Modeling the Usability of University Websites as a Tool for Their

Online Competitiveness in the Context of COVID-19

Hanna Kucherova

, Abdukhakim Mamanazarov

, Yuliia Honcharenko

Tatiana Petrishyna

and Dmytro Ocheretin

Department of business management, State University of Economics and Technology, Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine

Founder of the Center of Economic Culture Development, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Classic Private University, 70b, Zhukovsky street, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine

Department of Economic, Zaporizhzhia National University, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine

petrishina_to@duet.edu.ua

Keywords: Usability, Higher Education Institutions, Site, Assessment, Behavior, Stakeholders, Recurrent Analysis,

Fuzzy Model.

Abstract: In the article, the formulation and solution of the problem of generalization and conceptualization of the

methodology for the study of the usability of the websites of higher educational institutions is carried out in

order to substantiate the system of support for making managerial decisions to increase its level. The authors

supplemented the classical understanding of the study of the usability of websites with the tasks of analyzing

the behavior of stakeholders in higher educational institutions by methods of fractal and recurrent analyzes in

order to track the nature of online behavior of stakeholders in different periods of time and the reaction of

online users to the content and structure of the site. At the same time, the results of sociological research were

supplemented by the methodology of fuzzy mathematics with minimization of uncertainty and subjectivity in

the process of evaluating usability, which made it possible to substantiate the rules for supporting decision-

making on improving the usability of eight websites of higher education institutions within the limits of the

expressed online interest of stakeholders in different periods of the educational process.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the face of a pandemic, all activities moved

automatically to an online environment, where

quarantine restrictions did not hold back on the way

to achieving results. The new conditions of existence

revealed those entity who were not touched or

partially touched by digitalization. Limited use of

digital opportunities and insufficient digital literacy

significantly hinder market relations in all spheres of

socio-economic activity. The extent to which

quarantine rules were limited in each country was

partly different, so the markets did not function in the

same conditions. The main success factor was the

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8635-6758

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4253-7629

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1567-8618

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7772-5793

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6705-6381

100% willingness to work online and the ability to

maximize online demand.

A significant transformation has taken place in the

education sector, where the online mode of activity

dominated during periods of quarantine. This greatly

influenced the quality of education, showed the

unwillingness of individual organizations to quickly

adapt , revealed areas of non-coverage of educational

and related processes with digital technologies. Sites

have become the main instrument of interaction

between higher educational institutions and users of

educational services in the online environment, and

educational institutions share educational platforms,

software tools for online learning and information

sites (their business cards). The variety of digital

426

Kucherova, H., Mamanazarov, A., Honcharenko, Y., Petrishyna, T. and Ocheretin, D.

Modeling the Usability of University Websites as a Tool for Their Online Competitiveness in the Context of COVID-19.

DOI: 10.5220/0011364100003350

In Proceedings of the 5th International Scientiﬁc Congress Society of Ambient Intelligence (ISC SAI 2022) - Sustainable Development and Global Climate Change, pages 426-435

ISBN: 978-989-758-600-2

educational technologies has made it necessary to

find the right ones for a particular institution.

Educational websites have also been a product of

educational institutions 'aspirations to simultaneously

comply with Ministry of Education regulations and

education stakeholders' information needs, which are

inherently quite different. This raises the question of

the openness of all areas of activity of educational

institutions online, ensuring free access to the results

of activities on sites, completeness of disclosure of

information online, which is the basis for making

decisions by stakeholders regarding further

interaction and, thereby, a tool of competitiveness

(Uchitel et al., 2020).

Therefore, one of the key tasks of today is the

development of modern approaches, models and

research methods, usability management as a

phenomenon that is a factor in the effectiveness of

modern educational reforms, digitalization,

requirements for openness and transparency of the

information society in the online environment.

Educational institutions again need to gain

confidence in themselves, in their educational

product, which has been transformed in accordance

with the online requirements of educational

processes, provided, at least, to maintain, and

maximum – to improve the quality of education and

provide a system to support information transparency

of activities in general.

The functioning and development of the sphere of

higher education as a participant in market relations

under conditions of quarantine restrictions must obey

modern trends in the development of the economy,

taking into account its digitalization, changes in the

interests of all groups of stakeholders, and the

educational space as a whole.

