Implications of Error Message Design and Student Status on Error Recovery in University Course Registration Systems

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Despite the prevalence of course registration systems in post-secondary education, there is little research on the usability of those systems. The present study investigated the influence of error message design and task type on error recovery in course registration. Forty-four college students ( M age = 20.48 years; 33 female, 11 male) went through a course registration simulation, which included two error tasks: waitlisted (i.e., full course) and linked (i.e., additional course needed) and two error message design conditions (altered and original message design). Usability was assessed as effectiveness and efficiency. Results showed that although usability did not differ between error message design, the linked task induced higher levels of errors made and time spent compared to the waitlisted task. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of course registration systems and inform future design of these systems.