Presentation Transcript

1. Designing a New User-Centric College Public Website

   Richard SchumacherManager, Technology Initiatives George Sackett Web Content Supervisor
2. Who Are We? Largest community college system in Missouri serving an area of about 700 square miles; created by area voters in 1962 League for Innovation institution Four campuses Three education centers Transfer, career and developmental programs Non-credit continuing education courses Various workforce development initiatives
3. St. Louis Community College 25,000 credit students each semester 48,000 non-credit each year 28,000 workforce development students FY2007 90 credit programs 57 workforce development programs 2,000 faculty 4,000 employees
4. College Websites Public Website Users Website(faculty, student organizations, classes, and staff) Intranet (three sites: key resources menu, static content pages, and a SPS2001 document center)
5. Wayback – 1997 & 2001
6. Why Create a New Site? “One College” Issues and problems with current site Developing a new brand identity for the institution
7. One College … but several identities on the web site
8. Which Student Resources?
9. Issues and Problems Contains hundreds of mini-sites that don’t connect to each other or the site as a whole Site is difficult to navigate – and to find content – 16,000 pages with no standard navigation! Reflects the internal organization, not the users’ needs or expectations Internal use content mixed in with other content Pages don’t follow best practices for web design
10. Issues and Problems Most pages don’t comply with our loosely defined college standards Common to have over 2,000 broken links Out-of-date content Non-compliance with ADA requirements No unified appearance – brand identity is fragmented No workflow, review or style editing process
11. Non-Unified Appearance
12. No Standard Navigation
13. Lack of Consistancy Across Programs
14. Content Challenges Taking content from the existing 16,000 pages to distill the items of need to audiences Taking multiple subsites (i.e., programs and departments) and integrating them together
15. Discovery – Audiences Vendor – marketing communications firm Meetings at each campus to introduce project and seek cooperation and support 2005 – Audience research conducted by contracted firm Current and prospective students – focus groups and online surveys
16. Discovery – Audiences Continuing Education and high school guidance counselors – focus groups Key administrators and faculty influencers – phone interviews Larger sample of faculty and staff – random, online survey
17. Discovery – Technical Studied site’s navigation and search capabilities Charted the entire site 92 charts provided a snapshot of the site’s technological structure, showing the: Types of pages (html, asp, etc.) Graphics used (jpg, gif, swf, etc.) Links (html, CSS, mailto, scripted) Server side (SSI) and client scripting Other document types (pdf, doc, xls, ppt, etc.)
18. Discovery – Web Operations One-on-one interviews with: Senior administrators Technology executives Student services staff Web coordinators and others These employees were directly related to the web site’s operation, administration, updates and/or maintenance
19. Objectives for the New Site
20. Overall Objectives Rebrand the site to project STLCC as one college Build a site that allows visitors to select a path based on personal needs Create a new web content delivery system: Easy to update Reinforces web standards Provides a consistent user experience Flexible to respond to changing needs Embeds review, tracking and accountability
21. Technical Objectives Acquire and deploy technology that expedites and streamlines the ongoing content development and maintenance of the site Continually evaluate the site’s effectiveness by reviewing traffic metrics, click paths, on site searches, and user studies Use the fault-tolerant design of the existing site Create an agile technical environment for future web-based functionalities
22. User-Centric Objectives Understand the current user experience (qualitative research) and issues Determine features and functionalities desired by users Reorganize and rewrite the content to fit the needs of our target audiences Integrate the site into the ongoing, daily processes of the college Develop an integrated, user-centric, web-based platform for delivering student services and informing the community at large
23. Objectives Branding Targeting visitors and their needs Audiences Critical top-level site elements Navigation required to expose key elements Content Technical
24. Let’s Go! New firms selected through bid process for advertising, branding, web site development, including content Selection of a web content management system Creation of Web Advisory Committee –cross-functional and campus representation
25. First Up – Rebranding Branding – research-rich process to uncover who we are internally and externally Image – signal of our personal identity and success Loyalty – a preference of one brand over another Equity – assets linked to our brand name that add to or subtract from our value
26. Rebranding Revealed our blurred image – image fragmentation Revealed our publications, advertising and Web site have inconsistent messages Tie branding with enrollment management communications strategies
27. Rebranding
28. Enrollment Management Use the web site as the tool for prospective student contact Funnel inquiries to appropriate departments, responding Take action that can be tracked and follow-up appropriately Hired director of enrollment management
29. Targeted Visitors
30. What Students Say They Access on the Public Website 84.7% - Registration 82.4% - Student Resources 81.8% - Class Schedules 77.9% - Blackboard 60.3% - College Catalog 29.9% - can’t find what they are looking for Ervin Marketing Report, May 2006
31. Student Web Expectations Registration Hub for student news and communications Access to all programs and classes Class availability, times/room numbers, changes, grades Do everything online: Pay for classes Get parking passes Get books “Not have to go to the campus” Ervin Marketing Report, May 2006
32. Most Important Student Website Expectations 73% - accurate and timely information 70% - easy registration process 66% - ease of navigation 61% - descriptions of programs 55% - easy payment Ervin Marketing Report, May 2006
33. What Makes a Good Website? Comprehensive and up-to-date? Well organized? Easy to navigate or find content? Appropriate, consistent and functionallayout, branding, presentation and graphics? Meets the needs of the intended audience(s)? Does it “deliver the goods”?
