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- Each faculty and each school will have an area (or subsection or space) rather than a distinct site. See attachment for how these could be presented in a flattened IA.
- Faculties and schools that are combined, or wish to be combined on the web, will have a blended area. Combined areas could be provided for: Law, Engineering and CS, and possibly Architecture and Design (to be discussed).
- The faculty areas and school areas will be different from one another: they won't have duplicate content, and each of the two types of area will be tightly focused on a clear purpose and identified target audiences. They will be much simpler than the current sites.
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- Courses, subjects and programmes will be located in 'Study at Victoria' (currently called 'Future students’). The structure, presentation and content will be improved.
- Diplomas, certificates and professional development courses will also be located in 'Study at Victoria'.
- Where these are postgrad (or 'graduate'), improving their content is in scope for the WIP2 project.
- Where they are 'pre-degree', improving their content of is out of scope.
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- Profiles of research projects (current projects and significant past projects), research funding and research partnerships will be located in the 'Research' section.
- Scholarships information will be located in the Scholarships section of 'Current students' (which includes the Scholarships database).
- Information about the location of Victoria's campuses, where to find faculties and schools within campuses, and higher-level content about facilities will live in an improved version of the area that is currently called Our campuses.
- Student study materials and other learning resources that are currently on school sites are likely to eventually live in a student learning area of the homesite. This is a longer-term project.
Other content:
- Research reports are extensive and diverse, and need careful consideration. One proposal is that they are located in the Library.
- Research centres, institutes and chairs are also diverse, and will be considered in the 'Research centres' phase of the WIP2 project.
How faculty and school content will be found
Content that demonstrates the work that faculties and schools do Centrally authored content:
- Some types of content will be 'stored' and authored centrally, then pulled through to faculty school areas (and other relevant locations) via keyword tagging. Examples are news, events and staff profiles.
Linkages
Faculty and school content that is on the mainsite will be clearly discoverable from within the faculty areas and school areas.
- Graphic/promo links to related faculty and school content will be integrated into the design.
- Text links will be integrated into the content.
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- Keyword tagging will enable some content types to be authored centrally, then pulled through to faculty areas and school areas.
Design
- The faculty areas and school areas will have a new design that is engaging and appealing, matches the homesite and works well on mobile devices.
Content improvement
- All Most of the content that is currently on F&S faculty and school sites will be improved as part of the project. Skilled web editors will ensure it is focused on its target audiences and written in plain language. It will be formatted for online readers, have more visual elements and be more engaging. Features will and be more engaging.
- 'Features' (eg, student experience and project profiles) will be rationalised: we'll plan more carefully what they cover, align them more closely with News, and include more multimedia. We'll ensure they're always recent.
- Guidance will be provided to faculties and schools to help them address some of the content management issues they mentioned at the workshops. This will include advice on content planning, and tools and techniques for keeping content current. It will draw on effective practices identified in the workshops, and expertise and prior experience within the web team.
- Findings will be shared from user sessions with where Victoria students relevant to were asked which channels they prefer will be shared with for getting information and updates from faculties and schools.
The Faculty of Graduate Research will be addressed in the postgrad phase of WIP 2 (phase 3). This is because in that phase we will look specifically at the information needs of postgrad students.
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School area
Purpose
- Provide a profile of the school and its activities, demonstrating its strengths and distinctiveness.
- Provide a base for school-specific study and research information and materials for current students. (Longer term, this may live in a student learning area of the homesite.)
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Audience | Information needs |
|---|---|
Prospective staff | Is this somewhere I'd like to work? What do they do? Who else works here? |
Prospective students, including international students, and their influencers | Understand the strengths and features of the school. Why would I choose to study here? What would it be like being a student here? |
| Prospective research partners (industry and business, government (central, local), other universities) | Understand the strengths and features of the school. Why would I work with them? Who are their people? What are their areas of expertise? |
| Current students - both coursework and research | Study and research material and information that is distinct to the school/programme. |
Home
| Intro | Intro block - brief. Linking to main intro. |
| Contacts | Contact block. |
| News | Research projects, student achievements etc. |
| Events | Seminars, conferences, careers events, lectures etc. |
| Links: | Centres and institutes (if located elsewhere) Faculty site |
Content
The content outline below represents a general example of what a school area might contain. While some content will be in all school areas (eg, Introduction, What we do), other content won't be required by all schools - and some schools may have additional content needs.
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| Introduction | Strengths, unique features. Vibrant, exciting, makes an emotional connection. Like a walk down Cuba St? Include a video tour? Consider including a 1-minute video from HOS. |
| What we do | Possibly part of the introduction? A description of the work the school does, with links to relevant content on the homesite (eg: Topics; Degrees; Postgrad quals; Research projects; Centres and institutes). May be a series of visual 'promo' links. |
| Location and facilities | Link to Our campuses on the homesite. ('Our campuses' should be extended to include information about where to find faculties and schools within campuses, what general facilities are available, building/floor access, health and safety, and similar. Identify audiences (students, visitors) and their needs.) Any 'local' information that is specific to the school and wouldn't be a fit on the mainsite can be added to this page. |
| Students | A small collection of features covering the university experience of recent students. |
| Staff | People finder tool? All staff associated with the school. Not presented in a table. |
| Alumni | Link to alumni area in the new 'engagement hub'. Retain on the school site any school-specific information for alumni (eg, newsletters, how to sign up). (But note that this may move to the engagement hub eventually.) |
| Positions | Eg, Academic Visitors' Programme, Fellows, Curator in Residence (School of Art History). |
| Partners | Accreditation, affiliations, prof bodies, industry assns and partnerships, sponsors, donors. |
| Publications | Link to mainsite for relevant publications - eg: School Prospectus, Faculty Handbook. |
Student info
Purpose: School-specific info for current students by coursework and research students that wouldn't fit into the content areas on the homesite.
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| Intro | Intro block - brief. Linking to main intro in 'About us'. |
| Who to contact | Contact block. Include Student and Academic Services. |
| Our schools | 'Quicklinks' to schools. |
| Links (a tentative list): | Research Centres and institutes Areas of study (topics, degrees, postgrad programmes) |
Content
| About us | Purpose and role of faculty. Strategic objectives. Strengths and features. Org chart. Link to faculty handbook. |
| Location | Link to Our campuses. Include faculty-specific info about facilities if necessary. |
| Staff / Faculty staff | People finder tool? All staff associated with the school. Not presented in a table. Student and Academic Services - who, what, when (counter hours), where. |
| Forms | As on faculty sites now - large number of downloads. (May move to 'Current students' in the future.) |
| Mission, vision and values | If required |
| Committees and boards | If required. Complex information needs to be simplified or 'flattened' out - not nested too deeply. |
| Affiliations | If relevant at faculty level (rather than school level) |
Dean's list | Dean's list, Dean's award. |
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| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Faculty and school staff may not support the approach; or may support it on face value, but not really understand how it works. | H | H Approval for the approach may be obtained, but when work starts there could be repeated rounds of negotiation required, putting stress on relationships and timeframes. F&Ss could go along with the approach, but build their own sites, wikis (etc) independently. | See the consultation on the approach as a process of change and education. In particular, staff in faculties and schools (who? the decision makers? administrators? managers?) need to understand and buy in to the user-centred approach to IA (rather than organisational unit-centred) and plain language. This may mean having more mini-workshops and meetings with groups of staff. Showing built examples of key deliverables will help stakeholders visualise where they need to get to (eg, topic page, UG degree page (if changed), F&S area). |
| Outline clearly how their content will be found from their areas. | |||