Abstract:
This study explores the usefulness, or usability, of community college websites. Standards of usability will be applied by the researcher to all 25 community college websites in Alabama. The value of a college's website has been well established (Feeney, 2009; Goff, Patino, & Jackson, 2004; McAllister-Spooner & Kent, 2009; Noel-Levitz, 2009; Noel-Levitz, 2012a; Zastrow & Stoner, 2007), as have accepted standards for basic website design. These standards are now being followed by most institutions (Hite & Railsback, 2009); however, current usability standards are less clear and in various stages of acceptance. Websites will be assessed for usability by use of a modified instrument that includes sample usability task scenarios provided by Cornell University's Web Accessibility Toolkit (n.d.) and includes items from a similar exploration conducted on a national sample of colleges and universities (Meyer, 2008a). The existence of specific website content tailored to prospective part-time students and the use of social media by the Alabama community colleges will also be examined.
