Current state of faculty and school sites
Staff said:
Tired design
- Tired, complex, unattractive and difficult to use.
Too much 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 Maintenances is time consuming so time-sensitive information is often out of date.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).
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- 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
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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, so that as an institution we gain the benefits of association with good work that our platform can't support.
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Future shape of faculty and school web areas
Structure
Each with its own area or space
- Each faculty and each school will continue to have it's own area (or subsection or space), but no longer individual websites.
- They will be less distinct from each other as they are now which means users see the appearance of an single organisation.
- Further, upgrades Upgrades and maintenance become easier, while still providing each f&s with it's own online space.
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- 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.
Option of single blended area
- 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.
Design
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Modern design
- The faculty areas and school areas will have a new design that is engaging and works well on a mobile as well as larger screens (as we are presently doing with the subjects/topics and degrees.
Content
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Unified site
- They will be less distinct from each other as they are now which means users see the appearance of an single organisation.
Content
Information on core services on Homesite
- Content that is best viewed as information on core services offered by the university will be centrally located on Homesite.
- It can be surfaced on faculty and school sites as and when required) (e.g. the courses we offer, the subjects we teach, scholarships available) .
In-common information on Homesite
- Content that is best located in one place to meet a user need can still be maintained by the appropriate people 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. 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 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.
Centralised location doesn't dilute influence
- Content can be 'authored' centrally, then pulled through to faculty areas and school areas (and other relevant locations) via keyword tagging and/or search widgets with faculty/school input/sign-off, displayed on Homesite, and also displayed in faculty/school areas (e.g. faculty and school news and events; staff profiles, etctopic pages, maybe programme pages).
Linkages
Faculty and school content that is on the Homesite will be clearly discoverable from within the faculty areas and school areas.
- Graphic/promo links will be integrated into the design.
- Text links will be integrated into the contentContent 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).
Content improvement
Refined and trimmed preferable to rewriting
- Most of the content that is currently on faculty and school sites will be moved pretty much as is, with some trimming and some rewriting depending on need and resourcing.
Appropriate for audience
- Attention should be given to the needs of the target audiences and therefore the writing should be in appropriate language, formatted for online readers, have more visual elements and be more engaging.
Features and profiles
- 'Features' (eg, student experience and project profiles) will be rationalised: We will consider carefully what they cover, and over time they will be more closely aligned with News, include more multimedia, and provided on a "reuse if possible" basis.
Content guidelines
- 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 research and testing sessions.
The Faculty of Graduate Research will be addressed in the postgrad phase of WIP 2, when we focus on the needs of postgraduate students.
Future state of the faculty web areas
Purpose
- Provide a profile of the faculty demonstrating its strengths and relevance to the key audience groups (see table below)
- Present the services offered by the faculty, including those on behalf of its composite schools and in activities that cross school boundaries. This includes responsibilities, structure (i.e. schools) and affiliations.
- Surface appropriate Homesite content in a faculty context.
- Surface appropriate school content in a faculty context (e.g. aggregate news, events, staff, etc. from composite schools).
Audiences
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Find out about Student and Academic Services - what they can help with, how to contact them.
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Building channels for research and funding
We heard this but how true is it?
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Prospective staff
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Linkages
- Faculty and school content that is on the Homesite will be clearly discoverable from within the faculty areas and school areas.
- Graphic/promo links will be integrated into the design.
- Text links will be integrated into the content.
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Proposed faculty web areas
Audiences
Audience | Information needs |
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| Current students (by coursework or research) | What services and information do you offer that will support my study? How do I contact you? |
| External stakeholders | Why would I work with you? Who are your people? What are their areas of expertise? |
Prospective staff | Why would I want to work here? Who else works here? |
Purpose
- Provide a profile of the faculty demonstrating its strengths and relevance to the key audience groups (see table below)
- Present the services offered by the faculty, including those on behalf of its composite schools and in activities that cross school boundaries.
- Surface appropriate Homesite content in a faculty context (e.g. degrees and programmes, staff profiles).
- Surface appropriate school content in a faculty context (e.g. news, events).
Content
The content outline below represents a general example of what a faculty area might contain. While some content will be in all faculty areas (eg, Introduction, What we do), other content will only be needed by some faculties, and some faculties will require content not yet identified.