Usability is an effective tool for providing

participants in educational processes with effective

interaction in an online environment, which must be

skillfully used in order to ensure competitiveness not

only offline, but also online (Abran et al., 2003;

Manzoor et al., 2012). Given the sufficient popularity

and development of the tasks of ensuring usability in

modern conditions, each website of a higher

educational institution is unique in its own way,

therefore, it requires an autonomous and independent

assessment of usability in order to maintain a high

level of communication development and its own

competitiveness. At the same time, each entity is

faced with a number of problems regarding the way

and method of conducting a usability study, the

results of which will be unambiguous and accurate

assessments. This is due to the weak structure of the

very concept of usability and the human nature of its

definition.

The purpose of the article is to substantiate the

methodology for obtaining unambiguous and

accurate assessments of the usability of websites of

higher education institutions and ways to improve it.

The object of the research is the process of

achieving the usability of the websites of higher

education institutions.

The subject of the research is the conceptual,

methodological foundations of assessment, modeling

of the values of the parameters of the usability of

sites.

2 USABILITY RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

The essence of site usability is usually understood as

the degree of user satisfaction from the convenience

of using the site for making decisions on further

interaction with the owner of the site (Nielsen, 1996).

In the study of usability, the reaction of users to a

certain state of the system is studied, that is, the

content of the existing content, its visualization, the

structure of the site, in order to find effective

interaction between subjects and objects of research

in the online environment. To increase the reliability

of assessments of the usability of the website of

higher education institutions, it is necessary to take

into account the specifics of the activity, the specifics

of the information interests of stakeholders, the

frequency of interest shown in different periods of the

scientific process, the requirements of the Ministry of

Education for information content, and more.

The authors' conceptual vision of the

methodology for researching the usability of the

website of a higher educational institution and the

results of applying the methods that are presented in

individual publications are shown in Figure 1.

Modeling the Usability of University Websites as a Tool for Their Online Competitiveness in the Context of COVID-19

427

Figure 1: The methodology for researching the usability of the website of a higher educational institution.

The authors carried out a preliminary study and

proved that the series of dynamics of the frequency of

requests for university websites in the study make it

possible to characterize the model of online

stakeholder behavior in terms of seasonality, identify

trajectory segments and cycles, assess the stability of

the system and measures of recurrence, in general, the

degree of predictability of behavior (Kucherova et al.,

2021). Data on the nature of online behavior of

stakeholders is valuable from the point of view of the

need to manage the behavior of stakeholders in the

context of ensuring information transparency of

interaction, distributing the attention of stakeholders

online for the entire period of the educational process,

assessing the reaction of stakeholders to changes in

the information content of the site, promoting career

guidance events, and more.

The essence of the concept of usability is based on

the nature of human perception of information,

images, therefore, the main method of usability

research is based on the methodology of conducting

sociological research in terms of surveys,

questionnaires, etc (Kaur et al., 2016; Inal, 2018;

Sivaji et al., 2011). Therefore, it is difficult to achieve

clarity of reliability of estimates. The weak point in

the study remains the choice of criteria for evaluating

usability, since there are many sets of indicators that,

according to different author's approaches, partially

coincide, but differ in individual indicators (Harrati et

al.,2016; Honcharenko et al., 2020; Hornbæk, 2010;

Inal, 2018; Jabar et al., 2014; Kalra et al., 2011;

Ozkan et al., 2009; Santos et al., 2014; Unal et al.,

2011). The criterial selection is based on marketing

markers for evaluating the site, its content, and

structure. It should be borne in mind that all the

results of a questionnaire, a survey, and other

methods of sociological research will be relevant only

as of the date these results are obtained due to the

variability of the opinions of the respondents.

Nevertheless, the approach is relevant and provides

some valuable results. Research shows that the

leaders of the ratings of higher educational

institutions decided the issue of ensuring site usability

a long time ago and continue to maintain its quality.

Higher educational institutions that have not come to

the fore have a number of online challenges, which

are also partly related to usability issues.

