Usability of University Recruitment Web Pages from International Doctoral Students' Perspectives

摘要

This study examined a group of international doctoral students' interactions with the recruitment web pages at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). It employed eye-tracking and exit interviews. Students performed six assigned search tasks, and their task outcomes were measured based on success, dwell time, and time-based efficiency. Time to first eye fixation and fixation counts were measured using heatmaps and Area of Interests (AOIs), respectively. The findings showed that while the students were able to use the websites and find answers to most of the search tasks, they faced challenges with the usability of these websites. The findings have implications for designing recruitment web pages that are user-centered and supportive of international doctoral students' information needs and interaction behaviors.