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| Introduction | Brief introduction block linking to main introduction in 'About us'. |
Our services | Overview of services faculty offers (what is administered and managed). Quicklinks' to schools, research centres. |
| Our people | People finder widget for academic and general staff. Option to expand search to cover all staff and research-focused PG students in the composite schools. |
| Contact Us | Contact details, especially for main services. |
| News | Surfaced from Homesite based on faculty name tag. Widened definition of 'news' to include research projects (both opportunities and outcomes), student achievements etc. Could include items created by the composite schools, especially if cross-school (and maybe engagement or alumni) focused. |
| Events | Seminars, conferences, careers events, lectures etc. Surfacing from Homesite based on tags. Could include items created by the composite schools, especially if cross-school (and maybe engagement or alumni) focused.? |
About
| Introduction | Seminars, conferences, careers events, lectures etc. Surfacing from Homesite based on tags. Could include items created by the composite schools, especially if cross-school (and maybe engagement or alumni) focused? |
About
| Introduction | Purpose/role, strategic objectives, strengths, features.Purpose/role, strategic objectives, strengths, features. | ||
| Our services | A fuller version of what is in the Home section/page. 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. Profile of areas in which research is under taken and can be supportedRetain information about facilities, access, health and safety for now, although this should be relocated should be located in 'Current students'), but maybe have an overview here and the detail in the Student Information section. | Research capability | . Links to examples, staff profiles, etc |
| Mission, vision and values | If required | ||
| Committees and boards | If required. Complex information needs to be simplified or 'flattened' out (i.e. not nested too deeply). | ||
| Partners | Accreditation, affiliations, professional bodies, industry associations and partnerships, sponsors, donors. If relevant at faculty level (rather than school level) | ||
Dean's list | Dean's list, Dean's award. | ||
| Forms | As on faculty sites now (where there are large number) Could be improved (to be online forms) and moved to Current Students in future | ||
| Publications | Links to publications that support students (e.g. School Prospectus, Faculty Handbook) |
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- Should we consider a model where more of the action/glamour is at a faculty level (by including the aggregation of news and events from units within a faculty) and leave schools to handle supporting students? Why do we want a lite faculty site and have many more active school sites?
- Where do we show research centres that are attached to faculty (not school) level?
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Proposed school web areas
Purpose
- Provide a profile of the school and its services, demonstrating its strengths and relevance t the key audience groups (see table below).
- Provide a base for school-specific study and research informationfor current students. (Note that over the medium term much of this could be moved to a student learning area of Homesite).
- Surface Homesite content as appropriate in a school setting.
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Audience | Information needs |
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| Current students - both coursework and research | Study and research material and information that is distinct to the school/programme. |
Prospective students, including international and postgraduate 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 staff | Is this somewhere I'd like to work? What do they do? Who else works 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? |
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.
Home
| Introduction | Brief intro block, linking to Introduction page in About Us section |
| Our services | Overview of services school offers (what is taught (via a topics/subjects widget) and what is researched (content or a filtered search result?)), with rest on About Us section. |
| Our people | People finder widget for academic and general staff, as well as research-focused PG students |
| Contact us | Block with key contact details. |
| News | 'News" could be utilised to inform people of a wider range of things than the current more narrow usage. For example telling people about research projects (both opportunities and outcomes), student achievements etc. Surfacing from Homesite based on tags. |
| Events | Seminars, conferences, careers events, lectures etc. Surfacing from Homesite based on tags |
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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| etc. Surfacing from Homesite based on tags. | |
| Events | Seminars, conferences, careers events, lectures etc. Surfacing from Homesite based on tags |
About us
| 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 for current students by coursework and research students.
Content will vary by school - below is indicative only.
(Note that longer term, study and research material and resources may live in a student learning area of the homesiteHomesite.)
| Facilities | Details behind overview in About Us section above. Includes:
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| Resources | Study and research resources - eg: databases, software, online written resources. Example: School of Linguistics |
| Study groups | Student study groups. Is this also where we put research groups (even though it seems buried)? |
| Work experience and internships | (Amend nav label as relevant to the content) Will only be required by a few schools - eg, ECS |
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