<p>Tokenadult, thanks for the links to Usability 101 -these days it seems only too obvious to state that “If a website is difficult to use, people leave”. The big trend in college websites is the creative use of CSS to design a visually pleasing, easily navigable, easily readable, and of course, highly informative foray into cyberspace. </p>
<p>PapaChicken, thanks for the direct link to the NRCCUA page report cited in the e-school article in post #20. I just took a look at #1 ranked Lawrence University (which no doubt about it is a fine school by any standard with a stellar conservatory). I have to admit that I was a tad bit confused at first since the admissions link on the home page is embedded within the “prospective students” page - once found though, admissions information is divided cleanly and neatly into two pages, both replete with one-click, informative options that include data about department majors and campus life as well as the now quite commonly found “apply” online option that takes you effortlessly and directly to the Common App. page. I was just surprised that the “top ranked” school had such a discrete, almost hidden, admissions office link on the institution’s home page.</p>
<p>tetrisfan, thanks for mentioning the Brown site. Kudos to the Brown alumni association for their College Advising Program (ACAP). Well-laid out and informative web-pages, replete with links, dedicated to helping Brown alumni children (and the rest of us who just happen by the site) map out the “how to” best approach the daunting task of “Putting together your application”:</p>
<p>“COLLEGES NEED TO INVEST MORE IN ADMISSIONS WEB SITES, EDUVENTURES STUDY SAYS:Sites Shown to Have Critical Impact on Prospective Students, Yet Spending Lags”</p>
<p>According to Eduventures - an outfit dedicated to Enrollment Management (EM) - prospective students use college Web sites at a much higher rate than any other information source during the college search. Web sites also rank as the second most trusted source of information after campus visits among prospective students… “This study will focus on identifying effective practices in not only engaging students in the first crucial 30 seconds after landing on a new Web site, but also in providing engaging content to satisfy the needs and interests of students, many of whom spend more than 10 minutes on a single site.”</p>
<p>I have a sneaking suspicion that many colleges, contrary to conventional advice on website design, - and most especially the high-end selective ones - do not place a high premium on usability over design. Increasingly, the entertainment factor and surprise “extras” - like the extra features on dvds - draw deeper and longer searches as well as repeat visits. So perhaps it isn’t always a negative that a prospective student has to go through multiple levels, to find, and then interpret, key information. Even though for some the whole process is more and more like navigating an obstacle course - just look at the number of posts on CC made by students asking for help to questions that are “clearly” answered somewhere, and sometimes in more than one place, on the website. So, the design of these sites -“navigability” - does not always strive to strike a balance between usability and design. Information is given on different levels within the site, often embedded in rather complex formats. Too accessible or functional, then, can also mean not engaging the right kind of student - and this is important because a website ought to do more than communicate the bare bones of admissions information - it ought to get across that elusive notion of “fit” so popular in today’s admission’s lingo.</p>
<p>Of interest on this topic:</p>
<p>“Insights for Institutional Website Design”</p>
<p>WUSTL currently has my vote for one of the worst web sites. I eventually found most of the information I was looking for, but not where I looked. And using the site’s search engine did not help.</p>
<p>That is precisely the point - colleges don’t particularly want gratitude - they want able, competent applicants and the balance between web design, bells and whistles, and even effective search engine capability has to factor into all of that.</p>
<p>AskBeforeCollege is not a college website but a new non-profit, peer-driven, information network offering statistics and networking opportunities with the ambitious aim to take the stress out of that most nerve-wracking time of all - deciding where to go eliminating “the ‘second guess factor’. The site aims to arm students with the information they want and need so they will already know they have selected the right school before ever setting foot on campus.” I suppose that would make it user-friendly as well.</p>
<p>Even Princeton is not immune to the need to update and revamp their undergraduate admissions portal with new bells and whistles as well as enhanced search engine capability.</p>
<p>Rice University recently redesigned home page (I believe it premiered on Dec.1) sports a calendar area to promote university events, space to promote top Rice stories and “a cleaner design for easier navigation”. There are also new gateway pages for undergraduates, graduates, faculty and staff aimed to provide audience-targeted news and information - at a glance.</p>
<p>“The new design provides a printer-friendly layout, a streamlined back-end process to allow for more timely posting of content and a separate design for a growing list of mobile devices, PDAs and smart phones.”</p>
<p>Good story in the Boston Globe today that seems worth bumping this thread back to life for:</p>
<p>“College Recruiters Go Where the Students Are”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So a question for parents: have any of these new marketing techniques made an impression on your kid? I have to admit, DD is not one to spend hours clicking on the admissions websites of even her favorite schools.</p>
…this one is on the admissions part of websites…