student. From this exercise, we can tell you what these students call themselves. They call themselves students.

As more and more “students” are taking a less traditional path to achieving their college education, colleges and University’s will be best served doing all they can to make this growing segment of their community feel like a fully integrated part of their school.

The first place that a student starts to learn about your college is on your web site. My suggestion is to start where they start and think like they think. A usability exercise can tell you how your prospective students are navigating your site. Make sure the important information they are seeking (tuition, class times, parking, transfer credits, time to degree) is easy and intuitive for them to find. Too many schools web sites are siloed by department, by specific college, or by traditional and non traditional student.

Think about your audience in total and how they search for the information that is important to them. Use your Google Analytics reports to see where students are bouncing off of your site. Talk to students about the way in which they search for information and in what order they are looking for that information. Most importantly make the information “students” most want as easy to find as possible.

The only way you will really know what they are looking for and how they are accessing it is to ask…

For more information on understanding web site usability and the adult student connect with me at jay@convergeconsulting.org.