About the Survey

We are in the process of redesigning the college website. This survey was used to gather feedback about the content and features our students use as well as their opinions about some changes to the website that we are considering.

Over 600 Responses in 19 days!

On April 28, the website redesign survey was posted online. As of May 17, we have received 628 responses! We have reviewed over 600 completed surveys and THOUSANDS of comments. We appreciate all of the helpful feedback.

Here is a quick snapshot of the results:

• The look needs to change
  The colors are dull. The design is boring and outdated. The layout is cluttered. Photos should be updated frequently and include more shots of the campus.
  “It’s under the impression a beige-brown is an appealing color; it’s not.”
• Website should be more unified/cohesive
  The main website, library, Blackboard, myStudentCenter, portal, calendars and email are all maintained by different departments, and it shows.
  “Layout is disjointed and look and feel is not consistent.”

• General information is great; hard to find specific info
  The website is used as a resource. Navigation paths should be more clear. It’s hard to know where to start. Some content is outdated, confusing and wordy. It is easy to navigate after you learn how it is organized.
  “While all of the information is on the website, it seems to be hit or miss when it comes to actually finding it.”
• Class search tool needs improvement
  Students want to find classes by time, date, location and instructor. When searching for a class, for the first time through the student system, they are greeted by a corporate looking Oracle pop-up window. Finding a class is difficult for new and prospective students. Current students typically log in to find detailed course information.
  “Enrolling for classes can be a pain if you don’t have the catalog by your side. Searching the database, filtering and visual presentation all need to be redone.”
• Better way to browse the college catalog
  PDF’s are slow to download and not very user friendly. There should be an easier way to view requirements for degree and certificate programs.
  “There should be an easier way to browse the catalog.”
• More information about full-time and adjunct faculty
  Students would like easy access to contact information as well as bios (e.g. college they graduated from, professional experience), for both fulltime and adjunct faculty. Before taking a class, students are interested in knowing who the teacher is and what they look like. Also, they would like to see specific course information (e.g. syllabi, required textbooks).
  “I would like to see more information pertaining to instructors. I would like to see a list of faculty members and their experience level to help me choose my classes.”
• Easy access to academic calendar and campus events
  Semester information, athletics, performing arts, info sessions, campus events and student activities should be easily accessible from one place.
  “Events aren’t attractively shown.”
• Mobile friendly site, smart phone apps
  Current students would like access to email, blackboard, and other personalized information on their mobile devices. In addition, it is a great way to keep students up-to-date on college news and campus events. Side note: Flash does not work on mobile Apple products.
  “I would Blackboard to be compatible with the iPhone and iTouch Blackboard App. I check blackboard daily, and being able to do it from my iPhone would make it much easier for me and for others.”
• Online tools: make more, improve or expand existing
  Our students are tech savvy. They prefer to do as much as possible online, without having to call or visit. The search tool can be frustrating and doesn’t always take you to where you want to go. They want to make appointments with counselors or advisors online. If they have a specific question (financial aid, course requirements, registration problems etc.) they want to chat live and online with someone knowledgeable.
  “Live counselor chats would be GREAT!”
• More student life and student-generated content
  Campus life could be shown through student-generated content (on the official college website). This includes: updated information on clubs and organizations, videos and photos of student activities, an online version of The Chronicle, and providing “campus corkboard” announcements online.
  “A section dedicated to student’s work, a song from a music student, a painting or anything that would encourage the students who want to present their work. It might encourage others to try new things.”
• Suggestions related to ‘the process’
  Students made suggestions that relate to the process. Suggestions include: list required textbooks earlier, simplify the complicated login procedures, easier way to get approval to take a class when you have work experience, easy way to set-up a payment plan, make definitive decisions when closing the school for bad weather, provide a way to evaluate faculty, ability to look up student ID numbers.
  “I do not like that the books for classes are not listed early enough for me to look for them online.”

This snapshot does not represent all views. It recognizes trends, similar opinions and suggestions for selected comments.