By virtue of their inaccurate nature and

subjectivity of the results of the study of usability, the

formation of its multidimensional and multifaceted

estimates is quite difficult to summarize. The search

for the appropriate method of research remains

relevant, the use of which would leverage limb and

supplement the results of sociological research. The

Recurrent and fractal analyzes

of the series of the frequency

of requests for a website of a

higher educational institution

Characteristics of the model of the

ehavior of stakeholders:

recurrent states of the system, cyclicality, phase portraits

within the limits of interest shown in different periods of the

educational process

Structuring knowledge about

website usability:concept,

criteria, research methods

Sociological studies of the

usability of the website of a

higher educational institution

Fuzzy inference model about

the usability of the website of

a higher educational

institution

Rules for supporting decision-making on improving the

usability of the website of a higher educational institution

within the limits of interest shown in different periods of the

educational process

otion, criteria, methods of researching the usability of a

website of a higher educational institution

Questionnaire based on reasonable usability criteria and

point assessment of survey results

ISC SAI 2022 - V International Scientiﬁc Congress SOCIETY OF AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE

428

authors consider it appropriate to use the apparatus of

fuzzy logic. The input variables will perform the

usability criteria, an output linguistic variable - an

indicator characterizing the level of usability of the

sites of highest educational institutions. The model

will include a knowledge base that will contain a

sequence of obtaining fuzzy logical conclusions to

determine the quantitative importance of the usability

of the highest educational institution.

The resulting model of fuzzy logical conclusion

of users of higher educational institutions makes

sense to use to conduct an experimental study of the

impact of factors for users of sites. In a result of an

alternate change in the values of the factors by 10%,

it is possible to establish the factors of the

implementation of direct and maximum impacts and

factors that do not lead to changes in the source

indicator of usability, the indirect effect of which can

be activated and enhanced by the simultaneous

influence of an additional factor, which is more

responsible for reality, because in real environment

factors really affect simultaneously.

Thus, the classical understanding of the study of

the usability sites is supplemented by the tasks of

analyzing the stakeholders of higher educational

institutions by methods of fractal and recurrent

analyzes in order to track the nature of online

behavior of stakeholders in different periods of time

and user response on content, site structure. At the

same time, the results of sociological studies are

complemented by the methodology of fuzzy

mathematics with minimizing uncertainty and

subjectivity in the process of appreciation of

usability, which will justify the rules for supporting

the decision to increase the usability of the highest

educational institution within the desired interest of

stakeholders online in different periods of the

educational process. Thus, the methodology for

studying the usability sites of universities is

significant expanded and supplemented.

3 USABILITY RESEARCH

PRACTICE

3.1 Results of Recurrent and Fractal

Analysis

The authors conducted a study of the behavior of

higher education institutions' stakeholders by

quantitative indicators that characterize the online

behavior of their stakeholders and represent the

frequency of requests for eight higher education

institutions(NTUU “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic

Institute”, Taras Shevchenko National University of

Kyiv, Lviv Polytechnic National University, V.N.

Karazin Kharkiv National University, Sumy State

University, Interregional Academy of Personnel

Management, Kharkiv University, Academy of

Advocacy of Ukraine) in the Google Trends service

for the period from November,18 2015 to June,18

2020.The methodology was used fractal and recurrent

analyzes according to (Kucherova, et al., 2021). The

results of fractal analysis testified to the persistence

of all studied time series of the frequency of online

inquiries of stakeholders. It has been proven that time

series have trends, future values depend on past ones,

and are predicted based on data on previous values.

Therefore, the expressed interest of stakeholders in

the highest educational institutions is trend-stable.

Based on the results of a recurrent analysis of the

series of dynamics of the frequency of online queries

about the studied institutions of higher education

(Kucherova, et al., 2021), it was revealed that the

online behavior of stakeholders has a periodic,

pronounced seasonal character with bursts of

information activity of stakeholders in the summer,

which corresponds to certain stages of the educational

process. Incoming data studies have identified

trajectory segments that return to the same region of

phase space at different periods, but in a different

qualitative state. For a significant period, the online

behavior of stakeholders is more stable, and the

system tends to be laminar. Phase portraits of the

behavior of stakeholders in the studied institutions in

terms of the frequency of online requests are

characterized by the presence of cycles, the diameter

and length of which changes, which corresponds to

changes in the activity of stakeholders at different

time intervals of the educational process. To compare

the constructed recurrent time series diagrams of

online behavior of stakeholders the quantitative

analysis was carried out.

