Xiaodong “Eric” Li Webmaster Control vs. Freedom Balancing Editorial Freedom and Site-wide Consistency in a Faculty Website

Wharton County Junior College 2 year community college students 4 campuses 163 full-time instructors 139 part-time instructors 3 websites: WCJC Main Website: WCJC FacutlyWeb Site: facultyweb.wcjc.edufacultyweb.wcjc.edu WCJC Intranet Site: www3.wcjc.eduwww3.wcjc.edu

WCJC FacultyWeb Site First built in 2004 To supplement the college's teaching and learning activities

Challenges Inconsistent web presence Non-standard information Bad navigation FrontPage editor hard to use and no longer supported Limited staffing available for training and support Web page content not updated in a timely manner Need to ensure full compliance with Web Accessibility Laws and Standards, such as ADA, Section 508 and WCAG

Inconsistent web presence ……

plus non-standard information and bad navigation …… have made the WCJC faculty web pages look both unprofessional and unappealing.

How to balance editorial freedom and site-wide consistency? Our solution: Content Management System (CMS)

What is a CMS Helps you manage website content No HTML knowledge required for content contributors Easily defined workflow Keeps content accurate and current

Our choice : OU Campus Web CMS by OmniUpdate

Leading CMS in Higher Ed 700+ college and university websites 11+ million web pages updated 2012 University Business top product Designed for Colleges & Universities Simple for users, yet powerful for administrators Extensible for developers through APIs Exceptional training and support Social media integration and mobile website Course catalogs, faculty directories, calendars

Easy to use and easy to learn Template based – ensure consistent web presence WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You- Get) editor No HTML knowledge required Browser-based environment Workflow and approval process Wonderful support (fully supported) Accessibility compliance

Implementation: Template Design One standardized faculty profile template Non-editable Data Regions (controlled by administrator) Faculty portraits (pulled from Image Folder) Contact information (pulled from Employee Database) Editable Data Regions (inputted by user) Brief Bio Office hours Education Courses taught Areas of interest Links

Non-editable Data Regions Editable Data Regions Local Navigation

Editable Fields for Administrator

Editable Fields for User

New WCJC FacultyWeb Site facultyweb.wcjc.edu Powered by OmniUpdate’s OU Campus CMS Launched in January 2013 Content migration Training and tutorials

Benefits Keeps the WCJC faculty web pages appearance consistent and professional Enhances website branding while simultaneously granting faculty the academic freedom to build their own web-based teaching tools Satisfies the accessibility requirements Reduces man hours and staff cost on training and support Improves user satisfaction

Before

After

Summary Results of our CMS Balanced non-editable, standardized information with editable, personalized content Improved website appeal for students and faculty Simplified website navigation Provided a consistent experience for website visitors

Thank You + Q & A Eric Li