Ministry of Education • 2019

Empowering students to make the best decisions for their post-secondary

Enhancing the Post-secondary section of the MOE website.

Overview

There were content gaps as the post-secondary section of the website only had one page of the post-secondary education landscape that was brief and did not provide any guidance.
Before
After
So when it comes to choosing their post-secondary education, students do not make the best choice for themselves. They were unclear about the pathways available to them.
"I chose this course because it is the most general type of course that people take" 
– ITE student
‍
"I have no idea what to do in the future so I decided to go to JC first. Teacher also recommended me to go to JC."
– JC student

Research

User Interview

We conducted 15 user interviews with post-secondary students and parents of post-secondary students to their goals, motivations and pain points so that we can identify opportunities to improve the website.

Key Insights

  1. Viewing different pathways
    Students wanted to view the different pathways that were relevant to them but schools might not provide a full overview of all the pathways (e.g. focus only on certain admissions exercises). There was also limited curriculum time to examine the topic in depth.
  2. Varied level of support
    Despite schools providing support through teachers and education and career guidance (ECG) counsellors, the level of support was varied. Some students felt uncomfortable during ECG sessions as they were paired up with other students. They might also have different levels of trust with their teachers or felt that their advice might not be useful due to the lack of experience in a particular industry.
  3. Students needed help to distinguish between similar courses
    For example, what is the difference between the accountancy courses across the different polytechnics), but there was limited information online.
  4. Information source
    ‍    Students relied heavily on the JAE booklet or word of mouth from seniors, friends and relatives to get information during their education research process, and they only visited the MOE website for specific tasks such as to check key dates.

Solution

Understanding Pathway Options Better

We designed an interactive tool to encourage and educate students on the different options for their post-secondary education. Depending on the options they choose, the answer provides them with links for next steps where they can explore further.
Students can select their profile and intentions to get their post-secondary education options
Guiding students to find out more about admission exercises and programmes

Distinguishing Courses Made Easier

Previously, students would have to refer to the JAE booklet to look at the courses that are available which also made it difficult to distinguish between similar courses. Now, with CourseFinder, they can visit the MOE website to not only find courses they might be interested in, but also shortlist them so that it will be convenient for them to fill in their choices in the JAE Internet System (JAE-IS) later.
"When I was filling up the 12 choices I was writing down all the course codes because if you stay too long on the JAE-IS they will log you out" 
– Year 1 polytechnic student
We have arranged the criteria from the most important to the least important criteria when they are deciding which school they would want to enrol into.
Students can learn more about the course details, minimum entry requirements, modules, internship, career prospects and how to register with the different admission exercises.
During a usability test, the course details, "specialisation" and "career prospects", were ranked of high importance when it came to deciding what course they would choose. Hence, we added them under the shortlist page to make it easier for students to compare between similar courses with different specialisation and career prospects.

Results

The feedback from the public was very positive, with many noting that the post-secondary section redesign is much more informative and straightforward. It was also easier to explore the different courses all in one place with CourseFinder.
"It is easier to search for courses straightaway. I don't have to go to search for the Polytechnic and then search for the courses. CourseFinder leads us directly."
– Secondary 4 student
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