The value of the recurrence measure for all

studied time series proves the regularity and

definiteness of the dynamics of changes in time series

of online behavior of stakeholders. According to the

value of the indicator measure of determinism, the

most predictable and unpredictable in behavior

among the studied higher educational institutions

were identified. However, the average predictability

time for all higher education institutions is rather low.

The length of the trend is also insignificant for all

institutions of higher education. In the online

behavior of the stakeholders of higher education

institutions, short-term losses of the recurrence of

states are traced in a certain period of time, or the

Modeling the Usability of University Websites as a Tool for Their Online Competitiveness in the Context of COVID-19

429

dynamic system showed fewer recurring states than

in the previous study period.

3.2 Synthesis of Sociological and

Marketing Research of Website

Usability

The author's experience of using the synthesis of

sociological and marketing research is presented in

(Honcharenko, et al., 2020), where a survey was

carried out of “potential applicants and students in

order to determine the compliance of the websites of

higher educational institutions with the usability

criteria,” where, as a result, 1170 stakeholders were

surveyed according to a reasonable set of criteria,

namely:x

– download speed;x

–convenience; x

–

effectiveness, x

– relevance; x

– availability; x

–

interactivity; x

– cross browser compatibility; x

–

lack of forced content; x

– attractiveness of design;

–satisfaction allocated and researched in a certain

period of timet (Honcharenko, et al., 2020). Diagram

of the distribution of respondents by answering about

the level of satisfaction from working with the site is

on the Figure 2.

Figure 2: Diagram of the distribution of respondents by answering the question: rate the level of satisfaction from working

with the site on a 5-point scale (1 point – not satisfied, 5 points – completely satisfied), for the period of August 2020.

Based on the results of the point assessment and

taxonomic analysis, the following values of the

integral indicator of the usability of the sites were

obtained: NTUU “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic

Institute” – 0.801; Taras Shevchenko National

University of Kyiv– 0.647;Sumy State University–

0.787; Lviv Polytechnic National University–

0.785;N. Karazin Kharkiv National University–

0.532;Interregional Academy of Personnel

Management– 0.77; Kharkiv University– 0.697;

Academy of Advocacy of Ukraine– 0.562, where

usability is in the interval from 0 to 1.These results

served as a starting point for improving the usability

of sites and conducting system monitoring of the

values of its parameters.carried out.

Separately, the study was conducted on the

indicators of web-analytics sites of the leading

universities of Kryvyi Rih region (Table 1).

The results of the comparative analysis, shown in

Table 1, once again prove the importance of website

usability research. High values of usability indicators

were observed at Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical

University, average value has Kryvyi Rih National

University. Low level of values of the usability

parameters have the State University of Economics

and Technology and Mykhailo Tuhan-Baranovskiy

Donetsk National University of Economics and

Trade. According to the above, the indicators of web

analytics differ significantly. For example, Kryvyi

Rih State Pedagogical University and Kryvyi Rih

National University have the lowest refusal rate (the

percentage of sessions during which users viewed

only one page of the site without initiating additional

requests).

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100

NTUU “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”

Taras Shevchenko National Univers ity of Kyiv

Sumy State University

Lviv Polytechnic National University

V.N.Karazin Kharkiv National University

Interregional Academy of Personnel Management

Kharkiv University

Academy of Advocacy of Ukraine

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430

Table 1: Comparative analysis of the main indicators of web analytics of the leading institutions of higher education in Kryvyi

Rih for the period June 2021 - November 2021. (Generated by the authors using the SpyMetrics service).

Institutions of higher education

Visits,

attendance

Time on site,

min.

Pages per visit,

units

Refusal rate, %

State University of Economics and

Technology

10780 1,25 1,20 79,87

Kryvyi Rih National University 25330 2,58 3,17 34,15

MykhailoTuhan-Baranovskiy

Donetsk National University of

Economics and Trade

10600 5,55 6,29 67,40

Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical

University

987500 8,28 9,20 34,64

This can be explained, among other things, by the

fact that it is easy to find the necessary information

on the websites of these establishments. The same

cannot be said about the remaining establishments.

State University of Economics and Technology has

the highest refusal rate at 79.87%. The situation can

be explained by the fact that the sections are not

conveniently located on the site: it is difficult for

students, especially applicants and parents, to find the

information they need. In addition, such important

sections as, for example, "Admission to the

magistracy" and "Cost of Education" were not

completed for a long time. Some sections ("Student",

"Leisure", "Sports") contained outdated information.

