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Running head: STUDENT PORTAL CONSULT DEBRIEF
Student Portal Consult Debrief
Southern New Hampshire University
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STUDENT PORTAL CONSULT DEBRIEF
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Student Portal Consult Debrief
As an online student, it is very important to have an online portal that is easy to use and
understand. School can be stressful and frustrating, but the student portal does not have to be.
The Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) student portal is used by many thousands of
students across the country each day. Students rely on this portal for access to important
information such as their SNHU email, Blackboard, messages from their advisor, and SNHU
news. Students can sign up and manage their classes, pay their bills, and view their grades
through the student portal. Taking into consideration the human-computer interaction’s (HCI)
best practices an analysis of the design, ease of use, functionality, cognitive load, human factors,
and accessibility of the SNHU student portal will be conducted. To better fulfill the needs of its
users, recommendations will be made to improve the SNHU portal.
The SNHU portal has a simple overall aesthetic quality. It uses limited color selection of
grays, blues, and pops of yellow with a white background. The menu bar located at the top of the
page is a dark blue. The SNHU logo is displayed with a yellow leaf. The same yellow color is
used to highlight the current page you are on in the menu bar. This use of the eye-catching color
yellow is a good technique to direct the user’s attention, but this technique has also been shown
to cause distraction from the task at hand (Deuschel & Scully, 2016). The site currently does a
great job of limiting the use of the color yellow. Gray text is found throughout the site. Textual
links in the left and right columns are blue while textual links in the middle column are black.
The login page uses a limited amount of space, so white space dominates the page. The opposite
is true of the Student’s page. Text, links, and limited graphics dominate this page making the
page feel overwhelming and cluttered. The interface is crowded with three columns of
information and numerous links to choose from. The overly crowded interface increases the time
STUDENT PORTAL CONSULT DEBRIEF
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for an average user to learn the page. It reduces the user’s speed of performance because
retention over time is harder to maintain, thus reducing the usability goals and measures
(Shneiderman, Plaisant, Cohen, Jacobs, & Elmqvist, 2017).
The SNHU portal uses a three-column layout for its Student’s page. The left column
displays three graphical links followed by a description of how to access your email. Below these
items are two tabs: Self-Service and Other Services. The Self-Service tab contains categories and
links below each. These are not retractable; therefore, you must scroll down to view all the links.
The Other Services tab contain more categories with a plus sign next to each to indicate that
these can be expanded. The center column is the widest. It contains messages from your advisor
and the news at SNHU. The news box is unable to show all the headlines so you must scroll
down within the box to view them all. Below this is seven graphical links for other services. The
right column displays a graphic for Blackboard access at the top. Underneath is two tabs:
Applications and My Working Groups. Both of these tabs contain textual links. Following these
tabs is another box called My Week. It contains a calendar, today’s date, and events for today.
Today is highlighted in the calendar with a yellow-orange color.
The clarity of the visual elements in the SNHU portal could be improved. When viewing
in full screen, most of the elements are able to be viewed at once with some vertical scrolling to
view them all. When reducing the width of the screen, elements do not resize. The right column
disappears from the view and a horizontal bar appears at the bottom of the page. Some of the text
on the page may be hard to read because of its clarity and size. The three graphical links located
at the top of the left column display text in a small and fuzzy font. For example, the words “Join
the Conversation” look as if they were squeezed into the image. Upon close inspection, it is hard
to make out some of the characters. Another example of this is found in the center column. The
STUDENT PORTAL CONSULT DEBRIEF
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graphical link for SNHU Wellness has a small font in yellow against a white background.
Someone with excellent eyesight will have a hard time reading this. Many of the links found on
the page are small, so users who have difficulty reading small text may not be able to locate what
they are seeking. The medium gray font used against the white background may also be hard to
read because the colors do not have enough contrast.
The SNHU portal is not easy to navigate, especially for first time users. It is initially hard
to use because it is overloaded with links and information. The user’s eyes do not know where to
start reading because so much information is presented at once. Therefore, it will take users
additional time to find the information they are seeking. Some of the links say “Click Here” such
as the first and third graphical links located in the left column. Links should never have to
explicitly say “Click Here” because they should be intuitive (Shneiderman et al., 2017).
Underneath these links is a description of how to access your SNHU email. Again, this should be
intuitive and instructions should not be needed to guide you to the appropriate link. Some of the
links near the top are less frequently used than others, so searching is necessary to locate items.
If the user does not have the page in full screen, there will likely be a horizontal scrolling bar.
This makes navigation more difficult and less user friendly.
Keeping in mind the human computer interaction’s (HCI) best practices, the functionality
of the student portal is examined. Most pages load quickly. Pages that take additional time to
load display a graphic with the word “Loading” with a circling ring of dots revolving around it.
An example of this is shown after selecting the “Search and Register for classes” or “Manage my
Registrations” links. It is shown briefly while the page loads and disappears once the page has
fully loaded. The movement of the circling dots reflects that the application is working on
STUDENT PORTAL CONSULT DEBRIEF
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obtaining the data necessary to display the page. Doing this reassures the user that the page has
not stopped working.
On the student portal’s main page, users can view the course offerings from two
locations. Selecting the “View course offerings” link in the left-hand column under “Academic”
brings the page up immediately. Selecting “Course Offerings” under the “Academics” drop
down menu displays a page which states “One moment…” and takes much longer to load. This
page does not contain any moving graphics to indicate that the page is loading. From this page,
selecting the SNHU logo does not bring you to the homepage as expected; it reloads the same
page you are currently on.
The functionality of “My Class Schedule” also needs to be addressed. Upon loading the
page, a drop-down list containing all possible terms for online, graduate, and campus students is
displayed. This list is lengthy and contains acronyms which may not be known by the user
causing unnecessary cognitive load. Since the user is already logged into their account, only the
terms that he or she is enrolled in should be displayed.
