Tech Savvy Leads to 'Best of the Web'

By Michael Scrivener



Even in the virtual world, there comes a time to clean house.

When Howard Community College (HCC) established its first web site in 1995, its tech-savvy faculty and staff eagerly contributed content about classwork, library references, admissions procedures, cafŽ menus and much more. By 2005, the site had grown to more than 28,000 pages.

Such volume made it difficult to effectively manage the site and keep information up-to-date. It was time to break out the electronic brooms.

But rather than sweep away excess pages, the college stopped to re-evaluate the overall design and organization of its site. The result, launched in November 2006, was not only a much cleaner web site - 2,500 pages, a 92% reduction - but one that was easier to use.

This sprucing up drew national attention by the Center for Digital Education's (CDE) annual "Best of the Web" competition. HCC was selected from a pool of colleges across the nation to earn the award for Best Higher Education Website, earning praise for its web-based delivery of public services, efficiency, economy and functionality.

In addition to Best Higher Education Website award, CDE and the American Association of Community Colleges also named HCC one of the nation's top tech-savvy community colleges.

"HCC is thrilled to be named 'Best Higher Education Website,'" said Roger Stott, HCC's web services manager. "The award recognizes a lot of hard work from people across the college."



Tech-Oriented Restructuring

Major restructuring was necessary to bring HCC's online presence into the modern age and meet the demands of an increasingly tech-oriented student population, Stott said.

In 2005, a web steering team was created to assist in setting goals for the new web site, and focus groups were conducted to solicit recommendations. Out of the steering team and focus groups came a list of recommendations for the new site, including better navigation and search capability, online forms and databases, course search capability, and tools and resources for people with disabilities. The project took 13 months from planning to execution and underwent a series of test sessions with employees and students. When the new site officially launched in November 2006, it featured a new Google search engine, improved campus events calendars, a secure online admissions application, course search tools, photo galleries and a searchable employee directory. The site also featured a completely redesigned look, branding each page with a consistent style that reflected the college's logo and school colors.

The end result has proven to be a huge success for HCC. "The redesign has allowed us to do so much more with the site," Stott said. "It has provided us with so many tools to connect with students and the community."



Additional Improvements

The new site hasn't just improved communications with the students, it has also increased enrollment. Since the new site was introduced with new online enrollment and application options, applications submitted by prospective students have increased by 12.5%.

Management and content delivery has also been much improved. In fact, college faculty and staff from all departments and divisions now play a huge role in keeping content on the site fresh and current. Thanks to a new, easy-to-use content management system, a specified web coordinator in each of HCC's departments can add and remove content with ease.

HCC's web site can be viewed at www.howardcc.edu.