Results of autumn feedback survey on Student Guide

The purpose of the survey was to measure the usability of the Student Guide, the ease of finding information in it and overall user satisfaction. The autumn survey was the second survey conducted on the Student Guide, and most questions were identical with those of the spring survey. Read more on the spring survey here. For more detailed results and background information on the project, see the attachment at the bottom of the page.

Measures taken based on the spring survey

In response to the spring survey results, we have added instructions on the use of the Student Guide on, e.g. the FAQ page. To make the guide more findable, we have introduced a short URL (opiskelija.aalto.fi) and added a link to the guide on the aalto.fi front page and main menu. The front page of the Student Guide has also been developed to make information more findable: among other things, we have added links to programmes by degree level.

Users have become familiar with the new interface

The autumn results were better than those in the spring across the board. Users have now found their way to the Student Guide more easily and found the information they wanted. The results of the survey indicate clearly that users have found getting used to a new platform after Into rather difficult, but with time, navigating the guide gets significantly easier. This result is also supported by the fact that first-year bachelor’s students viewed the guide much more positively than other user groups did. In other words, learning to use the Student Guide may be easier for those who have recently navigated the aalto.fi site as an applicant.

The autumn survey results resembled those of the spring: users have found navigating between different language versions strenuous and have not found information that was located under the programme menu. What is more, users have had difficulty finding their own programme in the guide and miss the Into sidebar menu in particular.

Suggestions that are not feasible

Into was replaced by aalto.fi, because Into was not accessible and did not allow interfaces with other systems (e.g. Sisu) and its costs have increased significantly since 2020. Furthermore, as a separate service, it was another addition to the myriad of digital services and pages used at Aalto, which has been criticised in the past. As a result, Into is no longer a viable option for a student information system at Aalto.

In the spring survey, too, some respondents requested that the former Into structure be replicated in the Student Guide. Unfortunately, it is technically impossible to build left-side menus or always-visible menus on aalto.fi. As the vast number of links in the Into menus was fiercely criticised in the past, doing the same in the Student Guide would not be a workable solution. In response to earlier feedback, we have aimed to further harmonise the contents and menus across the Student Guide (for instance, by making the navigation identical for all programmes, unlike on Into). This is the direction we want to be heading also in the future.

Requests were also made to continue redirecting users from Into to the Student Guide. Apart from not being a financially sound solution, it would decrease the findability of the Student Guide, as it would cause Into to re-emerge in search engine results. It would also not encourage users to learn to use the new Student Guide.

Long-term goals

The survey results show that the way that information is currently organised in the Student Guide does not help users to find it. To rectify the situation, the information presented by the different Aalto schools and programmes should be further harmonised and reorganised on the pages. For example, users looking for information on graduation or theses do not seem to find it under the programme-specific information. Providing this information on shared part of the guide could improve user experience.

One reason for transferring to aalto.fi was that, unlike Into, the system underlying aalto.fi allows building interfaces between the guide and other systems. One of our long-term goals is building integrations with Sisu and MyStudies and thus make using the Student Guide a more personalised experience for students. We could then show information stored in other systems without having to add the same content manually in the guide, which is always an error-prone process.

Another way of increasing information findability and improving the user experience would be intensifying collaboration between those responsible for the Aalto pages for applicants and those responsible for the programme pages in the Student Guide.

Next steps

The Student Guide is not intended to be a static system. Instead, we want to continually develop it based on feedback to make sure it both meets user needs and stays up-to-date as new technologies develop. Our next steps are to develop the technical features of the Student Guide, for instance, the findability of majors in the programmes page or when using the aalto.fi search function. We are looking into possibilities for adding links that take the user to a specific language version of the programme page.  In the spring, the Student Guide will get a new, clearer visual identity, which will  make identifying the contents intended for students easier. In addition, the degree structure of programmes will be illustrated with the help of a visual element. We are also working on a table of contents for the guide to help users take the guide into use and find information in it.

We are constantly collecting feedback on the Student Guide through the feedback form, to which a link is provided on each page of the guide. The feedback form is a good way to inform us of any broken links, missing information or suggestions for improvement.

Thank you to all the survey respondents!