User Traffic Patterns SURWEB Summative Evaluation Report 1995-2000

Chapters:5

1| 2| 3| 4| 5

References

Additional References

Appendices:

A | B | C | D | E
F | G | H | I | J

Contacts:

SURWEB
Dr. F. Lynn Bills
Director
435-637-1173

Media, Analysis & Practice
Kathleen Tyner
About the Author

User Traffic Patterns

One indicator of the increased use of SURWEB can be measured by comparing the traffic data from its use by early adopters in 1997 until October 2000. The surge in SURWEB user hits goes from over 107,000 in 1997 to over 14 million hits in 2000, an increase of approximately 1300% in user hits in a three-year period. Most of the gain in users occurred from 1997 and 1999 and can be attributed to SURWEB professional development efforts during that time period. Monthly server traffic patterns for 1997-2000 are located in Appendix D: Monthly Server Traffic Patterns 1997-2000. The total user hits for each year is displayed in Figure 6: SURWEB User Hits 1997-2000.

User hits are requests for files from the server and represent a gross measure of all site traffic. While the number of hits is a vague measure, SURWEB pages are delivered by uniform html style sheets, with a fixed number of objects on each page. In 1997 SURWEB refined the measurement of user hit traffic to eliminate all hits generated by staff activity. In 1998, SURWEB began to track page views, a more refined way to measure the growth of the SURWEB user base. Page views refer to the number of visitors who view a page and can be used to guide the design and content of the database. As can be seen in Figure 7, page views increased dramatically over a three-year period, growing from over 1.3 million in 1998 to more than 5.6 million in 2000. Average page views per day doubled over the three year period as follows: 9,063 (1997); 10,372 (1998); and 18,574 (2000). Figure 7 displays total page views for each year.

Table 8 displays totals of all data related to user traffic between 1997-2000. Totals for years 1997-1999 reflect data gathered January-December. However, totals for 2000 reflect data gathered only until the end of October and are expected to be significantly higher by the end of December. As can be seen in Table 8, SURWEB traffic increases significantly each year.

Table 8: SURWEB Server Traffic Patterns

1997-2000

Description	1997	1998	1999	2000
Total No. of Hits	107,634	6,832,646	11,193,404	14,279,189
Total No. of Users	22,003	104,549	194,935	155,438
Average Hits per Day	3,234	18,718	30,870	46,854
Average User Sessions per Day	65	286	538	509
Average User Sessions Length	15.5	22.5	20	24
Total Number of Page Views	*	1,384,251	3,754,603	5,659,663
Average Page Views per Day	*	9,063	10,372	18,574

* This data was not gathered.

Based on previous year totals and current site traffic, the total number of individual users is projected to approach 200,000 by the end of 2000. The time on-line with SURWEB has remained fairly constant through the years, averaging over 20 minutes per session. In 1998, the first full year that SURWEB was online, users averaged 22 minutes on line, translating into over 29,000 hours of direct or enhanced instruction (Spendlove, 2000). In 2000, users averaged 24 minutes online in over 500 user sessions.

The Utah Education Network (UEN) is the gateway server for many educational agencies in the state of Utah. Because of the strong initial focus on Utah resources and the SURWEB professional development in Utah, UEN (k12.ut.us) is the most active organization on the SURWEB server representing an average of 50% of total user activity and most of the user sessions between 1997-2000. UEN is also a partner who shares database content with SURWEB. Table 9 displays the traffic from k12.ut.us.

Table 9: SURWEB Server Traffic from the Utah Education Network Server (k12.ut.us)

Description	1997	1998	1999	2000
Hits	617,588	3,852,891	6,150,977	7,290,095
Percent of Total	57.3	50	50	49
User Sessions	7528	41,572	62,466	33,933

The increase in the use of SURWEB by Utah students and teachers can be attributed to several factors, including professional development activities in the state of Utah; linking SURWEB resources to state standards; and the project’s reputation for relevant information about Utah-related lessons. However, the remaining 50% of the server traffic hits can be attributed to a diverse segment of national Internet server sites. There are also a small percentage of international users.

As a strategy for scaling up SURWEB, the iMatrix program is locating servers throughout the United States. Thus, it is expected that the proportion of user traffic outside Utah will increase yearly, as more iMatrix servers become operational. The iMatrix program is discussed in detail in Appendix G: Formative Evaluation of iMatrix Training for the Florida Learning Alliance. Computer-generated traffic data is combined with information about individual users gathered from observation protocols, survey data, site visits, and professional development exit surveys, to inform SURWEB continuing design, use, scale and spread strategies.