Mari Morgan | GMU Student Organizations Website

George Mason University Student Organizations Website

Project Details

Instructional Problem: Feedback from student organizations highlighted challenges in navigating fundraising, event hosting, and accessing resources due to inadequate training and a disorganized website. This redesigned prototype website aims to tackle the 8 user stories identified during our UX design process.

Target Audience: Leaders of student organizations, faculty advisors, and Student Involvement Office staff

Date: August 2022 - December 2022

Learning Solution: Prototype Website Redesign

Tools: Wix.com, Mural

Team: Mari Morgan, S. Pilley, H. Hlavka, T. Trau

Launch Prototype

Note: Given this was a prototype, not all content has been added nor are all links clickable.

Background

To host on-campus events and obtain university funding, registered student organizations (RSOs) must go through a complicated process.
The Student Involvement Website that hosts information on this process and other resources for RSOs is overwhelming to navigate.
As a result of this, students lose out on opportunities to engage with the campus community.

Proposal

Student Involvement RSO website redesign
User-friendly
Meets university accessibility policies
Mobile-friendly and responsive
Centralized and tailored to RSOs
Content appropriate

Data Elicitation Approach

We requested participation through a mailing list which included 1 RSO Officer, 7 RSO Lead Team Members, 1 RSO Advisor, and 1 Student Involvement (SI) Staff
Users signed a consent form to participate.
Interviews were primarily conducted through Zoom. The 7 RSO Student Leaders were interviewed in person in a focus group.
Raw data was collected during the interviews.

Capturing, Maintaining, and Storing Data

Capturing
- Written or typed notes
- Recorded video/audio through Zoom
Maintaining
- User information was anonymized by assigning user IDS for tracking
- All research data items were assigned a source ID linking back to the participant's user ID
Storing
- Stored on a Mason365 One Drive Folder in compliance with security standards

Data Analysis

Raw data was captured and input into Mural.
We organized the raw data into Work Activity Notes to identify common themes including motivations, challenges, and areas of improvement.
We further synthesized our notes against several Usage Research Models, including the User Work Role Model, Hierarchical Task Inventory Model, and Task Sequence Model to identify our user stories.

User Stories

After completing our data analysis, we identified 8 user stories to support our prototype. Below are the top 4 user stories.

User Story 1

As a new RSO Officer, I want to access training videos and information on duties and responsibilities in an organized and centralized location, so I can be an effective and dependable leader for my organization.

User Story 3

As an RSO Officer, I want the opportunity to engage with veteran RSO Officers so that I can learn from their experiences.

User Story 2

As an RSO Officer, I want to have all processes for obtaining approval and funding to host a large event documented in a central location so I can plan for events without delays in an already lengthy process.

User Story 4

As an RSO Lead Team Member, I want FAQs that RSO Officers can easily access so that I can focus my time on mentoring RSO Officers in further engaging with the community.

Research Goals

To verify that users are able to locate 3-5 RSO resources in the prototype within 3 attempts
To identify that users can easily access the prototype through the use of multiple devices, including a mobile device and laptop

UX Evaluation Plan

We conducted an evaluation of the prototype through Zoom with 1 RSO Lead, 1 RSO Officer, 1 SI Staff Member, and 1 RSO Advisor.
We used a Success Criteria Table to determine whether or not we addressed the user stories.
We collected the data and organized the notes into categories for further iteration.