In general, there was no section dedicated to the

international activities of the university. From the

point of view of students, a special problem was

identified – the schedule, which was provided without

distribution to faculties, specialties and courses.

An in-depth study of the usability of the official

website of the State University of Economics and

Technology was carried out. The research

methodology was based on conducting desk research

through a survey (Google form) and personal

communication with students. The results showed a

low level of usability parameters, which is why the

university website is not popular either among

students or among applicants. Some principles of

usability were violated, namely:

• the rule of three clicks - in order to get

to some sections (for example, specialties and cost of

education), it was necessary to make a long transition;

• logical and structured content – the site

contained a variety of information that prevented the

user from finding what he needed (for example,

windows with events and news overlapped any page);

• convenient navigation - the majority

of respondents (30.2%) indicated the difficulty of

finding the necessary information on the site (for

example, the schedule of classes in a specialty and

course);

• fast loading of site pages – this is

especially true for mobile phones and other gadgets.

The site was not adapted to the specified devices.

To correct the situation with the usability of the

State University of Economics and Technology,

improvements were proposed in several areas, in

particular: adaptation of the site to mobile devices;

revision of the site navigation, namely:

• bringing to the fore, in addition to

information about the university, its structural

divisions and the conditions of admission, also

information about the schedule, MOODLE,

specialties, international activities and the "Student"

section;

• updating information in the sections

dedicated to sports, leisure, the Student Council of the

self-government;

• complete change of the "Schedule"

section in the context of providing information on

structural divisions, specialties and courses; creation

and filling of a section dedicated to the international

activities of the university.

Special attention was paid to the "Student"

section, where it was proposed to improve navigation;

add the Student Communications Center to the

contact’s section; create a subdivision "Our

Achievements", sections on parallel learning and dual

education; add visual content to a subsection of the

university library. It should be noted that most of the

recommendations were implemented, which

significantly affected the level of site usability and the

number of visits.

Thus, introspection and self-assessment of the

usability of university websites should become a

tradition in the context of an active online regime for

Modeling the Usability of University Websites as a Tool for Their Online Competitiveness in the Context of COVID-19

431

the provision of educational services. The frequency

of research depends on the specialization of the

higher education institution, but at least once a year.

The systematic results of the usability analysis will

form the basis of the knowledge base about the

preferences, reactions and information requests of

stakeholders in order to maximize their satisfaction.

As a result, a higher education institution will respond

as quickly as possible to the needs of stakeholders,

thereby increasing its competitiveness.

3.3 Fuzzy Inference of Site Usability

For a complex solution of the problem of leveling

subjectivity and uncertainty, the apparatus of fuzzy

logic was used (Huang, et al., 2010; Muhammad, et

al., 2021).The input variables of the constructed

model are ten usability criteria x

(i=1,...,10), justified

by the authors, and the output linguistic variable is the

indicator, which characterizes the level of usability of

the website of a higher educational institution (I

).A

symmetric Gaussian form of the membership

function is chosen for both input and output variables,

which is due to its sufficient flexibility and ease of

use. The model was implemented in the Fuzzy Logic

Toolbox MatLab environment using the Mamdani

algorithm:

()

12345678910

,,,,,,,,,

Ifxxxxxxxxxx=

[0;1].

I ∈

)

As the input parameters of the model, the ratio of

the scores obtained for each usability criterion for the

survey results to the maximum possible number of

points for a separate criterion was used. A base of 180

fuzzy production rules was formed, which contains a

fuzzy inference mechanism, which allows us to draw

a conclusion about the level of site usability. The

simulation results provide a more accurate

understanding of the directions for making further

effective management decisions to ensure the

usability of the site.

As a result of the simulation, it was revealed that

the NTUU site “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic

Institute” has a high level of usability, sites of Sumy

State University, Lviv Polytechnic National

University, Interregional Academy of Personnel

Management, Kharkiv University and Taras

Shevchenko National University of Kyiv have

sufficient degree. Middle degree have sites of the

Academy of Advocacy of Ukraine and V. N. Karazin

Kharkiv National University.

