Phase 2 of Web Redesign Update
At yesterday’s town hall meeting, Dave Wahlberg, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, shared information on the second phase of redesign of the university’s website. Phase 1 consisted of a redesign of the homepage and graduate and undergraduate pages. Those pages launched July 28. In Phase 2, academic and administrative pages will be brought into the new design. Phase 3 will consist of developing a portal for information for current students, faculty and staff.
A Phase 2 steering team has been created to guide high-level decision-making. Members are Dave Wahlberg and Dan Heckaman (co-conveners), Joshua Behl, Kirsti Fleming, Alexandria Fogarty, Lisa Karch, Derek Lien, Kristi Monson, Doug Peters, Ryan Peterson, Terry Peterson, Rebecca Rudel, Amanda Stegmaier and Julia Zaloudek.
Three principles are guiding redesign: 1) support enrollment growth, 2) optimize for viewing on mobile devices, and 3) use internal staff rather than an outside firm.
With more than 70 academic landing pages and 80 administrative landing pages, the steering team will use a prioritization matrix in determining the order academic program pages will be migrated to the new design. Members of the university’s web team, who are members of the Information Technology and Marketing/Communications offices, will then work with those offices to prepare content that will often include factoids and testimonials similar to those in use in new web and print recruiting materials.
The goal is for all academic program and administrative pages to be migrated to the new design by Summer 2017. The matrix for setting the order in which academic pages will be worked on weighs the Academic Master Plan 50%, number of students enrolled in the major 30% (past 2 year average), number of external visitors to current pages 15%, (as measured by unique page views) and regional industry trends 5% (from various national sources & Greater Fargo Moorhead Region Regional Workforce Study). Administrative departments that focus on the student user experience — from prospect to enrolled — will also be considered top priority pages.