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Current state of faculty and school sites
Staff said:
- Design: Tired, complex, unattractive and difficult to use.
- Content: Too much on most pages and too many layers of page. Maintenances is time consuming so time-sensitive information is often out of date. Quality suffers. (e.g. spelling mistakes, links that don't go anywhere).
- Content Management: Lack of time and resources (especially writer) for web content. Too little time for many to become/stay proficient in Squiz.
- Staff profiles: Difficult to maintain, so often out of date. Very dated/tired look. Gives a poor impression of the University.
- Channels: Too many channels with the same information as the web (and as each other). Students still miss information despite repeat listings. Would like social media listed more prominently.
- Analytics: Needs to be more widely accessible and used, especially data on goal conversions.
- Search: Site search doesn't give useful results.
Research approach
- Workshops with representative staff members from all faculties and some schools, augmented by one-to-one conversations with senior general and academic staff.
- Views above represent those present and are not necessarily true or held by all staff.
- As such, this information is input to our decision making, not necessarily what we propose to do.
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Students said:
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- Main uses of faculty sites: Who to contact; Staff profiles; Subjects and programmes (both undergraduate and postgraduate); Administrative information for current students; and Centres, institutes and chairs.
- Main uses of school sites: Who to contact; Staff profiles; Subjects and programmes (both undergraduate and postgraduate); Scholarships and awards and exchanges; News and Events; Student profiles (e.g. research students); and Centres, institutes and chairs.
- Paul Seiler (Unlicensed) to gather the analytics for the various parts of faculty and school sites
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Students said:
- Why are they different?: Future and current undergraduate students didn't understand that faculty and school sites existed as separate sites "This should all be one thing – school, faculty and Victoria. We are one university and there is no reason why it can’t all be together."
- Very low engagement: With f&s sites only used for a few things (to find a person, get course info, access a shortcut to a tool (via the header menu)).
- Use site search to find staff profiles: This avoids having to know in what school to look for somebody, but has the unintended consequence of missing content placed on f&s home pages because the administrators believe people will be interested in it.
- Prefer email and Blackboard: As channels for information from Victoria, with all students also following relevant pages on Facebook.
- Postgraduate students: Greater awareness of separate faculty and school sites, but still had a very narrow information need (staff profiles, administrative services, forms, etc).
- Secondary school students: Students didn't understand the roles of faculties and of schools at all.
Research approach
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Why are they different?
Future and current undergraduate students didn't understand that faculty and school sites existed as separate sites "This should all be one thing – school, faculty and Victoria. We are one university and there is no reason why it can’t all be together."
Very low engagement
- With faculty and school sites only used for a few things (to find a person, get course info, access a shortcut to a tool (via the header menu)).
Use site search to find staff profiles
- This avoids having to know in what school to look for somebody, but has the unintended consequence of missing content placed on f&s home pages because the administrators believe people will be interested in it.
Prefer email and Blackboard
- As channels for information from Victoria, with all students also following relevant pages on Facebook.
Postgraduate students
- Had a greater awareness of separate faculty and school sites, but still had a very narrow information need (staff profiles, administrative services, forms, etc).
Secondary school students
- Didn't understand the roles of faculties and of schools at all.
Research approach
User research interviews were held with six senior students from local secondary schools and with six current students in various years of study.
- Views above represent those present and are not necessarily true or held by all staff.
- As such, this information is input to our decision making, not necessarily what we propose to do.
Analytics said:
Faculty sites:
- Are not busy, and the highest traffic areas are subjects, UG degrees, study information, and PG programmes. And much of this traffic comes from the subject and degree pages on Homesite.
School sites
- Are usually (but not always) less busy, and the highest traffic areas are staff profiles; research and (in some cases) resources for specific courses. And much of this traffic comes from the subject and degree pages on Homesite.
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Future direction of the Victoria University website - www.victoria.ac.nz
Represents a single organisation
- The Victoria University website represents a single (although complex) organisation and should look and behave accordingly. User needs that are met by the website can be met by any appropriate part(s).
Information organised around user need
- The Victoria University website will is being reorganised around user need or task, with no expectation that users have prior knowledge of our organisational structure.
Reduced duplication of content
- There will be less duplication of content: Increasingly, information will have a single source yet be surfaced in multiple places according to need.
New technologies to augment Squiz
- New technologies are being introduced that will augment Squiz, allowing us more choices and better solution options.
