Coursera Website's

Discoverability Improvement

​

Grace Chien

August, 2021

Project Focus

• The primary goal of this project is to study the existing Coursera website usability issues, including UI placement, search functionality, and navigation, to provide suggestions on how Coursera could improve its discoverability to reach a new audience and potentially increase its user base.

​

​

Methods

Interview

• Design an interview protocol
• Conduct 3 user interviews. Each interview lasted 25-30 minutes
• Create 3 user personas that represent the dimensions of the interviewees

Usability Test

• Design 4 tasks
• Conduct 5 usability tests. Each test lasted 40-50 minutes

Comparative Analysis

• Create a nested matrix to analyze the functionality of the website’s features

Comparative Analysis

• In this comparative analysis study, my primary goal is to investigate how Coursera competitors provide similar services through various features on its website. This study aims to explore the following research questions:

​

1. What features do the competitors have on their websites and what is the functionality of these features?
2. How do the information present on the competitors’ websites?
3. What could improve the users’ experience of the Coursera website during the searching process?

*Check out the link for the full report:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LCE_QZxpcx8_pnYybzGkBN33Zk6nIo1X/edit

6 Comparative Products

• 4 Direct Competitors – offer the same functions in the same way

​

​

​

​

• 1 Indirect Competitor – provide similar functions in a different way

​

​

​

​

• 1 Parallel Competitor – provide similar functions to the similar audience but not directly competing

8 Evaluation Criteria

• Course searching function placement
• Navigation bar, footer, main page
• Course customization
• Search
• Filters, keywords search bar
• Course information
• Video preview, duration, syllabus, learning outcomes, price, user reviews & ratings
• Personalized course recommendation
• Related courses, students also view
• Top categories / Most popular / Trending
• Aesthetic
• Clear user interface
• Other:
• Save & share feature

Find below the link for more details: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fZajvPz6SWWeb2k28ixNrThc7XoRoASxEr8uB_KMkvY/edit#gid=0

Interview

• In the interview, my primary goal is to develop a detailed understanding of the target population to learn more about user’s online behavior and needs for online learning. Below are the key research questions:

​

1. How do users take courses / learn new skills using an online platform?
2. What do users think of their online learning experience with the online platform?
3. What are the most beneficial features that users find in their journey to the learning platform websites?

​

• Target users
• Have experience of online learning platforms

3 User Personas

Key Findings - from Interview & Comparative Analysis

1. Ratings and reviews are one of the most valuable pieces of information for people to select a course.
2. Earning a degree or certificate is one of the main goals that users usually choose the Coursera website.
3. Users value price information for taking online courses, while some websites hide the price information about the courses.
4. Users prefer finding the most popular courses based on the ratings and the number of students that can help them narrow down the options.

Usability Test

• Based on the findings from comparative analysis and interview, I want to further focus on the discoverability issues on the Coursera website with the following research questions:

​

1. How difficult is it to find the features the user wants to use to achieve your course searching goals?
2. How did the user feel about the process of finding the information they were looking for? Was it easy or difficult?
3. What suggestions do the user have to optimize the placement of the searching features?

​

• Target users
• New to the Coursera website
• Have experience with online learning platforms

Key Finding 1

​

The users felt frustrated that they cannot easily find the prices information

• Users usually check price information to decide whether they want to purchase this course. They don’t want to find that the price is not fit their budget after spending a lot of time researching the relevant information.

​

• “I’m not afraid of paying for a course. I want good quality and clear information to make a purchasing decision.”

Recommendation 1

• Add pricing range to the filters
• Display the pricing information on the course page to make it more prominent

​

Price information on Udemy course page

Key Finding 2

The users thought the placement of the audit option is not intuitive

• While Coursera offers the audit option for some courses that allow users to review materials first before making a purchasing decision, the users cannot easily find where it is.

​

• “I try to find the most appropriate content for my purpose, but I feel like I need to research more by myself to find the information I want.”
• “The text is too small. I cannot even notice it.

The audit option is hidden in the Enroll For Free button

Recommendation 2

• Make the audit option more prominent and intuitive
• Add audit option to the Enrollment Options

​

Mock-up for the placement of Audit option

Key Finding 3

The users found it difficult to filter and customize the search results to find exactly what they want

• Based on the findings from the interview, users usually check the ratings and reviews to decide which course is valuable to take and determine whether they want to check more details of the course. However, they cannot filter and sort the search results to find information quickly.

​

• “I usually just check the results on the first page. If the search result is not presented on the top, I will lose interest in the website soon and leave it.”

Recommendation 3

• Add ratings to filter options
• Add the “sort by rating” feature for users to narrow down the options

​

Mock-up for the “sort by rating” feature

Key Finding 4

It is not easy to compare different courses the users are interested in

• Users intend to compare several preferred courses they are interested in, then decide which one to take after gathering all available information. However, they can only open multiple windows to check the course details, which makes them felt the process is time-consuming.

​

• “It is not convenient for me to compare the courses I want.”

Recommendation 4

• Add comparison function/wishlist that allows users to make well-informed decisions.

Wishlist feature on Udemy course page

Thanks!

If you have any questions, please contact me at: grac@umich.edu