Department characteristics
Figures 1A and 1C depict the student enrollment rate and admission routes for departments A and B during 2014–2018. The numbers of students enrolled in departments A and B increased from 33 to 45 and from 39 to 53 over a five-year period. The numbers differ from the annual approved quota because we do not consider independent enrollment, international exchange students, or transfer students and analyze data only for local or national students. Figures 1B and 1D show the overall percentage of students enrolled through STARS, PA, and AE&P in the two departments. The three admissions channels, respectively, account for 9%, 35%, and 56% of the total enrolled rate for Department A and 23%, 33%, and 44% of the rate for Department B. Evidently, AE&P is the main enrollment route in both the departments.
Figure 2 presents the geographic distribution of students. A majority of the students enrolled in Department A are from a metropolitan area, with 16–20% from Taipei, New Taipei, and Taichung cities and 11–15% from Taoyuan City. For Department B, 16–20% of the students are from Taipei and Taichung cities and 11%–15% are from Taoyuan and Kaohsiung cities.
Website profile during PA stage
This study analyzes the time-series data for page views between the pre- (February 26–March 22, 2018) and post-PA (March 23–May 17, 2018) periods for the two departments (see Table 3 in the Appendix). The average daily browsing durations in the pre-PA period were marginally higher than those in the post-PA period. The average page views per day during the entire study period were 39 and 27 for departments A and B. Department B’s page views per day in the pre- and post-PA periods are 87 and 35.
The data also include the percentage of students visiting each link on the page (see Table 3 in the Appendix). For Department A, withdrawn webpages received the highest number of visitors in the pre- (36%) and post-PA (49%) periods, followed by About Us and Courses and Credits. Withdrawn webpages are pages that were unavailable during the data analysis because the departments removed them from the website. The unavailable pages include past news, announcements, guest lecturers, and notifications of limited website capacity. In the case of Department B, the About Us page received the highest number of visitors during both the pre- (44%) and post-PA (42%) periods, followed by the pages of Faculty (26%) and Programs (25%). The number of daily page views varied by admissions event; for example, the highest number of page views was observed on April 14, 15, 21, and 22, 2018, which corresponded with the dates of interviews held at the university.
Website profile during AE&P stage
Table 1 presents the time-series data on page views during the enrollment periods for the AE&P route. For Department A, the number of visitors on the Course Information and Certificate of Subjects pages peaked following the announcement on July 19, 2018. Before registering for an elective, students generally seek an overview of the course information and subject credits. The online registration for and the distribution of electives was from July 24 to 28, 2018. During this period, visitors also navigated the Teachers page. The results reveal that the Faculty page gains priority during electives registration, particularly at the end of the registration day. The Faculty page received the highest traffic, followed by the Program page. Thus, the departments should update their course information before announcing the assessment results, and their curriculum planning can be associated with students’ choice of electives (Table 1). For Department B, the average daily visits during the three stages of AE&P were 89, 102, and 21, respectively. The highest number of overall page views was recorded during the second stage, with the About Us page receiving the highest number of visitors, followed by the Program page (Table 1).
Webpage interaction information
Table 2 shows the depth of visits on the university’s website. For Department A, the homepage received the highest initial clicks, accounting for 81% and 87% of the total number of clicks in the pre- and post-PA period. From the homepage, 47% visitors clicked on Courses and Credits and 29% clicked on About Us. Thereafter, most visitors returned to the homepage, accounting for 51% and 63% of the total number of clicks in the pre- and post-PA period, before proceeding to Program (27%) and About Us (36%) in the pre- and post-PA periods. We speculate that once the students confirm their admission, they seek a more comprehensive understanding of the department. The number of visitors who continued to browse the website after visiting the three pages (Courses and Credits, About Us, and Program) dropped to 12% during both the periods. For Department B as well, the homepage received the highest number of initial clicks, accounting for 68% and 63% of the total number of visitor during the pre- and post-PA periods. The total views in the pre-PA period decreased from 1,750 to 248, with only 14% visitors remaining, and those in the post-PA period decreased from 1,823 to 202, with 11% visitors remaining. This suggests that visitors tend to leave the website once they have obtained the necessary information (Table 2).
