UW Bothell Web Page Project: Student Services
Neal Mitchell
Jake Purdom
Meg Bossie
Kristen Timmons
UW Bothell Web Page Project: Student Services
Student Comments/Opinions:
The focus of any project on a college website should take the interest of the student as the ultimate priority. As we conducted interviews with ten randomly selected students, we were fairly displeased with what we learned. In general, the feedback was mostly negative and reflected the relatively low amount of site traffic by students and staff. Many of the students spent little to no time visiting the UWB home site, and never dug deep enough to find the “Student Services” portion of the website. On the other hand, some of the students who regularly use the site expressed concern over the lack of improvement to the site over the last six months. The general feeling is that there is nothing to create any excitement or reason for students to re-visit. However negative the responses may be, these results leave a lot of room for improvement and some good information for us to work with. The majority of the faculty and staff that were interviewed for this project shared this same opinion. The website is boring and needs to be completely overhauled into something creative, engaging and dynamic!
Physical Attributes: Layout, Content, and Visual Appeal
This section refers primarily to the physical attributes of the Student Services page. We focused on four primary categories of evaluation; content, layout, aesthetics, and usability.
Overall, the consensus regarding the site is that it lacks continuity, is unfocused, lacks a central gateway, and is difficult to navigate and locate information. There are only a few options and services for current students, and lacks general aesthetic appeal with regard to pictures, color, icons, & fonts, etc. It does not create excitement or interest for students to return for future visits, and does not have any real appeal in a marketing sense to those who would be considered ‘prospective students’. The site fails to engage students interactively and needs to be updated.
Staff Ideas(Ray Lou/Linda West):
To create an exciting, informative site that entices perspective students to attending the UWB to finish their degree. “The site needs to describe the way that Bothell holds the interaction between students and staff paramount,” said Ray Lou during our interview. The relationships between students and faculty are much different at our school than they are at Seattle. There is ample opportunity for students to visit with professors, and interact with them on a very personal level. This creates a much more positive learning environment than your typical university, and is a great benefit to the students. It is imperative that information emphasizing the benefits of UWB’s small classroom size and student/staff relations be relayed on the web site. Ray felt that this must be used as a marketing tool for our website. Information about our focus on the small classroom size, the fact that the professors and not teaching assistants will teach every day must all be relayed to prospective students. Through actual opinions of past and present students, prospective students will have a better idea of the benefits at UWB from people who have experienced them first hand. As a result, many Professors know students on a first name basis and converse with them when passing one another in the halls. A point he pushed vigilantly was to post the mission statement for all students to see on the homepage. This would help prospective students understand the commitment the school has as an institution of higher learning. In addition, the site should emphasize the location of the school, ease of access for Eastside/North Puget Sound residents, the abundance of covered parking in our new garage, and it’s newness. This combination helps to make it the most technologically advanced campus in the area through its high level of connectivity to the net (each class being “wired”). We also want to sell our convenient access to enormous databases through free proxy server switches at home, or direct connections from multiple labs and a brand new library. It is apparent that Ray Lou is very focused on the marketing aspects of the site to direct more students to the school. This will increase our reputation as a technologically advanced school, and create a higher level of competition, which will benefit alumni and current students.
We could also create a link for local companies to post internships available or job openings to current students with a special forum for soon to be graduates. “How about establishing alliances with local employers to pay for internships or offer tuition reimbursements? What about a volunteer corner where students could match their interests with local charities?” These are just a few of the many ideas Chancellor Lou had for us.
Some of our ideas:
Our group would like student information organized in a simple format with drop down boxes for separate links. The current format is too bulky, and this would help to simplify the content and keep it above the fold. We would also like to add the D.A.R. link similar to the UW Seattle, so that students can check their progress within their specific programs as they advance each quarter. That way they can be certain to see exactly what needs to be done to complete their requirements. This will also help our counselors/advisors, and expedite a lot of paperwork and timely meetings.