Site search will be improved
- Improvements to the site search will be undertaken as BAU, with priorities influenced by WIP2 need
Staff profiles will be redeveloped
- Improvements to staff profiles are in scope for WIP2for WIP2, and the work will be performed by ITS, the Web Team and the project team. project team.
Analytics will be shared for key pages
Access to important analytics for key pages will be given to all users on our network via an info page (a sort of shadow or meta or derived page), allowing people to monitor how well the page is meeting its objectives/goals.. (e.g. see https://www.gov.uk/apply-uk-visa as an example of the web page and https://www.gov.uk/info/apply
-uk-visa as an example of an info page).Provide an information page that sits 'behind' every site page, and can be accessed by any staff member and shows the key analytics for the main page.). This would provide detail on the page's purpose, target audiences, content owner, core analytics (eg, number of views of the page, average time spent on page) and similar things.-uk-visa as an example of an info page).
Effectiveness of news and events will be improved
The effectiveness of both News and Events is being considered and solutions discussed to bring about improvements.
Keyword tagging to aide content reuse
- Keyword tagging will enable an item of content to be centrally authored then presented in relevant locations on the site ('reusable content').
Strengthen visible association with third party sites
- Strengthen Victoria's association with related (staff and/or student) external sites (see WIP-251), so that as an institution we gain the benefits of association with good work that our platform can't support.
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Faculty and school
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web areas
Structure
- Each faculty and each school will continue to have it's own area (or subsection or space). They will be less distinct from each other as they are now which means users see the appearance of an single organisation. Further, upgrades and maintenance become easier, while still providing each f&s with it's own online space.
- Faculties with only one school might prefer to have a single blended area and downplay the difference between the faculty and the school. Faculties where this might be suitable include Law, Engineering, and Education.
- The faculty areas and school areas must be different from one another: Each has a clear purpose and identified target audiences, so the content should be different. They will be much simpler to use and maintain than currently.
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Content
- Content currently on these sites that follows a standard university approach (i.e. isn't unique or truly faculty-specific) will be located in the appropriate area of Homesite (e.g. student well-being and support will be located in 'Current students'). The driving reason for this is a desire to make orient our website around the needs of our users, not our organisational structure.
- Content that is best viewed as core to the university will be centrally located on Homesite (but can be surfaced on faculty and school sites as and when required) (e.g. the courses we offer, the subjects we teach, scholarships available)
- Content that is best located in one place to meet a user need can still be maintained by the appropriate people (e.g. Research centres, institutes and chairs could be located in the Research hub, surface on school sites, and be maintained by the same web administrators as now).
- Some types of content will be 'authored' centrally, then pulled through to faculty areas and school areas (and other relevant locations) via keyword tagging and/or search widgets (e.g. faculty and school news and events; staff profiles, etc).
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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. |
| Our services | A fuller version of what is in the Home section/page.Link to Homesite content when ever possible (eg: Subjects/topics; UG Degrees and PG programmes; Research projects; Centres, institutes and chairs). May be a series of visual 'promo' links. Could have a course widget to show courses taught by the school (or staff in the school). |
| Research capability | Profile of areas in which research is under taken and can be supported. Links to examples, staff profiles, etc |
| Location and facilities | Link to Our campuses on the homesite. Retain info about facilities, building/floor access, health and safety, and similar (although potentially this should be located in 'Current students'), but maybe have an overview here and the detail in the Student Information section |
| Students | A small collection of features covering the university experience of recent students. Are these stories? Projects? |
| Alumni | Medium term plan is to move much/all alumni information to the new 'engagement hub' and link to it. However, a short-medium term solution might be required to retain it on the new school site. |
| Positions | Appointments and important positions outside the normal management chart (e.g. Academic Visitors' Programme, Fellows, Curator in Residence (School of Art History). |
| Partners | Accreditation, affiliations, professional bodies, industry associations and partnerships, sponsors, donors. |
| Forms | If any. Could be improved (to be online forms) and moved to Current Students in future |
| Publications | Links to core publications (e.g. School Prospectus, Faculty Handbook) Does this include research reports/publications (that are not by an individual (therefore in staff profiles) or a centre/institute/chair (therefore in Research hub) if they can't go to the library? |
Student information
Purpose: School-specific information for current students by coursework and research students.
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