Cognitive load must be minimized for a better user experience. The SNHU student portal
homepage currently contains an overwhelming amount of information leading to website
complexity. Links fill the left, right, and middle columns. Website complexity and presentation
forms lead to unnecessary extraneous cognitive load that can be decreased with better visual
presentation and design of material (Wang, Yang, Liu, Cao, & Ma, 2014). The user’s eyes do not
know where to start scanning and the memorization of the location of links will be difficult.
Users will have a harder time retaining information because of the increased cognitive load.
STUDENT PORTAL CONSULT DEBRIEF
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The application does a great job of reducing cognitive load by using font colors that
contrast against the background and links that change appearance while being hovered. The site
uses dark text against a white background. In the menu bar, it uses white text against a dark blue
background. Links change color and some become underlined when the cursor is hovered over it,
indicating that it is a link. The SNHU news links turn from black to gray. The links in the left
and right columns turn from blue to black and become underlined. This visual indication will be
appealing to novice computer users.
Human factors must also be considered. Users who are not proficient in English may
have a difficult time navigating the SNHU student portal. There is no option to change the
application to another language. Users who have difficulty using a mouse may have a hard time
selecting links because of their small size and near distance to one another. Examples of this are
found in both the left and right columns, the SNHU news feed, and in the drop-down menus at
the top of the page. Some people may prefer a more graphical view rather than the current textual
view depending on their culture and background. The date and time formats next to the news
links may be confusing for people from other cultures because they might be accustomed to
using an alternative date format.
The SNHU student portal should demonstrate compliance with accessibility guidelines.
Alternative text for images should be included in the site’s code. People who use a screen reader
rely on it to read the information on the page. When an image is shown without alternative text,
the screen reader will not be able to read it. When viewing the learning center page, a picture of
one of the buildings on the SNHU campus is shown without providing alternative text. The
athletics page shows an image of the school’s mascot but it also does not contain alternative text.
STUDENT PORTAL CONSULT DEBRIEF
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Improvements can be made to the design of the SNHU student portal. Instead of a threecolumn design, the SNHU student portal should utilize a simpler two-column design. Larger text
and graphics will be able to be used; therefore, resizing the page will allow these items to be
resized without having them appear too small, keeping them easily readable. This change of
design will also allow for the removal of the frustrating horizontal scrolling bar. More vertical
scrolling will be necessary but this also reduces the amount of information displayed on the
screen at once. In turn, it reduces cognitive overload because the brain has to process less
information at once. Links should be prioritized with the most frequently used ones located near
the top of the page and less frequently used links near the bottom. This reduced the amount of
searching and scrolling need to get to the user’s destination. To support self-directed learning,
interface designs should allow users to be able to access any component they wish at any time
and it should remain under the user’s control (Firat, Sakar, & Kabakci, 2016). Therefore,
categories should be retractable and expandable to limit or increase the number of links shown at
once. To align with the needs of more advanced users, customization should be allowed. The
user could enter a customized mode to drag and drop the boxes into places most suitable for
them. More consistency is needed in text and link color selection. All links should be the same
color to indicate their purpose to the user. Instead of using a medium gray color against the
white background, a darker color with more contrast should be used. These changes will improve
the overall design and ease of use for all users while meeting usability goals and measurements.
Keeping in mind the HCI’s best practices, recommendations for changes to the SNHU
student portal can be made to improve the functionality of the application. On average, users will
click away from a website if the page does not load within eight seconds (“Design Matters”,
2000). Therefore, the loading time for pages should be minimized. Pages with increased loading
STUDENT PORTAL CONSULT DEBRIEF
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time should all display a moving graphic to deter users from clicking away and to indicate that
the page is continuing to load. All occurrences of the text “One Moment…” should either be
updated or replaced with a moving graphic. Selecting the SNHU student logo graphic in the
upper left-hand corner of the screen should bring the user to the SNHU student’s homepage.
Links that currently do not do this need to be updated. The drop-down list of “My Class
Schedule” should be updated to include only the terms that the user who is currently logged in is
enrolled in. Displaying all possible terms is unnecessary and increases cognitive load. The
acronyms in the drop-down list such as “WK”, “UG”, and “GR” may be confusing to some
users, especially ones who are not proficient in English. These acronyms need to be referenced in
a glossary on the page or replaced with their full names. The date and time formats being used
should be stated somewhere on the page. Alternative text should be included for all images.
These changes will increase the user’s satisfaction with the application, the application’s
functionality, and reduce cognitive load for a better user experience.
STUDENT PORTAL CONSULT DEBRIEF
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References
Design Matters. (2000). Fortune, 142(12), 183-188.
Deuschel, T., & Scully, T. (2016, September). On the Importance of Spatial Perception for the
Design of Adaptive User Interfaces, presented at 2016 IEEE 10th International
Conference, Augsburg, Germany, 2016. doi:10.1109/SASO.2016.13
Firat, M., Sakar, A. N., & Kabakci Yurdakul, I. (2016). Web Interface Design Principles for
Adults’ Self-Directed Learning. Turkish Online Journal Of Distance Education, 17(4), 3145.
Shneiderman, B., Plaisant, C., Cohen, M., Jacobs, S. M., & Elmqvist, N. (2017). Designing the
user interface: strategies for effective human-computer interaction (6th ed.). Boston:
Pearson.
Wang, Q., Yang, S., Liu, M., Cao, Z., & Ma, Q. (2014). An eye-tracking study of website
complexity from cognitive load perspective. Decision Support Systems, 621-10.
doi:10.1016/j.dss.2014.02.007
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