'Knowledge base' user test – Valuable feedback for an improved structure
Over 300 colleagues and almost 200 students took part in last month’s user test about the provision of information in our ‘Knowledge base’ on Iris. We would like to thank everyone for the valuable feedback! This will be used to make ‘Knowledge base’ even better and to adapt it to your wishes and needs.
We asked the participants in the user test to assess the structure of Knowledge base on the basis of several ‘tasks’. By carrying out these tasks, colleagues and students were able to indicate where they expected to find certain information in ‘Knowledge base’. They were also able to indicate whether topics were lacking in ‘Knowledge base’ and give an opinion about the provision of information and the Iris intranet as a whole.
Conclusions
With the results of this user test, we are mainly focusing on the ‘tasks with a low score’ in which the findability of specific information leaves something to be desired. Among other things, we will do so by means of a follow-up survey among some of the respondents. We will look at what the participants expected, how we can improve findability and what we can learn from the experience in general. We will also change names, restructure existing topics and clarify titles.
In addition, we will use the keywords provided by students and colleagues. The aim is to improve ‘Knowledge base’ on an ongoing basis, so that everyone knows where what information can be found.
Striking results for colleagues
Thanks to the user test, we can see where the structure of Knowledge base is already correct and where there is room for improvement. More than 40% of colleagues made it to the 'right destination‘ in the tasks indicated. An example: you are planning to come to Inholland Diemen by car. Look up the parking options. In this case, 77% followed the right path and found the necessary information via ‘Knowledge base’.
In other cases, the ‘search route‘ will need to be improved. For example, many respondents expected to find information about confidential counsellors under the theme of ‘Personal safety’. The topic has now been moved to this theme.
Our Knowledge base is used by 94.3% of colleagues. More than 81% use the search function on Iris, although a large majority of colleagues indicate that certain keywords did not yield any results.
Striking results for students
With regard to the tasks, more students than colleagues (64%) reached the correct destination. Tasks with the highest success rate (over 70%) included looking up how to book a study area or group room and what you can do if you disagree with the result of an exam. Again, a desire was expressed to move information about confidential counsellors, and this has now been done.
Over 43% use the search function in Knowledge base to find information. More than 46% indicate that certain keywords do not yield a result. Almost 16% felt that topics were lacking, and 38% of students do not or not yet know about the ‘Knowledge base’ environment.
A small proportion of the respondents took the English-language user test. Although the number of respondents was very limited, the scores and results of the English-speaking students and therefore also the conclusions are fairly similar.
If you have any questions about the user test after reading this article or if you would like to share additional feedback, let us know by emailing iris@inholland.nl.