To support the adoption of managerial decisions

about ensuring the usability of sites, decision-making

models were substantiated on the basis of an

experimental study of the influence of the values of

the criteria on the usability of sites of higher

educational institutions:

()

12345678910

,,,,,,,,,

fxxxxxxxxxxΔ= ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ

)

For this purpose, the input variables of the model

were divided into two sets – criteria for direct and

criteria for indirect impact. The influence of the

criteria of direct influence on the value of the initial

indicator is determined. For the criteria of indirect

impact, pairs of criteria have been identified, the

simultaneous action of which enhances and activates

their cumulative effect on the level of the initial value

of the site usability.

So, the set of us ability criteria

{

}

(i=1,...,10) was presented in the for mofauni on of

two sets

∪

, where Pis a set of factors of direct in

fluence,

is a set of factors of indirection fluence,

and the intersection of the sesetsisanemptyset

PN∩=∅

)

To determine whether the criterionx

(i=1,...,10)

belongs to one of the two sets (

), dependency

graphs are built:

()

us i i

gx=

(

______

1,10i = )

(4)

Then

() , ( )

ii i

if g x const then x P

if g x const then x N

≠∈

=∈







(5)

The effect of a simultaneous increase in the value

of all criteria was determined. As a result, decision-

making models for finding reserves and unlocking the

potential for ensuring the convenience of using the

site were built for each higher educational institution.

For site of NTUU “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv

Polytechnic Institute” changes in the values of

convenience (x

) and relevance (x

) act as a reserve

for ensuring online information transparency in terms

of site usability:

( ,1,1 , , , , , , , , ) 1,024

1 2345678910

xxxxxxxxxx I

(6)

(,,,1,1,,,,, , )1,013

123 45678 910

xx x x x x x x x x I

(7)

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432

The usability of the site will improve by 2,6%,

provided that all criteria are improved by 10%

The ways of unlocking the potential of

information transparency of the site Taras

Shevchenko National University of Kyiv is to

simultaneously increase the values of efficiency (x

)

and interactivity (x

) and, separately, relevance (x

( , ,1,1 , , ,1,1 , , , , ) 1,071

12 345 678 910

xx x x x x x x x x I

(8)

(,,,1,1,,,,, , )1,077

123 45678 910

xx x x x x x x x x I

(9)

The best usability effect of the site will improve

by 10,42%, provided that all criteria are improved by

10%

Forsite of Sumy State University changes in the

values of convenience (x

), efficiency (x

) and

relevance (x

) act as a potential for ensuring online

information transparency in terms of site usability:

(,1,1 , , , , , , , , ) 1,011

1 2345678 910

xxxxxxxxxx I

(10)

( , ,1,1 , , ,1,1 , , , , ) 1, 008

12 345 678 910

xx x x x x x x x x I

(11)

(,,,1,1,,,,, , )1,005

123 45678 910

xx x x x x x x x x I

(12)

Increasing all factors at the same time gives a

better result (usability improvement by 2,64%)

The potential for information transparency of site

Lviv Polytechnic National University is realized

subject to an increase in the values of convenience

) by 40% and accessibility (x

) by10%, as well as

convenience (x

) by 40% and design (x

) by 10%:

( ,1, 4 , , ,1, 1 , , , , , ) 1, 09

1 234 5678 910

xxxxxxxxxx I

(13)

( ,1, 4 , , , ,1,1 , , ,1,1 , ) 1, 08

1 2345 678 910

xxxxxxxxxx

(14)

However, a simultaneous increase in factor

convenience (x

) by 40%, and all other factors by 10%

is more effective elements of influencing the usability

of the site (increase by 9,29%).

It is possible to ensure information transparency

of the site V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University

by increasing the value of convenience (x

efficiency (x

), loading speed (x

) and interactivity

), accessibility (x

) and interactivity (x

(,1,1, , , , , , ,1.1, ) 1,044

1 2345678 910

xxxxxxxx xx I

(15)

( , ,1, 1 , , , , , , 1.1 , ) 1, 031

12 345678 910

xx x x x x x x x x I

(16)

(1,1,,,,,1,1,,, , )1,084

12345 678 910

xx x x x x x x x x I

(17)

( , , , ,1, 1 ,1, 1 , , , , ) 1, 042

12345678910

xx x x x x x x x x I

(18)

A simultaneous increase in all factors by 10% will

cause an increase in the value of the usability indicator

by 12.25%.

