An Intervention to Increase Participation in Lifelong Learning Through University Programme Webpages

Abstract

University programme webpages often serve as the first point of contact between prospective students and higher education institutions. At this early stage, students must decide whether a programme aligns with their goals, values, and constraints. This thesis examines how webpage design influences users’ decision readiness, the state of being both confident and sufficiently informed to move forward with an educational decision. While prior research has shown that confidence and comprehension influence action, little is known about how these states are shaped by specific design features of educational webpages. Drawing on the COM-B model and processing fluency theory, this study investigates whether aligning content and structure with users’ evaluation tasks can enhance confidence in understanding and improve comprehension. Specifically, it asks: (1) whether WCAG-aligned structure alone supports decision readiness even when content is minimal or weakly aligned with users’ goals; (2) whether such structure amplifies the effects of task-aligned content when the two are combined; and (3) whether task-aligned content improves comprehension and confidence independently of structural accessibility. To test these questions, a preregistered randomised controlled trial (N = 113) was conducted. Participants were shown one of three versions of a university programme webpage, each varying in structural clarity (WCAG compliance) and the task relevance of the content. Participants then reported their confidence in understanding and completed a comprehension test covering both instructed and incidental content. Results indicated that participants in the Structured Text condition, which combined task-aligned content with WCAG-compliant structure, reported significantly higher confidence than those in the Table condition (p = .041, d = 0.49). This effect was significantly mediated by perceived cognitive fit. No significant overall differences in comprehension were found, but for instructed content, comprehension was significantly higher in the Structured Text condition compared to the Table condition (p = .002, d = 0.89). These findings suggest that confidence can be shaped by aligning design with users’ goals and information needs. The study introduces cognitive fit as a mechanism behind confidence in complex digital environments and extends fluency research into higher education. By framing programme evaluation as active problem-solving, the findings offer design principles for improving student decision support online.