One idea that was also shared with other students was to create a social forum that would spark more of a “campus life.” Another suggestion was a “Students Connect” where students in different programs can exchange information in a bulletin board system. A student from the CSS program may post a question to a Business student about how to market a particular niche software product designed for an accounting firm.
Our group also wanted to emphasize a lot to the existing information better, so that more students could take advantage of a poorly communicated benefits package. A majority of these benefits already available are a mystery to most students at the UWB. Here is an example of a main link with other links that could be in the drop down box:
Student Benefits: (move the curser over this link)
- Medical Insurance, Dental Insurance
- Child Care Voucher Program
- Financial Aid
- Scholarships
Student Government:
- Board Members – Biographies
- Elections Times, Terms & Paid positions
- Student Activities & Clubs
- Suggestions for the Budget Committee
- Welcome to our Campus – take a 10 minute tour
This project has opened our eyes to a wide array of possible improvements for the student services site. Our ideas fall under improvements to benefit current students and improvements for prospective students. As for current students, the content portion of the site became the focus for our group, but an improved campus life aided by constant updates on the site got a lot of attention as well. The student services portion of the site is a very broad category, but most of our concern is for those who are already here. The ideas generated pushed for an intensification of pictures, active script, and improvements to layout.
Some of our ideas called for changes that would affect current as well as prospective students, such as faster servers and connection speeds. The aesthetic/graphical improvements are badly needed, regardless of the few computers that will have trouble reading and downloading all the information. If our focus is improving the site to reflect a ‘high-tech’ image and better marketing for current students, these changes are a must.
APPENDIX
Student Interview Questions and Answers (paraphrased):
Have you been to the Student Services portion of the UWB website?
No, not really
-blank stare-
Is there a Student Services site?
I’m not sure, maybe
No (greatest percentage of answers, though many may have been and didn’t realize)
If you have, what did you think? Like? Dislike?
Difficult to use, unorganized
Boring
Unclear and didn’t have what I wanted to find
If you haven’t, have you been to the UWB main website?
Yes (greatest percentage of answers)
Not really
Yes, but only several times
What do you think of the UWB main website? Like? Dislike?
It was okay
Boring
Uninteresting
-shrug-
It has improved
Does the job I guess
How often do you use the UWB website or Student Services portion?
Rarely
Every once in awhile
Sometimes
Sometimes often, sometimes not
(most students interviewed did not seem to use the site with any kind of frequency)
What do you primarily use the UWB website and/or Student Services portion for?
Find contact information
Research
Information concerning student information, benefits, etc
MyUW, grades
What types of features would you like to see on the Student Services/UWB website?
Information about student benefits like health insurance, dental insurance, financial aid, child care voucher, and scholarships.
Better organization and usability
More color and pictures, more interesting
More useful information
Would you like to see social events and news posted on the site?
Yeah, sure
Okay
Not really (older student response)
Would you like to see a D.A.R. feature like the UW Seattle has?
Yes (overwhelmingly)
Yeah, that would be really helpful
Sure
Would you like to see Search and FAQ features?
Yes (overwhelmingly, but not adamant, kind of a “sure, if you can do it” answer)
Would you like to see a career oriented portion of the site that brought together companies, students, and alumni (ex: job postings)?
Yes, that is great idea
Yes, I would like to see that
Yes, why not, helpful
Do you have any other improvement suggestions?
More interesting
Drop down boxes for main titles for better organization and title description
Comment section
Name and address of closest bars, complete with listing of first pitcher price
Contact lists for faculty, and maybe students too
(Most students interviewed did not have a great deal of suggestions to add, besides the site’s need for greater visual appeal and organization. As said before, many did not visit with a great deal of frequency. So it may be concluded that the students are unsure of what should be there and what we are capable of, but did know they did not really like the site. Most were very amenable to any improvement suggestion made to them. Some were quite detailed in their improvement suggestion. Seems representative of an overall student apathy towards the site, resultant of its inability to draw and engage the student as a resource and tool augmenting their education.)