Slide: Weighted Feature Matrix

About the Meeting

The third web advisory committee meeting took place on Tuesday, April 20. Before the meeting, we asked the group to complete the student personas by submitting virtual sticky notes. This meeting was focused on the other personas:  Business, General Community, Friends of CLC and Education Community.

Agenda

• Review online sticky note exercise for remaining student audiences
• Conduct sticky note exercise for Business, General Community, Friends of CLC and Education Community audiences
• Overview of how we will use the sticky note exercise and a look at the weighted feature matrix
• Discuss next steps
  • Identify patterns from sticky note exercise.
  • Develop first draft of audience personas.
  • First meeting of web redesign team.
  • Conduct website redesign survey.

The College of Lake County hosted a conference, “Integrating New Technologies in the Classroom: A Conference for Faculty.” Dr. Rich Haney, Vice President Educational Affairs, introduced the keynote speaker as an “awesome guy.” Sure enough, he was awesome. Why was he awesome?

1) He incorporated clips from “The Office” and “The Hangover”
2) His pacing was excellent.. He used an iPad as a timer, went off every 15 minutes
3) He kept it casual, open discussions and Q&A throughout the presentation
4) He shared actual examples of how educators integrate technologies in their classroom…

Affinity spaces: Where informal learning takes place

Jeff Kissinger, Chief Learning Solutions Architect
“In the age of beta: change is the constant.”

Here is how educators use…

Twitter

• Share interesting articles
• Post questions of the day
• Communicate with current and prospective students
• Set up the feed to update Blackboard (for class discussion)…
• …And to update the blog (for future students).

Second Life

A 3D virtual world for socializing, connecting and creating

• Practice Foreign Languages
  Have conversations with students from other countries.
• Go Beyond the Book
  Read the book, write the paper… build the environment.
• Teach Social Skills
  Create a place for people with autism to practice social skills.
• Get Involved
  Attend virtual conferences and book discussions.

Facebook

• Create a private group to communicate with a class and provide resources
• Create a fan page to promote a program and spark ideas
• Understand the privacy policy

Tools for Faculty

• Create Courses Collaboratively
  SIRIUS: A consortium of colleges and universities who develop highly creative, interactive, low-cost courses and instructional materials delivered in all modes (classroom, hybrid and online).
• Electronic Textbooks
  Go paperless, mobile, affordable and eco-friendly.
  MyScribe: Digital Textbook Solutions
  E-Book Readers: Sony, Kindle, iPad
• Open Source Course Management System
  Moodle: A free web application that educators can use to create online or hybrid courses.
  Mobile Moodle: Mobile learning scenarios with Moodle as a backend.

Technology Trends in Higher Education

Suzanne Kissel, SunGard Consultant

Video: “A Vision of Students Today“
This video was created by Dr. Michael Wesch and 200 KSU students.

Interesting stats:

• 18% of my teachers know my name.
• I will read 8 books this year.. 2300 web pages.. and 1281 facebook profiles.
• I will write 42 pages for class this semester.. And over 500 pages of email.

iTunes U and Mobile Learning for Higher Ed

Jason Beckham, Apple in Education

Interesting Stats

How many college students use a smartphone?

• 2007 – 12.1%
• 2009 – 51.2%

If the college had a mobile site or app, what would they want to do with it?

• Email (63%)
• Grades/Registration (47%)
• Courses/Learning Management (46%)

Colleges Going Mobile

MIT's Mobile App: Find people, places, events, course news, shuttle schedules and more. Anytime. Anywhere.

• ACU Connected: Mobile Learning Initiative
  ACU distributed Apple iPhones and iPod touches to the incoming freshman class, allowing to explore a new vision for mobile learning.
• OSU: Mobile Learning Activities
  Instructors integrate effective mobile learning activities into their teaching.
• UI Mobile: Tools for Students on the Go
  Laundry Widget – Students can check if there are open machines in the Residence Hall.
• Texas A&M Mobile
  On a computer? See what the actual mobile version looks like.

