Major Universities in Australia Essay - 1375 Words

Major Universities in Australia (Term Paper Sample) Content: NameInstructorCourseDateWEBSITE ASSESSMENT.IntroductionThis paper provides an analysis of websites of three major universities in Australia: The University of Sydney, The University of Queensland and Monash University. This analysis is based on ease of navigation, presentation, integration, metaphors and mental models on these websites in comparison to the Marymount University website.OverviewFigure 1.0The University of Queensland better known as UQ is among the leading research and teaching institutions in Australia. It was founded on 10th December 1909. The University of Queensland is among the top 100 universities worldwide, as indicated by most major independent university rankings. In 2013, the university had around 50,000 students with more than 10,000 international students from 142 nations. The university boasts of more than 200,000 alumni including the Nobel laureate and the CEO of Fortune 500 company. It occupies 1418 hectares, and its library has two milli on volumes. Figure 1.0 shows a screenshot of their website.Figure 1.1The University of Sydney was created in early 1850s as an institution to suit the needs of New South Wales. It has student enrollment of around 50,000 and an academic staff of 3350. They have more than 270,000 alumni worldwide. They had 286 student exchange agreements in more than 30 countries as of 31st March 2016. Figure 1.1 shows their current websiteà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s homepage.Figure 1.3The Monarsh University is named after a famous engineer, military leader and public administrator Sir John Monash. It was established in 1958. The university is ranked among the top one percent of world universities by most major college rankings. Figure 1.3 shows their main website homepage.DiscussionThe University of Sydney website has the institution logo on the top left corner of all the pages throughout the website. It represents the universityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s importance. The website has photos showing students doing different activi ties showing their value for the students. However, the site uses very few images compared to the University of Marymount website. The websites main color is white which makes it calm and comfortable to interact with it.The University of Sydneyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s website has a better mental model as compared to Marymount University website. It has the content very well organized and easy to understand. Information is grouped into future students information, current students, visitors and community, alumni and donors, about the university, international, research and innovation and staff information. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s therefore very easy to get any information one may be searching for at a glance. The websiteà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s top menu has drop-down submenus with more information that makes navigation very easy. The site is also easy to interact as it provides a feedback form that will help in collecting the peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s opinions ant, therefore, make improvements on the website accordingly.Th e site maintains ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s relation with all related people including and data is well organized based on that. It's therefore very easy to navigate through specific categories. The website further simplifies usability by providing a quick links drop down menu that makes it easier to find links that one may be trying to search. It also has a search box that makes it easy to find any information. It's therefore very easy for anyone to interact with this website. This site could be considered a task oriented website as it provides well organized for all individuals.The University of Queensland Universityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s homepage has several rolling photos of students, staff and other members of the institution. The first and most conspicuous photo shows a group of happy students taking part in a discussion. It also has a logo on the top right section. The primary color of the website is a shade of purple and black with black and white texts and blue color for the links.UQà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s mental model is very similar to that of Marymount University. It has its data well organized and grouped into necessary information about the institution, news, future students, jobs, teaching and training, research, alumni and international. This is a more general mental model, and therefore ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s easy to find any information on the website. This website has a staff section that can only be accessed by staff members. This is done by including a login section with a username and a password field that must be filled correctly before accessing it. This provides high levels of security on the website. This also indicates some levels of moderation on this website. The maps provided on the website provides location information that may be important to guest visitors.The website also provides a search box making it easier to find any information one may be trying to find. The well-organized information also makes it easy to find information quickly. The purple color also provide s a calm experience to the user. The websiteà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s top menu provides easy navigation for any user. The overall design of this website is, therefore, simpler compared to that of Marymount University. The websites footer also makes navigation easier by providing quick links making navigation easy.The Monash University website has a simple design. Its primary colors are blue and white. It has the institution logo on the top right corner and has rolling photos some of them showing students. The homepage also has a picture of a student taking her practicals showing how high they value academics. This website also has a footer containing quick links and provides maps showing directions to different campuses and other important places related to the institution. This is helpful to guest visitors. There is also a login section to access the staff area.This website has a very clear mental model with its content organized and distributed efficiently throughout the site. Their top menu provides easy access to the about and history information, rese...