Following up the progress of doctoral students and advisors’ workload through data visualizations: a case study in a PhD program

Abstract

One of the most important aspects to consider during the development of a PhD is the students’ progress, both for their advisors and the students themselves. However, several achievements of different natures are involved during a PhD (research stays, publications, seminars, research plans, etc.). For these reasons, we propose a set of data visualizations to support decision-making processes in a PhD program. A preliminary requirement elicitation process was carried out to obtain a design basis for the implementation and integration of these tools in the PhD portal. Once the visualizations were implemented, a usability study was performed to measure the perceived usability of the newly added PhD portal functionalities. This paper presents the design process and usability study outcomes of applying data visualizations to the learning outcomes of the PhD Programme in Education in the Knowledge Society at the University of Salamanca.