Apps for Mobile Learning

Netter's Anatomy Flash Cards

• Flash Cards for Learning Anatomy
• Earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) Credits
• Organize Assignments, Courses and Teachers
• Interactive Polling Questions/Responses
• Practice Tests and Video Solutions for Algebra
• Read Books, Magazines or Newspapers
• Shoot, Edit and Publish Video

iTunes U: An Innovative Way to
Distribute Educational Content

iTunes U includes everything from lectures to language lessons, films to labs, audiobooks to tours. Over 600 universities have iTunes U sites. Here are a couple examples:

• Duke
• MIT

iTunes U: Top Ten
1. Intensive English
2. The art of asking the right question, not the science of giving the right answer
3. Intro to Mac OS X, Cocoa Touch, Objective-C and Tools
View all ten

What am I Missing?

I was able to attend THREE presentations. There were SIX MORE!

Presentations I missed:

• Effective Practices for Hybrid/Blended Courses,
  Ms Deepa Godambe, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Harper College
• Using Communities to Enhance Instruction,
  Jeff Varblow, CLC Accounting Instructor
• Delicious Research: Social Bookmarking and how it can Work for You,
  Jim LeFager, CLC Faculty Librarian
• Creating Course Content with Jing,
  Scott Rial, Director/Active Learning Technologies
• Lecture Capture: Taking Classroom Lectures Anywhere,
  Russ Pearson, Coordinator of Course Management Systems and Training
• The Power of YouTube,
  Ken Kikuchi, Psychology Instructor
  Page Wolf, Coordinator of Faculty Development

Did you go to to the conference? If so, what gold nuggets did I miss? Please share…

The second web advisory committee meeting took place on Thursday, April 8. In preparation for the personas exercise, the  committee was asked to  fill out this survey. In addition, all staff and faculty had an opportunity to participate.

Agenda

I. Survey Results: 94 responses to how CLC is perceived and what sets CLC apart.
II. Group Exercise: Who are our target audiences?
III. Group Exercise: What do our target audiences want from us?
(Matching types of persons with their goals, actions, problems)

View the Presentation

View the presentation that was used in the meeting.
Included are photos from the actual brainstorming activity.

Background Information

This meeting will include developing “personas” for the users of our web site. This is an important task because it gives us a foundation for tackling a whole range of issues relating to the web site—the content needed, the “voice” or language used, the navigation structure, etc. Everything starts with clearly understanding the audiences we are trying to reach and serve.

Why Personas?

Personas will help to bring focus, empathy, consensus and help us to make better decisions more efficiently.

What makes a Persona?

Example of Persona Template

• Name + Role
• Individual’s goals, tasks or questions.
• Demographical differentiators (location, age, income, etc.)
• Information they may already know about the College.
• What objectives we want them to be able to accomplish.

How to Get Started

Personas already exist, so we don’t need to “create” them, we just need to “discover” and “define” them. Many of us work with them every day. We just need to take all those people and based on common objectives categorize them into groups.

Before the next meeting on Thursday, April 8th, think about the people you meet and the questions you receive and give that individual a role and note their goal, task, or question. After we have all these individuals, we will group them based on common needs and form a persona for each group. So talk to your peers, take notes, and come to the next meeting prepared with your list of individuals and their goals, tasks, or common questions.

Examples: Person + Goal, Activity, Action or Problem

New Student who wants to attend CLC but doesn’t know where to start.
Student that needs to access Blackboard for an online class.
Professional who wants to improve current job skills by taking weekend classes.
Individual who wants more information about a specific event.

This exercise is based on the UIE Virtual Seminar, “The Power of Ad Hoc Personas: Truly Practical Methods to Get Your Organization on the Same Page” by Tamara Adlin.

First Meeting

The two-hour meeting with the Web Advisory Committee and the the Web Redesign Team took place on Tue., March 23, 2010.

The Presentation

View the presentation online or download the PDF.

Agenda

1. Review results from the warm-up activity
2. Overview of the Web redesign project
3. Overview of the Web redesign process
4. Discussion of the responsibilities of the Web redesign committee
5. Presentation on History of CLC’s Web Site—How We Got to Where We Are
6. Common issues facing institutional Web sites
   (Based on 10 Harsh Truths about Institutional Web Sites).
7. Review CLC Web Properties
8. Discussion about current Web site: what we like, what we don’t

View the white paper for more information about the Web redesign project (PDF).

Google Sites Sample Page

The Email that Started It

A faculty member asked, “Can we have a password-protected page to post instructor resources (i.e. sample syllabus)?”

First thoughts..
T drive? Not for adjunct faculty. Web space? Too complicated. Blog? No password protection. That’s where Google Sites comes in…

Why I Suggested Google Sites

• Create a Web site that is public or private (with control over collaborators and viewers)
• Use a template (lots to choose from), easy to setup, no design or HTML required
• Create, edit and maintain online, No software required
• Upload documents, create links, there are different types of page layouts

Google Sites Resources

Google Sites Overview
Getting Started Guide
‘How to Get Started’ Video

CLC Faculty and Staff FAQ

• Can we have a password-protected page to post instructor resources?
  Yes! Use Google sites!

• I’d like a place to post handouts and information for one of my classes.
  OK. Google sites would work for that!

• Hey, there’s a link to “My Web site” under my name in the staff directory… I have web space?!?! What do I do with that?
  Take a Dreamweaver class through the PDC, Have the Help Desk install Dreamweaver on your computer. Assuming you are full-time faculty or staff with a college computer. Contact the web developer to help set it all up. Now create your Web site. Good luck!

• I took a one-day Dreamweaver class! Now, how do I create a Web site?
  I went to college for four years and worked in the field for a year before successfully designing and developing my first official Web site. It might take more than a day.

We would like to include your institution in our benchmarking. Participating is easy—just click on the link below, which will be available until March 31.

College / University Web Site Staffing Survey

At the end of the survey, there is an option to request a copy of the results. The findings will be presented only in the aggregate. Names of colleges and other identifying information will not be reported.

The proposed redesign process has gone through the governance system, and a Web Advisory Committee and a Web Redesign Team have been formed.

The Governance System

The Web Advisory Committee serves as a subcommittee of the ITC, thereby creating a link to the governance system. It also has an unofficial, “dotted line” relationship with the Enrollment Management Commission because of the importance of the web as a tool for building enrollment.

The Web Advisory Committee

This committee provides a means of obtaining institutional buy in for the re-design process, decisions and end products. It includes membership from across the institution and includes representatives from the major stakeholder departments. The membership includes:

• Admissions, Financial Aid and International: Erin, Assistant Director
• Adult Education, GED & ESL: Mary, Dean
• Biological and Health Sciences: Derek, Associate Dean
• Business: Liliana, Academic Operations Manager
• Career and Placement Services: Sylvia, Executive Director
• Communication Arts, Humanities and Fine Arts: Yang, Multimedia Instructor
• Counseling Center: Kris, Counselor
• Engineering, Math and Physical Sciences: Kim, Academic Operations Manager
• Enrollment Services: Deb, Assistant Director
• Faculty:
• Human Resources: Kathleen, Assistant Director
• IT: Carmen, Web developer
• IT: Sam, Network and Communications Technician
  
• James Lumber Center: Luann, Marketing & Outreach Coordinator
• Lakeshore Campus: Alphonso, Dean
• Library: James, Librarian
• Office for Students with Disabilities:
• Personal Enrichment: Laura, Program Specialist
• PR: Evelyn, Special assistant to the president for outreach and communications
• PR: Khristine, Web content specialist
• Social Sciences: Stephanie, Academic Operations Manager
• Southlake Campus:Viki, Dean
• Student:
• Student Life:
• Sustainability programs: Dara, Sustainability Coordinator
• Workforce and Professional Development Institute: Karen, Marketing Director

The Web Redesign Team

This team consists of staff with specific web skills who would do the major redesign work. This team would consist of:

• PR: Khristine, Web content specialist
• IT: Carmen, Web developer
• PR: Denise, graphic designer
• PR: Diane, public relations specialist
• PDC: Scott, director of active learning technologies
• Office for Students with Disabilities: Art, disability services specialist
• Library: Julie, library technology specialist
• IT: John, application services director

Twitter Snapshot

Twitter provided an excellent recap of the UIE Virtual Seminar. All of these tweets came from #uievs, mostly from @whitneyhess and @tigerfork.

