InternationalEd.org Feedback
Notes from Michele Anciaux Aoki 7/11/2004 - revised

Site Map Analysis

The approach I've taken here is to construct a sort of "site map" based on links found in the Top Nav and home page. Then I've analyzed individual pages to see if the navigation holds together. Where appropriate, I've included comments in the right column. Finally, I provide Specific Feedback and some general Suggestions.

  

Top Nav Links

  

Bottom Nav Links
 

ISSUES?

 What is InternationalEd.org? | Why does international education matter? | What are the goals? | How can I help?

Announcements | Press Clippings | Press Kit | Press Contact

International Studies Schools | Principles of Small School Design | The Schools

State Initiatives | States Institute | Directory of State Initiatives | New Opportunities for States | Research
Should Research link be added to Home page in States section?

National Coalition | Goldman Sachs Foundation Prizes | US-China Exchange
What about Congressional Testimony | College Board ?

Get Involved | Advocacy Tools | Digest | Classroom Resources | Success Stories
I'm not sure these all fit in the "GET INVOLVED CATEGORY"

Who we are | Contact

Usually the bottom nav links are a recapitulation of overall site links, with sub-links -- sort of a mini Site Map. I don't see the navigation scheme reflected elsewhere on the site pages, nor is the top nav reflected here (i.e. ISSUES and LEARN MORE). Also, what about COMMUNICATION TOOLS?

Home Page Links

  

 


Is this (whatis) really an issue? It is appropriate to tell what this site is, but I'd expect that on the home page, not on an ISSUES page.

Can you ask why it matters if you haven't defined it?

Links to Advocacy Tools??

 

Goldman Sachs is new site without expected InternationalEd.org nav


how about: News and Press Clippings so title better matches page title

This is same link in NEWS section; seems redundant

 

same link as in NEWS section - redundant

 


US China Exchange on page title

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advocacy Tools link is redundant to link in COMMUNICATIONS TOOLS
Digest link is redundant to link in COMMUNICATIONS TOOLS

 

 

 

TOP NAV next level pages

  

THE ISSUES page Links  http://www.internationaled.org/issues.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

  

 

What about links to other ISSUES pages?

 

should be What is Internationaled.org??

 

LEARN MORE Page Links: http://www.internationaled.org/learnmore.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

Links in middle

Research section links

Language section links

  

 

 

 

 

These links look like they'd go to a new page, but they go to bookmarks on this page; need to make navigation structure clearer

 

 

 

Why is link repeated from above?

 

 


Data collecting link is redundant; additional resources link should be a main link (above)

 

Not sure why this is separate section (just include Language link up above)

GET INVOLVED Page Links: http://www.internationaled.org/getinvolved.htm

  • Overview
  • Get the facts
  • Spread the word
  • Connect to school, state and national efforts
  • Publications

SPOTLIGHT ON
(description of video)

Spread the Word

  • Send this website to a friend
  • Sign-up for our e-Digest

Connect with existing efforts

  • Directory of state initiatives

Tools

  • Video and discussion guide
  • Fact sheet
  

 

Not sure if these links will stay on same page or go to different pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISSUES next level pages

  

ISSUES
The Issues Page links
http://internationaled.org/issues.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

  

 

 

ISSUES
What is InternationalEd.org? Page links http://www.internationaled.org/whatis.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

GO TO:

At bottom

 I'd expect this info on the home page of the site; it's not really an ISSUE.

No breadcrumb to tell me I came from the ISSUES page

 

 

Are these really issues?

 


seems like this should be a breadcrumb

Since these links are all in top nav, why repeat them here?

 

 

This link gets lost at bottom. (And the ISSUES aren't really sequential.)

ISSUES
Why does international education matter? Page links
http://www.internationaled.org/why.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

GO TO:

At bottom

  • (no links)
  

 

 

 

duplicate link below

 

 

These seem like menu items for ISSUES (not really GO TO another site)

ISSUES
What are the goals? Page Links
http://www.internationaled.org/goals.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

GO TO At bottom

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

On What is page, bottom link is not labeled GO TO

ISSUES
Who is involved? Page Links
http://www.internationaled.org/whois.htm 

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

GO TO At bottom

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why are these links at the bottom?  (On other pages, GO TO links are generally toward the top.)