34. Navigation and Content Design Role of the Ad Hoc Web Advisory Committee – taxonomy (navigation structure, organization) Navigation and organization of content must be intuitive Must be timely, accurate and consistent Content management system to assure fresh, reviewed content Frequently accessed content on home page
35. Key Site Elements Student resources Program information Admissions and Registration Workforce Development Continuing Education Distance Learning Foundation & Alumni Library Search Authenticated portal link Learning management system link About STLCC Employee directory Campuses and Centers Maps Calendars Job opportunities Newsroom Contact information Legal disclaimers and statements Access and disability information Diversity at STLCC
36. Taxonomy Creates Navigation Provides structure to unstructured content Organizes together content from multiple sources Some users never search; and in many cases search isn’t as effective as structure Allows users to find the content they need in a way that makes sense to them
37. Site Taxonomy Worksheet
38. Wire-Frame Navigation
39. New Main Navigation
40. Home Page Layout
41. New Home Page
42. Subpage Layout
43. Newsroom
44. About the College
45. Content Development Tried using an outside firm on contract Most effective was the work of district community relations personnel Reviews and edits were done internally– a very slow process Final editing and checks for AP style by community relations
46. User Evaluation and Discussion
47. Program Section Elements
48. Program Section
49. Typical Program
50. Campus Page
51. New Web Positions Community Relations Web Content Supervisor Web Graphic Designer Technology Support Web Manager Web Programmer
52. New Web Infrastructure
53. Web Public Web Site Standards
54. Web Content Management System Automate consistency and standards through templates and required elements Allow authorized users to easily add or update content “anytime anywhere” through a browser Rich text editing eliminates the need for HTML or web editor (i.e. Dreamweaver) experience Manage workflows with the combination of task management (assign, track and categorize), version control, permissions and a review/approval system Roll pages back to a previous version as needed Schedule content replacement or removal
55. Serena Collage
56. Content Managed WCMS based Workflow-driven updates Special emergency/urgent content Deploys from WCMS Content not in WCMS Needs to leverage template components and standard font/color CSS (via SSI) Web applications (mostly asp/aspx) CORS Deployed by replication using ViceVersa Pro
57. Calendar System
58. Web Architecture Cisco load-balanced switch Two front-end web servers running multiple websites in DMZ WCMS server and database server Server for content not managed by WCMS Users site remains separate Intranet will be replaced by MOSS 2007 site– a new portal for all things authenticated
59. www.stlcc.edu Architecture
60. Integration With Existing Systems SungardHE Banner (ERP) Self-Service BlackBoard LMS Home-grown applications Course Schedule Schedule of Late-Starting Courses Employee Directory Continuing Education Registration Student Application Sexual Harassment, FERPA, and Diversity Tutorials New system – Windows Live student e-mail
61. my.stlcc.edu
62. my.stlcc.edu Windows Live
63. Banner Self-Service Portal
64. Course Schedule
65. Employee Directory
66. Process Changes Web publishing process Content review and approval process Content deployment process Requests for new/additional content/subsites Change form
67. Governance Zach Wall, ppc.com
68. Governance Ownership and areas of responsibility Modifications to the core navigation Subsite additions / modifications Site-wide standards “Look and feel” Style Taxonomy Metadata Document types Navigation Coding Security
69. Communications Web Advisory Committee Intranet Website Discussion with college leaders Discussions with faculty and staff Multiple usabilityand beta tests Rollout announcements
70. Challenges Along the Way Focus can get redirected based upon urgency of communications Underestimating timeline for content and technical specifications development Working with several different agencies Agency reshuffle – new AE Deploying new WCMS in conjunction with new site
71. Challenges Along the Way New positions, new employees – no blueprint for their jobs New employees in a large, complex organization Internal audiences – time it takes to communicate Managing expectations of new site – 1,600 vs. 16,000 pages
72. Challenges Along the Way New brand identity – advertising, publications New logo and graphic standards
73. Go Live New website went live March 9:http://www.stlcc.edu In order to have a go-live date, a “line” had to be drawn somewhere on what content would be part of the initial deployment We used the Ad Hoc Web Committee to develop basic guidelines for what was to be included for Phase 1 However, when you make such a decision, there are some who may feel their content was left out, or who may incorrectly feel that someone else had decided their content wasn’t important enough
74. Future “Phase 2” begins - Corrections and updates WCMS contributor training Content that was not included in the initial deployment New content based on feedback and metrics analysis Some content needed to be delayed until we could develop guidelines to present the information in a consistent manner Further reinforce “One College” Development of interactive, more dynamic content Testimonial videos (Flash based) “Phase 3” - Student credentials and my.stlcc.edu site
75. Contact Us Richard SchumacherManager, Technology Initiativesrschumacher@stlcc.edu George SackettWeb Content Supervisorgsackett@stlcc.edu Presentation is available online at:http://www.stlcc.edu/presentations/