New Vocab

• “Corporate Underpants: When your org structure shows on your Web site”
• “Swoop and Poop: When executives fly over the project and crap all over it, then fly away”
• “Barnacle Based Design: A few years ago it got designed, since then barnacles have grown on — clogging up the works”
• “Marketing vs. Design Personas: Marketing drives eyeballs to your product, product design moves those eyeballs around once they arrive”
• “Use the term Ad-hoc personas NOT target audiences because marketing tends to get turfy”

Persona Rules

• Persona rule #1: “If you don’t have clear goals, don’t bother”
• Persona rule #2: “The execs *must* be involved from the start.”
• Persona rule #5: “Use tools that *force* people to use the personas.”
• Persona rule #6: “Create stories, not solutions. This story crosses functional areas, product descriptions, politics, etc. Personas get you out of your own heads, talking to each other”

Great Quotes

• “Most companies aren’t suffering from lack of data. They’re suffering from lack of focus.”
• “Your execs aren’t hiding their goals from you. They don’t even really know them! They’re your #1 user, guide them thru the process”
• “A Website is like a party where it’s loud and people are yelling at you saying ‘look over here’, ‘no look over here”
• Fill in the blank: “If we don’t make ________ ridiculously happy, we’ve failed.” That really gets people talking
• “If exec team can’t agree on the priority of the personas, how are you ever going to design a product they believe in?”
• “Pet projects/features fall to the bottom like rocks” [in describing weight and prioritization of features for personas]
• “Oh, by the way” what we can do for her that she wouldn’t even think to ask for. This loose structure is helpful. Keep the important stuff, the reason she came to the site, front and center. Marketing and related items can go on the “Oh, by the way” side bar.
• “No more flashing widgets that spin!” That drives us “Coo-coo-nutty”

Things we looked for:

• Visual Appeal
  Clutter-free, clean design with good use of white space and line height; Creative use of photography, graphics, icons, typography and colors
• Functional User Interface
  Easy to scan links, headings and overall pages; Clear navigation and menus; Consistent templates and effective landing pages
• Organized, Helpful Content
  Simple and concise navigation labels and terminology, avoid institutional lingo and acronyms; Well placed and structured pages; Organized from visitor’s POV, not organizational divisions
• Trends
  Click-thru features; Elaborate footers; Social media integration; Mobile sites/apps

Washtenaw Community College

Features

• Find a Credit Class search tool, by subject and day of the week
• Flickr generated photo galleries on appropriate landing pages
• Stand alone LifeLong Learning site with cart and checkout functionality

National Park Service

Features

• Front and center search tools, different search options
• RSS news feed subscription

Freed-Hardeman University

Features

• One click away from listing ALL academic programs
• Effective use of landing pages

Champlain College

Features

• Role-based navigation next to main graphic clearly labeled “Who are you?”
• Subsite titles clearly shown in header
• Large graphics with taglines on main pages (i.e. Tuition, Advising)

More Sites We Like

Director’s Picks

• Northland Community & Technical College
  “How Do I?” section
• John Hopkins University
  Elaborate drop down menus, photo features with catchy headlines
• Passaic County Community College
  Intriguing layout (boxes with type)

What are we missing?
What are your favorite higher ed Web sites? What trends are we missing?

Contributors
Carmen (web developer)
Evelyn (special assistant to the president for outreach and communications)
Khristine (web content specialist)
Shawn (student worker)