ISSUES
How can I help? Page Links
http://www.internationaled.org/howcan.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

At bottom

  

 

 

Not all ISSUES links are available on this page

 

 


Hard to find at bottom

NEWS page

  

NEWS page
http://www.internationaled.org/news.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

RELATED LINKS

  

 

 

 

NATIONAL INITIATIVES section next level pages

  

National Initiatives section
National Coalition http://www.internationaled.org/national.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

Link in text

  

 

No links on this page to the other topics linked on the home page

 

National Initiatives section
Congressional Testimony http://www.internationaled.org/congressionaltestimony.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

  

 

 

No link on National Coalition page to congressional testimony (although it looks like breadcrumb)

STATE INITIATIVES section next level pages

  

State Initiatives section
State Initiatives
 http://www.internationaled.org/states.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

GO TO

SPOTLIGHT In box (left)

TOOLS FOR STATES In box (left)

  

 

 

Not sure how these links relate to States Initiatives (aren't they ISSUES?)

 

 

 

Redundant to Spotlight link


expect link to new page (not jump to)

 

This seems redundant since there is a link above to the directory and confusing since they are titled the same.

 

confusing about tools

are these really Asia Society State Initiatives?
I need to update the links here

START REVIEW HERE!!

State Initiatives section
States Institute http://www.internationaled.org/statesinstitute.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

GO TO

In text

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although States page is given as a breadcrumb, the New Opportunities link wasn't on that page (but it was on home page)

 

 

 

State Initiatives section
New Opportunities http://www.internationaled.org/newopportunities.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

  

 

Although States page is given as a breadcrumb, the New Opportunities link wasn't on that page (but it was on home page)

State Initiatives section
Spotlight West Virginia http://www.internationaled.org/westvirginia.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

GO TO

  

 

 

Although States page is given as a breadcrumb, the Spotlight West Virginia link wasn't on that page (but it was on home page)


(not correct link?)

(brochure link not found there)

State Initiatives section
State Directory
http://www.internationaled.org/directory.htm

Top menu (or breadcrumb?)

 GO TO (jump to links on page)

  • Connecticut
    Delaware
    Idaho
    Illinois
    Indiana
    Kansas
    Kentucky
    Massachusetts
    Michigan
    New Jersey
    New Mexico
    North Carolina
    Oklahoma
    Rhode Island
    South Carolina
    Vermont
    Virginia
    Washington
    West Virginia
    Wisconsin
    My state is not listed 
    http://www.internationaled.org/newopportunities.htm
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Usually you say "ON THIS PAGE" and use "GO TO" only when you'll leave the current page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(bad link)

Specific Feedback

  1. HOME link is not consistent. It's used on some pages as breadcrumb, although you can't necessarily link to the page you're on from the home page. Ex. Teacher Preparation (from ISSUES page): http://www.internationaled.org/teacherprep.htm. The HOME link is  missing on some pages, e.g.,  (http://www.internationaled.org/news.htm).

     
  2. Breadcrumbs are not quite intuitive. Usually a breadcrumb traces the path that you followed to get there (or at least the "ownership path"). So it would make sense to show ISSUES as a breadcrumb, but then all the specific questions seem to stand alone.

    On the other hand, it might be nice to include the entire set of questions on each ISSUES page as a set of menu or navigation items (like they are on the home page).
     
  3. Page Navigation is not consistent. Sometimes the GO TO links lead to related ISSUES pages (see, for example, http://www.internationaled.org/why.htm), other times they lead to completely different topics or sites (where the relationship is not too clear) (see http://www.internationaled.org/whatis.htm).
     
  4. In the Footer, it's a little disorienting to go to a jump to link (rather than separate page) for Contact us http://www.internationaled.org/whoweare#contact. Might make sense to use a contact form on the Contact us page to distinguish it from the descriptive Who We Are page.
     
  5. NEWS section (on Home page) I would expect to see news articles with these links, but they seem to be regular web pages. (In the case of International Schools link, the link is repeated just below in the International Studies section.)
     
  6. States Institute page has page-internal link to Get Involved -- could be confused with the top nav Get Involved. (Maybe choose different name?) Also step #4 sends them to the Get Involved page http://www.internationaled.org/getinvolved.htm. It's confusing to go from Get Involved to (different) Get Involved.
     
