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Designing a New User-Centric College Public Website – Lessons Learned

Designing a New User-Centric College Public Website – Lessons Learned. Khouloud Hawasli Acting Manager, Electronic Communication services George Sackett Web Content Supervisor. Outline. College Background Old website Project Research New website Development Implementation

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Designing a New User-Centric College Public Website – Lessons Learned

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  1. Designing a New User-Centric College Public Website – Lessons Learned Khouloud HawasliActing Manager, Electronic Communication services George Sackett Web Content Supervisor

  2. Outline • College Background • Old website • Project Research • New website Development • Implementation • Lessons learned

  3. About STLCC • Largest community college system in Missouri serving an area of about 700 square miles; created by area voters in 1962 • Four campuses, three education centers • Transfer, career and developmental programs • Non-credit continuing education courses • Various workforce development initiatives • A “League for Innovation” institution

  4. Numbers • 25,000 credit students each semester • 40,000 non-credit each year • 31,000 workforce development students • 130 credit programs • 57 workforce development programs • 1,800 faculty (420 FT) • 3,500 employees

  5. 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)

  6. Why Create a New Site? • “One College”, … but not a well defined identity on the web site • Issues and problems with old site • Developing a new brand identity for the institution

  7. Issues and Problems • Site is difficult to navigate – and to find content – 16,000 pages with no standard navigation! • Internal use content mixed in with other content • Pages did not follow best practices for web design • Most pages did not comply with our loosely defined college standards

  8. Issues and Problems (cont) • Common to have over 2,000 broken links • Non-compliance with ADA requirements • Out-of-date content • No unified appearance – brand identity was fragmented at best to almost non-existent • No workflow, review or style editing process

  9. Content Challenges • Taking content from the existing 16,000 pages to distill the items of need to audiences • Taking multiple sub-sites (i.e., programs and departments) and integrating them together

  10. Discovery – Audiences • 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 • 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

  11. 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

  12. 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

  13. Reasons Students Say They Access 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

  14. Discovery – Technical • Studied site’s navigation and search capabilities • 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.)

  15. 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

  16. Objectives for the New Site • User-centric • Technical • Strategic

  17. Project Scope • The existing public website will be replaced in its entirety • The new website will focus on the needs of our external constituents and will incorporate the College’s new marketing, branding and image campaign

  18. Project Intentions • Intended to increase enrollment at the College • Align with the college strategic mission • Simplify the experience for students • Management, faculty, staff and administrators given the ability to develop and update content to web-site

  19. The Game Plan • The contents of the new website will be developed by the outside vendor • The new web site will utilize the Serena Collage web content management system to simplify the publishing process and enable a workflow driven web authoring environment

  20. Objectives • Overall • Technical • User-Centric

  21. 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

  22. 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

  23. 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

  24. Project Team • College • Leadership Team • Ad Hoc Web Advisory Committee • Management Team • Technical Team • Developer Team • Content Team • Non-College (Vendors) • Millennium Communications • Tower 29

  25. Project Milestones

  26. www.stlcc.edu Architecture

  27. Project Change Issues • Huge change in the culture of the way the website was maintained • Shifting responsibility for campus Community Relations and web coordinators • Web Authoring as a distributed responsibility • Identify person(s) responsible for web authorship

  28. Navigation and Content Design • Role of the Ad Hoc Web Advisory Committee – taxonomy (navigation, structure, organization) • Frequently accessed content on home page • Content management system to assure fresh, reviewed content • Must be timely, accurate and consistent

  29. 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

  30. Content Development • Intent to use an outside firm on contract • Encountered difficulties as they did not understand the intricacies of the college • More effective was the work of district community relations personnel • Reviews and edits were done internally– a very slow process • Final editing and last checks for AP style by vendor

  31. User Evaluation and Discussion

  32. Home Page

  33. Newsroom

  34. About the College

  35. Campus Page

  36. Web Content Management System • Automate consistency and standards through templates and required elements • Rich text editing eliminates the need for HTML or web editor experience • Manage workflows with the combination of task management and a review/approval system

  37. Web Content Management System • Allow authorized users to easily add or update content “anytime, anywhere” through a browser • Roll pages back to a previous version as needed • Schedule content replacement or removal

  38. Calendar System

  39. 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

  40. Banner Self-Service Portal

  41. Course Schedule

  42. Employee Directory

  43. Phase I Completed • 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 • There are some who feel their content was left out when it is too important to not be included

  44. 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 vendors • Vendor reshuffle • Deploying new WCMS in conjunction with new site

  45. Challenges Along the Way • New positions, new employees • no blueprint for their jobs • in a large, complex organization • Internal audiences – time it takes to communicate – delays caused by summer schedules • Managing expectations of new site – 1,600 vs. 16,000 pages • Where is my information???

  46. Future • “Phase 2” begins - • Corrections and updates • WCMS contributor training • New content based on feedback and metrics analysis • Development of interactive, more dynamic content • Development of department and unit’s pages • “Phase 2+” - Student credentials and my.stlcc.edu student portal

  47. Future plans • Implementation of Enrollment management • CRM • Variable web content/print • Addition of content that was not included in the first phase • Blogs/Social networking • Continued focus on Brand Management

  48. Things That Went Well • The overall goal of project of creating a user-centric website was achieved • The new website contributed to the goal of increase in enrollment • Phase I rolled out on time • The use of an outside evaluation • Provided confirmation and justification for taking on this huge project • Justified funding for project • Identified the need for dedicated positions • National Council for Marketing and Public Relations – Silver Award

  49. Things That Went Well • Active involvement of the faculty and staff • Use of outside vendors • Discovery • Web development • Good internal cooperation between technical and content • Smooth transition to new site

  50. Things That Went Well • Integration of home grown apps successful • WCMS – edit, review and deploy functions going smoothly • Implementation of AP style • Setting a deadline and trying to stick to it - forced us to make some tough decisions to meet that deadline.

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