What Students Want

1
What Students Want
Institutional Web Management 2001 Organising
Chaos
2
Who Are We?

• MJ Ray
• Former Student Union Webmaster
• tsw Founding Editor
• Andrew Savory
• Former Student Union Webmaster
• Former University Webmaster
• Luminas

3
Why We're Here

• Some time in Higher Education
• 6 years working on SU sites
• 4 years working on tsw
• 5 years work on HEI sites
• Now semi-detached

4
WebsitesThatSuck.com

• Are university sites really that bad?
• No!
• Yes...
• Well, maybe.
• Lots of useful information
• But is it "What Students Want"?

5
What HE Sites Try to Do

• Marketing (prospectus etc.)
• Course information
• Timetables
• Reading lists
• Results and grades
• Enrolments
• Term dates
• Event information

6
What Students Want

• Prospectus
• Course information
• Timetables
• Reading lists
• Results and grades
• Enrolments
• Term dates
• Event information

7
Why Aren't They Happy?

• "I just want it to work."
• "It's always out of date."
• "I still haven't found what I'm looking for."
• Actually "I want it structured to find what I
  want without searching through links and pages."

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Why Aren't They Happy?

• "It has to look nice for students thinking of
  coming here."
• "I want links to the Student Union social stuff."
• "I don't trust it."
• (too much marketing material to draw students in?)

9
How to Improve?

• Structure and Organisation
• Separate student material
• Types of content
• Mostly right, but some missing
• Quality
• Timeliness

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How to Improve?

• Simplicity and elegance vs. "Wow!"
• Accessibility
• Work with Student Unions to gain credibility

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Remember the Audience

• Paying customers now?
• Legal requirements
• Teaching Quality Assessment

12
Summary...

• Much done right
• Still strive to improve
• Listen to the audience
• Ask "what students want"!

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Top Ten Tips for Tip-top Sites

• 1) Provide the basics first
• 2) Update the information
• 3) Segregate the information
• 4) Maintain consistency
• 5) Use Student Unions to complement your content
• 6) Get institutional buy-in to providing services
• 7, 8, 9, 10) Ask them what they want!