  7. Directory page (with specific state deep links) seems to show up on so many other pages. It's a little confusing.
     
  8. Learn More page seems long with too much diverse content.
     
  9. ISSUES pages seem like they need a breadcrumb to relate them back to the ISSUES top nav category. It would also be nice to be able to link to any of the ISSUES pages from every other page. They don't seem sequential to me, so putting the "next" link at the bottom of the page is not that intuitive.
     
  10. Link Icons ( ) -- seems like same icon is used for jump to links (on same page) and GO TO links to go to different page or site. It might be nice to have a different icon for the two functions. Also, might be good to distinguish external links from links on your site.
     

Suggestions

Here are some suggestions based on my analysis and the usability studies done to date.

Top Navigation

Add some links to other main site pages so that the user doesn't have to go back to the home page to find them. (This is just an idea, you'll know how to make them look nice.)

NATIONAL | STATE | SCHOOLS | RESOURCES | NEWS | ABOUT US 

Bottom Navigation

Make it match the top, e.g.,

 

THE ISSUES

 What is International Ed? | Why does it matter? | What are the goals? |

LEARN MORE

 Research?

Get Involved | Advocacy Tools | Digest |  
I'm not sure these all fit in the "GET INVOLVED CATEGORY"

National Coalition | Goldman Sachs Foundation Prizes | US-China Exchange
What about Congressional Testimony | College Board ?

State Initiatives | States Institute | Directory of State Initiatives | New Opportunities for States | Research
Should Research link be added to Home page in States section?

International Studies Schools | Principles of Small School Design | The Schools

RESOURCES

 Classroom Resources | Success Stories

Announcements | Press Clippings | Press Kit | Press Contact

ABOUT US

 Who we are | Contact Us

 
Home page
  • Arrange it so the most valuable links (e.g., Resources) are above the fold so the user doesn't have to scroll down to find them.
  • Make it clear who is the "owner" of this site so that users can evaluate the credibility of it up front.
  • Test this page out on some SLOW machines. It is very graphic intensive, and may take a while to load.
  • Rename Digest to something else that sounds more appealing.
  • Graphic for the video does not display well on some machines.
  • Consider putting the links higher in the International Education box. (Will anyone read the text?)
  • Make sure the items in News change fairly regularly
  • Consider how to represent the International Schools section. People expect it to be about international schools in general (not just ones that Asia Society is involved in starting). Would suggest making this a generic section on international schools (with links to many different schools) or retitle (e.g., Asia Society Creates New International Schools) or drop this section since there's already a link in the News section.
  • Consider further differentiating the National Initiatives and State Initiatives sections or doing something to visually associate the top graphics with the links below. Also, it would be good to get these higher on the page (the links are below the fold -- so people may not find them).
  • Put Classroom Resources higher on the page -- this seems to be one of the most valuable pages.
  • Nothing too conclusive about Success Stories. Do they include how to overcome challenges?
  • Get the header and footer links in sync. (Otherwise it's disorienting -- not sure what is listed both places or just one or the other.)

Who we are page

  • Simplify this page. Need more visible link (or text on home page) to explain Asia Society's involvement up front. Not clear of "we" is Asia Society or National Coalition or ??
  • Make Contact link a separate page (without lots of explanations). Need a PERSON's name to contact. Provide multiple ways to contact (probably, including an email form)

THE ISSUES page

  • Make clearer connection between this and the International Education section on the home page (they are virtually the same). Might need to add Resources link here.

LEARN MORE page

  • See usability comments. Basically, need to make this "grabbier" since it's the "meat" of the site.
  • Don't duplicate States info here (or it's confusing).

GET INVOLVED page

  • Realize that most people will NOT go here so don't included any site overview type of information that all users should get (such as the Overview section).

What is InternationalEd.org? page

  • Make this What is International Education? That's the fundamental question. Explain the site (and Asia Society's role) elsewhere. (The site is not an "issue.")
  • Make a consistent way to navigate to all the other ISSUES pages. (Sometimes have to go back to home page to find a link)

How Can I Help? page

  • Rethink this page. Title is personal (but content is not about me). What's the difference between this and Get Involved? Too much text.

LEARN MORE page

  • Make clearer distinction between this and National and State pages.