For site Interregional Academy of Personnel

Management, the reserves of ensuring online

information transparency are concentrated in

convenience(x

) by 30% together with the

attractiveness of design(x

) by 10%, as well as

increasing the value of convenience(x

)by 30% and

accessibility(x

) by 10%:

( ,1, 3 , , , , , , , 1, 1 , ) 1, 036

1 2345678 910

xxxxxxxx xx I

(19)

( ,1, 3 , , ,1, 1 , , , , , ) 1, 02

1 234 5678 910

xxxxxxxxxx I

(20)

A simultaneous increase in factor convenience

) by 30%, and all other factors by 10% is more

effective elements of influencing the usability of the

site (increase by 4,32%).

It is recommended to ensure information

transparency of site Kharkiv University from the

point of view of stakeholders by increasing the value

of convenience (x

) by 40% and accessibility (x

) by

10%, increasing the value of convenience (x

) by 40%

and attractiveness of the design (x

) by 10%:

( ,1, 4 , , ,1, 1 , , , , , ) 1, 025

1 234 5678 910

xxxxxxxxxx I

(21)

(,1,4 , , , , , , ,1,1, ) 1,023

1 2345678 910

x xxxxxxx xx I

(

22)

Modeling the Usability of University Websites as a Tool for Their Online Competitiveness in the Context of COVID-19

433

A simultaneous increase in factor convenience

) by 40%, and all other factors by 10% is more

effective elements of influencing the usability of the

site (increase by 6,58%).

For site Academy of Advocacy of Ukraine, the

factors of an effective influence on information

transparency are to increase the importance of the

relevance of the site (x

) and the satisfaction of

stakeholders from using the site (x

( , , ,1, 1 ,1, 1 , , , , , ) 1, 026

123 4 5678 910

xx x x x x x x x x I

(23)

( , , , , , , , , ,1, 1 ) 1, 014

12345678 9 10

xx x x x x x x x x I

(

24)

A simultaneous increase in all factors by 10% is

more effective elements of influencing the usability

of the site (increase by 2,73%).

The implementation of the models will make it

possible to ensure the quality of the provision of

educational services within the boundaries of

building stakeholder interactions in the online

environment.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The article summarizes the results of previous studies

of the usability of websites of higher education

institutions. The essence of usability in work is taken

as the degree of user satisfaction from the

convenience of using the site for making decisions on

further interaction with the owner of the site. In the

study of usability, the reactions of users to a certain

state of the system are studied, that is, the content of

the existing content, its visualization, the structure of

the site, in order to search for effective interaction

between subjects and objects of research in the online

environment, taking into account their specificity of

activity and the features of information requests.

The authors supplemented the classical

understanding of the study of the usability of websites

with the tasks of analyzing the conduct of

stakeholders of higher educational institutions by

methods of fractal and recurrent analyzes in order to

track the nature of online behavior of stakeholders in

different periods of time and the reaction of online

users to the content and structure of the site. The basis

of the study of online behavior is the confirmed

hypothesis that the online behavior of stakeholders

can be studied by the indicator of the frequency of

requests for the websites of educational institutions in

search engines, the recurrent analysis of the series of

dynamics of which revealed seasonal bursts of

information activity and the manifestation of stable

interests of the target audience during the annual

admission campaigns, the presence of a random

component and concentration overload of active entry

companies in the studied higher education

institutions.

At the same time, the results of sociological

studies (questionnaires) of usability were

supplemented by the methodology of fuzzy

mathematics with minimization of uncertainty and

subjectivity in the process of assessing usability,

which made it possible to substantiate the rules for

supporting decision-making on improving the

usability of the websites of the studied higher

educational institutions within the limits of the

expressed interest of stakeholders online at different

periods of the educational process.

For a qualitative change in sites with a high level

of usability, it is recommended to revise the site

structure and content in principle, since the system

has reached its peak. Sites with a sufficient and

average usability score have the potential to meet the

information needs of stakeholders, for which

guidelines for its disclosure have been developed.

The practical implementation of the decision support

rules will ensure the quality of the provision of

educational services within the framework of

established online interaction between higher

educational institutions and their stakeholders.

Thus, the methodology for studying the usability

of websites of higher education institutions has been

significantly expanded and supplemented.

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