Table 3 presents the page views for the webpages of each subject. A majority of the visitors for Department A initially clicked on the homepage before proceeding to Courses and Credits, returning to the homepage, and then visiting the Program page. The results for Department B slightly differ among the AST, PLW, and APR stages. Following the results announcement, a majority of the visitors clicked on the homepage (57%) and then the About Us page (40%), following which they returned to the homepage (25%) and finally clicked on the Courses and Credits page (32%). For the network registration and distribution of electives (PLW) stage, visitors began on the homepage and then clicked on the Program and Faculty pages. After interacting with the three pages, the total views decreased from 410 to 56, leaving only 14% visitors, while the remaining percentages were 21% and 10%.
For Department A, the homepage and the Subject Credits and Course Planning pages received the highest number of visits. For Department B, the visitors began on the homepage and then proceeded to the Introduction and Teacher Lineup pages before returning to the homepage and then further visiting the Certificate of Subjects page. After interacting with the three webpages, the page views for departments A and B were 12% and 13% (Table 2) and 56% and 15% (Table 3), indicating that the visitors exited the website upon obtaining the necessary information.
User characteristics
Table 4 presents user information and characteristics. For Department A, most visitors were 18–24 years during the three time periods, followed by those aged 25–34 years. The visitor groups were mainly freshmen at the university, followed by their parents. In terms of browsing tools, most visitors used desktops, followed by smartphones. Thus, the webpage design should meet the usage requirements of both desktop computers and smartphones. For Department B, the number of female visitors was marginally higher than male visitors. The age group accounting for the highest number of visitors was 18–24 years, followed by 45–54 years. GA also offers visitors’ geographic and demographic data. These findings suggest that the website design should be women centric given the higher number of female visitors.
Average page time
Figure 3 depicts the average time spent on the site (in seconds) in the pre- and post-PA periods. For Department A, visitors spent most of their time on the Faculty page, while for Department B, they spent a majority of their time browsing the admissions list for graduate students. These findings suggest that some visitors are students of the institute.
Figure 4 shows the average time spent on the site (in seconds) during the AST, PLW, and APR stages. For Department A, the total browsing time is the longest for the Admissions Announcement for the master’s class, followed by the HACCP Course Admissions Guide, in the five days before the AST results were announced. The overall browsing time during the PLW phase indicates that visitors spent most of their time browsing license information. In the APR phase, the longest browsing time is reported for Study Program, followed by Food Technician Exam. Overall, the website visitors sought information on the selection of electives on the Review Information and Training Qualifications pages. Thus, it is important that the university maintains an updated list of examinations. Visitors also browsed teachers’ professional background and items of concern. For Department B, visitors spent more than five minutes browsing the latest news, enrollment status (double major and adjunct), subject and credits table, and graduate flow tracking (five-year) survey.
The average time visitors spent on the webpage during Department B’s recommendation stage is about twice that of the assessment period. However, the findings are directly inversed for Department A (see figures 3 and 4), that is, the two pages on which visitors stayed the longest differ. Department A is a resting and kinematics group that focuses on five-year follow-up surveys and subject credits. Department B, on the other hand, is a medical and health group. Visitors stayed the longest on the Investigation List, Graduation Topics, and Master’s Degrees Credits Tables pages, indicating that students seek information during the stages of university referrals and entrance exams. The visitors are potential candidates for the master’s class. During the assessment phase, visitors stayed the longest on the Certificate of Subjects (University) and Graduate Flow Tracking pages.
Visitor location
For Department A, the locations of visitors were similar during the recommendation and assessment stages (i.e., Zhongli, Taoyuan, and Changhua). For Department B, a majority of the visitors were from Taoyuan City and Changhua County.