Using Web Server Logs in Evaluating Instructional Web Sites

Abstract

Web server logs contain a great deal of information about who uses a Web site and how they use it. Software exists to help analyze these logs, and the programs can produce a variety of reports about your site and its visitors. The analyses can tell us such things as where people enter and exit, what the most popular pages are, what browsers people use to access the site, patterns of use over time, and much more. This information, especially when used in conjunction with data from surveys, usability studies, and other sources, can help us design and revise our Web sites. The goal is to make them more useful to and usable by our students. This article describes the information available from Web server logs, discusses some of the ways to analyze it, and begins to look at how to use that information in formative evaluation for instructional Web sites.