Web Usability Review Committee
July 2011 - November 2011

The International Organization for Standardization’s ISO 9241 standard defines website usability as
the “effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which specified users achieve specified goals in particular environments.”

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Committee Chair Craig Knutson, Chief of Staff
Vice-Chair Web Services
   Ryin Jones, Web Services Manager
    Jeanette Schreiber, Web Content Coordinator
Academic Affairs Dorothy Tennery
 Susan Barber
 Tom Brown
Admissions Joel Durham
 Colin McEwen
Administration Michele Hale
Alumni Relations Cary Pirrong
 Jessica Pingel
Bass School of Music Mary Jane Alexander
Campus Technology Gerry Hunt
Communications & Marketing Christine Eddington
 Kevin Miller
 Leslie Berger
 Matt McWilliams
Dance & Arts Management Jennifer Polvado
Dulaney-Browne Library Victoria Swinney
Human Resources Blythe Benson
Kramer School of Nursing Christopher Black
Meinders School of Business Marcus Williamson
 Michael Williams
Petree College of Arts & Sciences Mark Davies
School of Law Brooke Arbeitman
Student Affairs Liz Donnelly
 Joshua Waddell
Student Government Association Sarah Cook

* Invited but unable to attend: Moose Tyler, Mass Communications

PURPOSE STATEMENT

The primary purpose of the Web Usability Review Committee is to evaluate our current web presence through the lens of usability and functionality, so that we may implement a new content structure that allows for a significantly improved user experience. The goals of the committee include:


COMMITTEE REVIEW
OCU Homepage
  • Move internal elements off of homepage
  • Minimal scrolling on homepage
  • Migrate focus to be recruitment centric
  • Focus will be "recruitment magazine" format
  • Determine users browsing style and present options
    • "Who am I?" vs "What am I looking for?"
  • Promote life at OCU and in OKC
  • Homepage must-haves:
    • Resources for ...
      • Students
      • Parents
      • Visitors
      • Facutly/Staff
    • Admissions
    • Academics
    • Campus Life
    • Events
    • Athletics
    • News/Features
Admissions
  • Implement recruitment efforts at college/departmental-level
  • Prominence to reach key areas:
    • Degrees offered / degree requirements
    • How to apply / admission requirements
    • How to get financial aid / what's available
  • Push the "why come here" answers at all tiers:
    • Why come to OCU?
    • Why come to OKC/OK?
  • Hobson's remains as application/lead management process
  • Hand-hold through information navigation (without making it obvious)
  • Keep info process simple
  • What is OCU looking for in a student?
  • Live chat with councilors
Campus Life
  • Increased visibility of events. Promote student event involvement
  • Split apart student resources, events and recruitment areas:
    • Student Services
    • Residence Life / Housing
    • Religious Life
    • OCU Dining (etc)
    • Student Organizations
    • SGA
  • Seasonally ramp up highlighted areas. Examples:
    • First-year Experience
    • Orientation
    • Commencement
    • SGA Voting
    • Etc
  • Custom pull events from Master Calendar
  • Student-Driven Content (blogs/etc)
  • Reorganize and relabel areas to be more intuitive (TBD - Student Affairs)
Parents / Visitors / Alumni
  • Alumni to tackle re-organization
  • Suggested ALUMNI content elements:
    • Class Notes
    • Alumni Directory
    • Giving
    • Alumni News
  • Increase presence of PARENTS area
  • VISIT area is quite effective - but could use more marketing OCU/OKC elements
Faculty / Staff
  • Move internal resources to "Resources For …" area
  • Focus on:
    • Recruitment of new Faculty/Staff
    • Highlighting faculty to prospects (and parents)
  • Rotating "Featured Faculty" or "Facutly Accolades"
  • Podcasts
Misc
  • Stricter rules on public display calendars.
  • Move internal resources into a "Resources for …" central area designated to that purpose.
  • Call to action for APPLY / VISIT at all steps of user experience.

WRAP-UP ITEMS FOR COMMITTEE REPORT

Items for final report to President Henry on 11/21/2011:

GLOBAL NAVIGATION (PROPOSED)
  • ADMISSIONS
  • ACADEMICS
  • CAMPUS LIFE
  • FACULTY & STAFF
  • VISITORS
  • ALUMNI & FRIENDS
  • ATHLETICS
HOMEPAGE CONTENT (PROPOSED)
  • HOMEPAGE ELEMENTS:
    • Resources for ...
      • Students
      • Parents
      • Visitors
      • Facutly/Staff
    • Admissions
    • Academics
    • Campus Life
    • Events
    • Athletics
    • News/Features
    • SITE HIERARCHY BREAKDOWN
    REPORT OF SITE REVIEW AS ILLUSTRATED ABOVE
    STANDARDIZED CONTENT SET (PROPOSED)
    • Admissions Requirements + Audition Requirements (if applicable)
    • Degrees Available + Degree Requirements (for ALL programs)
    • Faculty Listing
    DEVIATION ALLOWANCE POLICY (PROPOSED)
    • "Unique but unified" deviation allowance
    • All pages will hold a central OCU theme
    • Discuss: Option to have 3-4 layout templates to choose from?
      • Standard, Slimmed Header, Etc
      • Gives a choice vs one strict template option
    MOBILE DEVICE CONTENT (PROPOSED)
    • Compact content set.
    • All pages will have link to "view full site" and escape the mobile view
    • Detect if user is on campus - default to campus resources if so.
    • CONTENT SET:
      • ON CAMPUS RESOURCES
        • Campus Map
        • Campus Directory
        • Current Weather
        • Events
        • Etc
      • ADMISSIONS
      • ACADEMICS
      • VISTIORS
      • ALUMNI & FRIENDS
      • ATHLETICS

    TIMELINE

    The timeline allotted for implementing Committee suggestions, and for the full redesign and restructure of OCU’s web presence, is as follows: