Get documents about "Market Research Web Design
Description
Market Research Web Design document sample
Document Sample
Web Market Research – Staff Initial Findings
Staff survey
Sample Profile
119 responses received
Campus: Role type:
Cant erbury =13%
Epsom = 8% Academic = 23%
Farnham = 40% Support = 72%
Maidstone = 21% Blank = 5%
Rochester = 13%
Blank = 5%
1) First impressions:
Liked Di sliked
University of Hull 5% 18%
University of Birmingham 11% 9%
University College, Utrecht 13% 6%
Art Center College of Design 40% 8%
de Montfort University 3% 45%
Okanagan College 20% 6%
Blank 9% 8%
2) Information Structure:
Preferred
User Groups: Kingston University London 72%
Generic: Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design 21%
Blank 7%
3) Web Features - staff sorted the list below according to their importance on a website, for potential
students considering a University/College,
Options according to importance
Unit info 1st
Student achievements 2nd
Student work galleries 3rd
Student support 4th
Student profile s 5th
Past student info & successe s 6th
Academic staff profiles 7th
Video clips/Virtual tours 8th
News items 9th
Research profile 10th
University College exhibitions 11th
College shop & refectory info 12th
Staff web survey 2006 1
4) Online Staff Community: would the following enhance your work life and professional development?
Ye s No Blank
Having a 'Free Ads' noticeboard 86% 4% 10%
Being able to access your personal HR record 76% 4% 20%
Being able to add weblinks to my navigation 66% 13% 21%
Having access to interactive response form s for HR 61% 10% 29%
Having access to interactive response form s for finance 59% 11% 30%
Having access to lecture note s 55% 18% 27%
Having personalised content specific to my role 53% 19% 28%
Having 'staff' only di scussions 52% 16% 32%
Having personalised navigation specific to my role 49% 24% 28%
Being able to sugge st training course s through a forum type 49% 23% 28%
resource
Delivering interactive learning 49% 18% 33%
Having the option of a realtime 'RSS News Feeds' on the staff 46% 35% 19%
portal
Having 'staff and students' onl y di scussions 39% 25% 36%
5) Website homepage options:
Options
directly to the internal staff homepage 40%
I prefer none of the options above, I like to chose my own start-up 27%
page.
the ucreative homepage and clicking through to the internal staff 20%
homepage
the ucreative public staff section and clicking onto the internal staff 8%
homepage
Blank 5%
6) The Website & Email - how staff felt these could best be used in conjunction with each other.
Ye s No Blank
Web based announcements 75% 16% 9%
Having email notification of staff training course s 65% 27% 8%
Web based forum s 55% 34% 11%
Having email notification of university colle ge news & events 48% 43% 9%
Option of email alerts about recent news item s placed on the staff intranet 44% 49% 8%
6) Examples of best practice submitted by staff:
www.aib. ac.uk www.edinburgh.ac.uk (3) www.rgu.ac.uk/grays
www.artcenter.edu www.falmouth.ac.uk www.rhul.ac.uk/media-arts
www.arts.ac.uk www.greenwich. ac.uk (3) www.risd.edu
www.bat hspa.ac.uk www.gsa.ac.uk www.salford.ac.uk
www.bbc.co.uk www.hull.ac.uk www.rsad.edu
www.bham.ac.uk www.janvaneyck.nl www.scad.edu
www.bolt on.ac.uk www.jmu.ac.uk www.schoolofvisualarts.edu
www.bournemouth.ac.uk www.kingston.ac.uk www.shef.ac.uk (2)
www.brighton.ac.uk www.leeds.ac.uk www.shu.ac.uk
www.bristol.ac.uk www.lincoln. ac.uk www.surrey.ac.uk
www.bgc.ac.uk www.massart.edu (2) www.treehugger.com
www.cam.ac.uk www.mca.edu www.tru.ca
www.cca.edu www.mica.edu www.t vu. ac.uk
www.courtauld. ac.uk (3) www.mmu.ac.uk www.ucl.ac.uk/slade
www.cranbrookart.edu www.ntu.ac.uk (2) www.ukstudentlife.com
www.dartingt on.ac.uk www.norwich.edu www.uts.edu.au (2)
www.designboom.com/eng (2) www.open.ac.uk www.ucu.uu.nl
www.designmus eum.org www.okanagan.bc.ca www.walkerart.org
Staff web survey 2006 2
www.drexel.edu www.pictopia.com www.wmin.ac.uk/mad
www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad www.polyu. edu. hk (2) www.wsa.soton.ac.uk
www.eca.ac.uk (2) www.port.ac.uk www.york.ac.uk
Staff Survey comments
Q1 - First impressions comments
"Okanagan College homepage has a more relaxed feel to it. de Mont fort home page is very 'busy' Hull
is very bad"
"Like clear simple designs that are easy to navigat e but enough eye candy to keep me interested. "
"UoH looks cheap and the design is very boring. Horrible colours . The Art Cent er has a pleasing,
clean design and is easy to navigate and has lots of easily accessible info set out in a clear way. "
"The de Montfort page is too busy, similar colours and confusing. "
"The art center site is stylish, like the colours, still plenty of areas to click on, but I don't like that you
have to scroll down a long way on the first page"
"Didn't really like any of them to be honest! They looked a bit brash and not very well designed from a
visual point of view. I think our existing website is more pleasing to the eye. "
"The Hull site looks very formal, almost as if it is a council's website. "
"The information supplied on the Art Center's homepage provides direct links to the more
important/relevant information for prospective students. "
"art center was a bit different, de mont fort looked like a boring corporate company page"
"The Art Centre site is visually aggressive with hard blocks of colour making it necessary to keep
changing the colour of the graphics. "
"The Okanagan College site is much more 'gentle' and welcoming- user friendly, aimed at students,
clear easy to read graphics, set out in a very flowing and logical way. "
"I like University of Birmingham as this has clear navigation, a virtual tour (important for internationa l
students) and is student foc ussed. "
"De Mont fort is too garish on the eye. "
"Okanagan is pleasing to the eye. "
"Birmingham's seemed very full and busy, Art Cent er College calm and professional although it took
me ages to find out where it was located geographically. "
"Art Center College of Design is contemporary and friendly. De Montfort is badly designed and visually
confusing. "
"Birmingham - is clear, bright & easy to get around (could have less info on front page). "
"ACCD - doesn't look like a college website. Not easy to find what you are looking for. "
"de mont fort looks like a travel website"
"The 'Art Centre College of Design' website stands out by a mile as the most contemporary & well
designed. It looks like it is created with the student in mind and creates the right first impression for a
young, creative viewer. The others all follow the same dull format that most higher education websites
follow. "
"An art & design university needs to look visual on first impressions. "
"There's something very staid and boring about the Birmingham site. The Okanagan site is very
welcoming and I really like the scenic banner. "
"Okanagan site is clear, concise, aimed at specific users. Not crowded, good images. "
"I thought all the sites were awful. Hull was garish colours and empty soundbites; Birmingham was like
a word document! too much text and small font; ditto for Utrecht; Art Center was ok layout but no
search facility; de Montfort looks like one of those awful pop -up ads you get when you search Yahoo;
and Okanagan is just dull and wordy. Really very little to say that is positive about any of them. "
"The visual tone of all of your examples is too stuffy and formal. our usp is "creative"
" art center - easy to navigate - visually striking"
"de mont fort - homepage far too busy. don't know where to start."
Staff web survey 2006 3
"I prefer the uncluttered interface, like Utrecht and Art Center. I don't like any of the content. They all
seemed designed to market and not to be used as a tool which is what students and staff want of their
website"
"Don't like pages that are too busy. As I work in a library and we will constantly be referring students
to the online services we provide, I think it is important for the library link to be on the first page. "
"None of them were very good! They are too cluttered and don't give a good first impression"
"Most of them have too strong a feel of advertising and don't show you well enough where to find the
information that will help you decide whether you are interested. I think it's important to have a link to
the library from the main page - particularly for serving your own academic community who are looking
to use the website as an information resource - and the only one which does is University of Hull, and
the site looks as though it's full of small ads. "
"I don't really like any of these. Birmingham has a fairly clear layout but no link to the library (i.e. the
central research information hub for students and staff), although it does have links about sport and
"campus attractions" - are these more important to that University than research!? "
"de Mont fort looks an unprofessional mess - like some sort of unscrupulous site selling dodgy products
via a the web. None of these 6 sites uses headings that will be particularly meaningful to users. "
"I like the art centre college of design because it has impact, and looks as if it is designed. the others
contain too many words and are pretty boring"
"Like Birmingham as it seemed easy to navigate; disliked de Mont fort as it looked cheap - rather like a
basement sale"
"Utracht looks very corporat e - I don't like the use of one colour it looks very uninspiring and dull.
Okanagan is easy to navigate and has a clear homepage so you know immediat ely where to go"
"I like the branding on the Birmingham site. There is too much going on at de Mont fort. "
"University of Birmingham's site is good becaus e it is simple and easy to navigate whereas de Monfort
is too busy with an excessive amount of information and graphic boxes. "
"The Art Center College website was very up beat and contemporary which reflected the specialisms
of the school. Also really liked the obvious events links. The de mont fort University was too busy and
looked more like an online shop with the colours and spacing. "
"The Art Center was easy to navigate, lots of images, strong design"
"Hull was bright and cheerful, Birmingham was dull and more difficult to navigate. "
"Utrecht was laid out beautifully and Hull very difficult to distinguish. "
"de Mont fort page is far too busy, a big jumble of information you can't be bothered to decipher -
Utrecht one much simpler, less of an assault on the eye"
"Hull: visually a nightmare, looks like a local authority site, or an insurance site. Art Center College:
clean, sober. Shows at first sight that this is a place that is concerned with aesthetics/ design. Lots of
students' work !!! "
"First Page should be attractive with little information; Or separated out with various font sizes. "
"They are all pretty poor. Too busy for a homepage, no initial wow value. Utrecht is the least offensive"
"Others seem very corporate and cold - not particularly keen on Art Centre either - but best of the 6 -
in my opinion. "
"Liked Utrecht as it is quite clear - didn't like de Mont fort as it looks like a sales site with too much info.
"
"Art Centre College of Design is too much "in your face". Okanagan College is easy to read & in non
clashing colours"
"de monfort looks cheap in its design. I like the tabs of Birmingham. "
"The Art site is the only site that is geare d to Art & Design students. E.g. Well designed in terms of
imagery & wording ratio/layout/impact. Also demonstrates/advertises student/staff work. None of the
other sites are appropriate in the least, they are not Art sites and clearly demonstrate that they are not !
This is not a good comparis on!! "
"Okanagan - Friendly, colourful with quick find"
"de Mont fort - Messy - no clear focus"
"Okanagan site was very clearly laid out. Birmingham site looked old fas hioned"
"Art Center: Snappy clarity versus Hull's predictable worthiness"
Staff web survey 2006 4
"they're all bland, lacking in design direction and they feel like retail sites. "
"the folder tabs at the top of the Birmingham site are dated and sloppy. "
"Utrecht - too much written info in small type on opening page. Okanagan - good balanc e of photos
and clear instructions - excellent first impression"
"de mont ford university homepage was far too busy. "
"Utrecht: brightly coloured (not too dull) but clear and easy navigation and searches. My other
favourite was Okanagan. De Montfort: too busy !!!! "
"Birmingham is the least cluttered and easy on the eye wit h all the links easy to find. De mont fort
looks like some cheap advertising site..too much in your face. "
"Utrecht had a 'warmth' and more inviting to read than the others. De Mont fort has far too much detail
on home page"
"Art Center has a strong visual impact and text is limited. Utrecht too text heavy "
"Hull orange and yellow -difficult to read -takes to long time to find a course"
"The Utrecht site had a bad choice of colo urs for visibility, whereas the Okanagan was clear and easy
to see the navigation links. "
"Art Center is infinitely more innovative and int eractive"
"Art Center Coll of Des - Good design, contemporary feel. University of Hull - School-like. "
"I most like the art centre from first impressions - only downside is that the pages are quite long -
dislike the de montfort intensely - it looks very cheap - like a bargain website! "
"Art Center site clean and clear. De Montfort site cluttered and garish. "
"Most of the UK and University-style ones seem very busy, appearing to do a great deal, but really no
more than Art Centre College of Design, which is very quiet and understated, with an elegant sense of
design; but it does exactly the same things too. "
"Too much colour in most of them. Cluttered"
"Okanagan looked inviting friendly and headings made info easy to find. de Mont fort very strange
layout not appealing to the eye. "
"Art Center College of Design is well designed"
"dislike De Mont fort - confusing layout"
"like Art Center - quite stylish, don't like orange though"
"De Mont fort is too busy, confusing and ugly! Art Center is clear, elegant, quick to load"
"All pretty much the same using standard content management systems, which allow little creativity
and personal identity. It's a shame that so little design seems to do into these packages "
"There are too many pictures of pretty students on the UCCA site at present. The images are cropped
like fashion shots - students/’models’(?!) look as if they are posing. They are not convincingly
portrayed as if they are at ‘work’!! The images have little if any (??!!) informative contents."
"There is not enough evidence of students’ work on the site. Again, cropping images of work to a
pretty detail makes the web (as well as all the whole of the new UCCA PR) look very lightweight. No
sense of substantial, maybe even diffic ult inquiry taking place at our institution. Aesthetically the PR is
very close to the look of fashion stores- is that really how we want to present ourselves? And: All
subject areas should be represented equally in terms of images on the site. "
"The Res earc h section is utterly confusing: How can anybody accessing the site understand the
differenc e between Res earc h Centre, Research Group, and Research Cluster??. There is little else
than general mission statements listed under Res earc h at present; staff research profiles still can only
be accessed via old SIA D/ KIA D links. This looks really bad for anybody accessing the site for
academic reasons. The website must not be mistaken as a pure marketing tool. The int ernet is now
the first point of contact for academic connections. We need staff research work to be represented
again with images, not just words.
Q2 - Information structure comments
K - Contains basic general information all in the space of the widow, no need to scroll to get more info.
Staff web survey 2006 5
K - this is not a real choice the sites are both under the surface and should be (primary and secondary
information navs probably more appropriate analogy )
K - Much clearer and less ambiguous.
K - Kingston's is very easy to get to the information you want quickly. The AW College's site is ok but it
takes longer to get to what you want to know.
K - It makes much more sense and visitors can easily find the info they need.
A - This one is much nicer - having the drop down menus is easier to navigate and more
sophisticated-looking
K - The way through the information is clear whereas the AW College provides a lot of information that
needs to be processed before the user can decide where they need to go.
A - livelier, more exciting
K - My eye wandered all over the generic site without actually reading anything ! The us er-t argeted
site leads the eye immediately to the information.
K - Again - for int ernational or dyslexic students this would be more attractive as it appears clear and
simple to use.
K - Its compact, simple and easy to look at. A home page should not be cluttered.
K - Easier to see information
K - Information needs to be filtered in an easy and navigable way from the home page to reflect the
needs of the user not the host.
K - Kingston's is very easy to navigate. AW's is a bit too busy - I think I would get a headache.
K - Simple to use - clear headings - familiar site.
K - The generic layout was annoying (particularly the floating cursor) the font is too small. The User
layout is at least logical but odd that there is no direct link to the library!
K ease of navigation & speed. images on other site were slow to load.
A - User target is frustrating when they target you and don't provide what you want. Where do you look
then? Generic is preferable, but the content has to be spot on.
K - Easy to find the information you need.
A - Again, neither site was great but the generic structure did not assault the s enses so much.
K - Kingston's is clearer. Many University sites combine both systems by having "information for" and
"information about" sections e.g. University of Edinburgh (www.edinburgh.ac.uk)- these are the
easiest to use sites.
K - I prefer the user targeted structure, it seems more straight forward and easier to find the information
you require initially
K - Easy to navigate, clear information structure. The generic structure again looks very corporat e and
appears difficult to navigate
K - I think a user-targeted structure is better as it suits the users and helps guide them to the
information most relevant to them
K - Both websites were clear and easy to use but the user -targeted structure was definitely clearer
especially for pot ential students and parents who are the most import ant audience
A - Much more playful but clear.
A - I didn't like either really for different reasons, Kingston was boring, the other had good us e of
design and animated pictures but no information I could find on support services, therefore lost points
for me.
K - Very pleasing to the eye!
Not concerned about structure, as long as I can get to the information I need somehow. The
Antoinette site provides much more in depth course information.
K - I think the web site is more used by current students and they need links to directly access the info
they need
A - I wouldn't call either excellent. But Westphal has a better feel and chunk size
K - More user friendly
A - seems to be much smoother interface
Staff web survey 2006 6
K - I think its easier for the user to navigat e and feel that it should be a resource for people to get the
information they require rather than something for us to demonstrate our abilities.
A - I think the Generic structure foc uses on the Target groups FAQ or enquiries. E.g. Courses, Job
opportunities, prospects. The User Structure by having a list of student types is limiting and is not a
good use of an advertising for tool for potential students.
K - I found Kingston easier to navigate
K - Appeared more user friendly
K - you can find what you'd want, but it's dull
K - visually more appealing and where to find info clear.
K - I found Kingston's much easier to locate the information, although I think Antoinette Westphal
College was very modern and up to dat e.
K - I prefer the targeted structure. Easier to find information.
K - Prefer the fonts and the navigational lay out.
K - Kingston has a clear layout with easy to understand headings to follow. The other demonstrates
the Art & Design nature of the college but its label headings ar e not so trans parent, eg what is 'Co-
op'?
K - easier to find courses and relat ed info
A - good design & interactive
A - Clear information - gradually revealed.
K Easy to navigate directly to relevant information.
K - Not sure what is meant by 'user targete d'. The two are very different kinds of institution, Westphal
is an American institution and the American model of educational culture seems reflected in the
navigation. Kingston does a better job at separating out the different forms of entry based on a UK
model: UG, PG, international etc. so in this sense it is more 'user targeted' by specifying who the
reader might be. Is this good?
K - Prefer structured layout of home page.
K - clear design
K like - don't have to scroll to see content
K - Looked more interesting
K - easy to navigate (perhaps because more limited choices?)
K - Both very prescriptive The second looks nicer but the first is probably easier to navigate. Both
pretty dull though
Q3 - Web Features comments
"What about info on the campus/area and the social life of the town? Can't student achievements and
past info/successes be combined with the galleries of student work? The virtual tour of the bedrooms
on Kingston's website is a very good idea"
"Quite a hard question to answer as each diffe rent section of students will want to see something
different, i.e. a foundation student will not be as interested in research as a PhD student."
"I believe students choose to come based on the academic profile/reputation of the institution, the
nature of the course, and if international, support and finances are import ant too."
"Course specific web pages wit h examples of student work"
"Different levels and types of students will have different needs, e.g. PG/researc h, international
(videos) etc. "
"All students are individuals so I can't really speak for them. "
"What is the difference bet ween 'student achievements' and 'past student info' exactly?! "
"Whoever set this questionnaire does not understand that students and staff use the website as a tool
to find information to write essays, understand their subject and complet e their coursework. How is
this reflected in any of the above? Where is reference to Learning Environments, the Library
Catalogue, Personal Development Plans, Online Databases? The website is not only a promotional
tool but essential for students completing their courses. P-T Students, distance learning relies on it
even more. "
Staff web survey 2006 7
"What about important facilities like library and IT ? "
"Library should be listed here. As far as students and rese arch staff are concerned the library is the
first port of call for information so it's important that there is a link directly from the main homepage,
especially as many library services are accessible via the web, on and off campus. "
"The most import ant thing is to have an online prospectus. It also important, particular for post-grad
students, to see what sort of library and information services are available, but you haven't even
included this is the list of options - don't you know that doing research is an important part of what
students come to University for!? "
"Accommodation would also be an important consideration for students"
"Information about the cours e and location would be of most importance to me. Information regarding
the academics and researc h activities would be of less relevance. "
"I based my choices on potential undergraduate students and not postgraduate"
"The most import ant thing for potential students is good quality information about the courses and
student support services and the location of the university and what it is like to live in the area. It is
also nice to know that there is life after University so Student destinations is also good."
"It is very import ant to show the making and showing off first of external artists as this is good practice.
following by outcomes of the course with successes, which will pull people closer to looking at the
courses in more depth seriously. "
"the whole range of courses on offer, an overview is always useful"
"I think course information is vit al and a virt ual tour will be very useful"
"Some of these seem closely related - e.g. testimonials, past & present achievements. "
"I think research is important, but not convinced there is evidence to suggest its a factor an
undergraduate uses; its importance comes wit h profile of academic staff and achievements. "
"Student's tend to want to know how a University is going to contribute to their own success firstly. E.g.
What the Uni enables past students to achieve, what work is achieved & who teaches them & what
past students say. Secondly for students it may be finance, how they are going to afford the course &
what they get for their money."
"majority of queries in registry wanting in-depth course info and info about student support & finance"
"Depending on whether the potential student is undergrad or postgrad, the features above could be
rated differently, e.g. a postgrad would probably view the research, academic staff profiles, & in-depth
course information as more important. However, undergrads tend to prefer more general info,
preferring to find out more details in person in interview or telephone contact. "
"Difficult to order as some very similar. Felt some import ant features not included, i.e. accommodation,
campus and local area info and social side."
"If we opt for a User-Based site, then it should have a direct link to the library and the various
databases that we are licensed for, as these would need to accessed from home as well as on
campus and the library site leads to Cross-Campus and Inter-Library Loan request forms (which are
all submitted online), the Borrower can also check the status of their loans from this site - so it's useful
stuff.
It should also have direct links to course content, an A-Z list of who's who plus their contact details and
direct links to useful information, as opposed to the annoyingly perky 'read more about' option that we
currently have.
It should be remembered that a website is not just an advertisement to entice new people with huge
fonts and bright colours, but a useful a valid instrument for their use throughout the course of their
studies. LET'S PUT USEFUL INFORMA TION WHE RE IT CAN BE SEEN."
"These all seem a bit trivial. In the end, students will really want to know: who is teaching them, how
much teaching they get, what the learning facilities are like, what their prospects would be, and what
kind of place it is to study and live. "
"difficult to categorise...all can influence a student's choice. People tell me it is about course
information and student successes and destinations...which may not fully be reflected in my random
numbering "
Q4 Online Staff and Student Community comments
"Having personalised content that I could design, not that was only related to my role."
Staff web survey 2006 8
"Having access to web journals and res ources on business, economics, fortune, Higher Education etc.
"
"Will this be replacing the email discussions then?
"Certainly a good idea in theory but these things only work if everyone is on board."Double yes to
noticeboard, discussions and access to lecture not es"
"I would like to see the use of embedded links (i.e. links where users can see and click on either [or
both] the url and the site name) to go directly to external sites"
"Links to online library services need to be included because "information and resources" useful to
professional development can be found in the library. The main route to career progression for
academic staff is via undertaking research, so they need to be aware of what research facilities are
available to them. "
"I don't really require additional information but forms set up automatically going to the right person
would save time"
"Also the college's annual monitoring report and university mission statements. "
"Would be anxious about college notice boards in the absence of a larger noticeboard; (and things
being missed between sites). "
"The only reason why I think lecture not es & project briefs may not be a good idea is because it can
deter students from turning up to briefings & lectures. Not es can be mis -interpreted and notes are
ONLY notes & not a substitute for the full/real lecture/seminar."
"interactive learning, many of us want to develop blended learning, we have the desire, we need the
support in terms of development time, also Blackboard is often unavailable to our learners,"
"if we are going to ec ho our central systems online, shouldn't we first rationalise them, our working
practice is often held back by central systems, a rethink is needed."
"I would like to be able to use the same portal for staff and student communication and also access
student files and online teaching materials"
"we run similar courses over the 5 campuses, it would be good to set up an online community for
discussion/idea development, could we try video conferencing?"
"I'd want things to mean I spend as little time as possible online and as much time as possible
teaching my students"
"The nos and don't knows would not directly benefit me in my role but I can definit ely see the benefit to
other roles. We already add weblinks so I an unsure why these are questions? I can only assume
that the intention is to create a departmental webpage wit h inbuilt links specifically appropriate to a job
role."
"The interactive link to allow pot ential students to register their interest in attending the welcome
programme and to give their det ails for future cont act is something I have found very useful last year
and I would want to have this facility restored and link ed to email as before."
"The more online interactive information will provide better communication for the whole organisation
(having access to sources rather than told verbally, plus the ability to use these when appropriate)."
"Personalised content is not so important as long as there is comprehensive information available on
all areas and the site can be easily navigated."
"Does this suggest that the web could replace a course specific noticeboard such as Blackboard? We
would very much like to be able to make some information accessible to our students (and sometimes
to specific groups of students only)."
5 - Website homepage comments
"If I had to choose one of the other options, it would be the int ernal staff homepage."
"Although I'd like to know how I can do this!"
"I like it opening up the same page as the students get."
"I would like to start from the Library home webpage, where most of the links and resources I use
regularly can be found"
"I feel it is important in my role to be familiar with what the student sees too"
"Directly to my email account"
"It may not be what people want, but as a way of communicating with staff it works well. We had this
at a previous workplace and news items could be dis tribut ed this way."
Staff web survey 2006 9
"Although is nice to choose own homepage i see no problem in a work environment starting on the
internal staff homepage"
"Prefer to see what we all see, then navigat e from there. Can always change it if I want to!"
"If opening up the web browser at work (which can happen a lot) it is a time waster if to have to go
through the home page etc."
"I like to start with a search engine like Goggle but do feel that in an institution that it may be
preferable to start with a staff internal home page. I do believe that this is down to the institution."
6 - The Website and Email - comments
"If web based announcements is used staff need to be aware of this and regularly check for any
additions"
"Forums are a nice idea but in practice people tend n ot to go to them - just take a look at our staff
forum - it hardly changes. Emails have at least a chance of being read".
"I do everything by email so it makes sense for the information to 'come to me' as it were, rather than
for me to have to hunt it down elsewhere. "
"All staff emails are often irritating and irrelevant. The onerous should be placed much more on the
individual to access the information they feel is relevant to them - this will save time as you are not
forever deleting email. "
"If you only use the website, people are forced to go there for information. "
"I think the discussion groups are excellent, but they might need an owner who takes responsibility for
moderating them - perhaps the person who starts the discussion - but this is always a thorny one for! "
"I'm not totally sure it should be a case of definitely one or the other. The web is only useful for
informing busy staff, if/when staff know when something relevant and new is there to look at".
"some emails are sent without the sender looking at whom they are sending to. If this happened less
things would be better. "
"What about intern VOIP system, which gives face to face & group communication to cut down on
meetings"
"Cut down on email notification. This route would probably make more sense but to this end it may
better to have staff home page as the staff intranet. Alternat ely it would be good if staff were given a
brief outline on how internal information is disseminated as part of their induction pack?? "
"Email notification is instant whereas one might miss a web-based notific ation. Also if logging in from
outside the college, the web-based announcements would need to be accessible. "
"By having web-based announcements, it allows for the original announcement to be updated when
necessary (rather than looking through loads of emails seeing if an updat ed one has been sent out). "
"I don't want emails regarding news and events - but would want them very obvious on the staff home
page so that you can see new items when logging on "
"Use of the intranet should be promoted and encouraged - continuing use of email will not help this. "
"I rarely have time to brows e the web or intranet and prefer specific mailbox es and personalised
emails"
Q7 Best Practice - comments
urls comments
www.aib. ac.uk You can find your way easily using the dropdown lists from
the main headings. There are good pages with student
profiles and images of student work, under 'quick links'
www.artcenter.edu On this website (which you gave in the first question), I really
like the way that the online gallery is shown at the front of the
site. It shows that the institute is proud of its student
achievement, values it and wants to showcase it.
www.arts.ac.uk Good straight forward navigation.
www.bat hspa.ac.uk Colour-coded drop-down menus. Clean look with a good
number of main- and sub-menus.
www.bbc.co.uk
www.bham.ac.uk Birmingham University is nice and clear but I feel as a
Staff web survey 2006 10
specialist art and design institution we could have somet hing
more visually impressive. However, it must remain an easily
navigatable site and not sacrific e style over substance.
www.bolt on.ac.uk A bit boring but good sub-menus. Easy access to study
abroad
www.bournem outh.ac.uk Immediate overview of sub-menus. Not particularly exciting
overall look
www.brighton.ac.uk clean and clear set up, easy to find information and contact
details
www.bristol.ac.uk Fairly plain but includes quicklinks to the main areas of likely
enquiry"
www.cam.ac.uk
www.courtauld. ac.uk It is important to have a Library and Learning Services link
on the homepage. No one is visiting the Kent site because it
is three clicks away.
www.courtauld. ac.uk I like the split For/About, dividing the us ers. Can we divide
the homepage for those that study/work and know what they
are looking for those who are browsing.
www.courtauld. ac.uk
www.cranbrookart.edu
www.dartingt on.ac.uk Extremely well considered site-good
navigation,clear,informative and good all round structure -
one of the best I have seen for many years"
www.designboom.com/eng Information density without clutter
www.designmus eum.org keep design simple with purpos e, reduced noise and a
sense of direction.
www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad - University of Dundee, Duncan of Jordanstone College of
Art and Design Think that this has managed not to look like
a content management system (which is quite a feet in its
self)"
www.eca.ac.uk In relation to staff research profiles.
www.eca.ac.uk Excellent overview and function of menu and sub-menus.
Navigation stays in same place. Great study abroad section.
My favourite!
www.edinburgh.ac.uk
www.edinburgh.ac.uk Good mixture of images and simple links.
www.edinburgh.ac.uk
www.greenwich. ac.uk The Research Office has gathered lots of information on how
research profiles are formatted on other websites, we believe
this to be one of the best sites to present staff research
profiles and have been working with Marinella Vowles in
terms of setting up a template in iCM which would enable us
to have this information held on our website."
www.greenwich. ac.uk
www.greenwich. ac.uk
www.gsa.ac.uk Good visually and for content, less good for structure and
navigation.
www.janvaneyck.nl This is an arts academy in Holland the website is full of
visual examples of exhibitions and works of staff alongside
essays and publications and has a real emphasis on
success!"
www.jmu.ac.uk sites such as Liverpool John Moores which broadcast
Graduation ceremonies live, I think one of your original group
did too, it's a real advant age for those students and families
who can't be there.
www.leeds.ac.uk I thought a drop down Quick Link to any specific area would
be useful. I have seen this in few University Web Sites but
not in the Examples you specified in earlier questions
www.lincoln. ac.uk Cons ervative, clean and tidy home-page
www.massart.edu Main page is very course focused but side menu gives more
Staff web survey 2006 11
options
www.massart.edu Main page is very course focused but side menu gives more
options. Exciting look and access to sub-menus
www.mica.edu Good visually and for content.
www.mmu.ac.uk
www.open.ac.uk
www.pictopia.com
www.polyu. edu. hk vertical & horizontal menus. Not too much info on the front
page.
www.polyu. edu. hk Vertical & horizontal menus. Not too much info on the front
page. Good access to Study Abroad.
www.port.ac.uk University of Portsmouth- clear, concise - good balance of
images and info - an excellent website
www.rgu.ac.uk/grays - The Robert Gordon University - Gray 's School of Art Think
this is quite clear
www.rhul.ac.uk/media-arts - Media A rts at Royal Holloway clear information, easy to
navigate
www.risd.edu
www.rsad.edu
www.scad.edu
www.schoolofvisualarts.edu My favourite
www.shef.ac.uk
www.sheffield.ac.uk
www.surrey.ac.uk The web site should be seen as the Sixth campus and how
we connect and interact with each other.
www.treehugger.com Consistent format
www.ucl.ac.uk/slade
www.ukstudentlife.com good layout and easy to follow directions very useful for
recommending to potential overseas students:
www.uts.edu.au Again, not too much info on the front page, menus are clear
(not keen on the 'look ' overall though) General comments -
should be able to search for a cours e by location (rather than
one list of all courses). Location/town info is very important
also.
www.uts.edu.au Not too much info on the front page - almost too clean.
Menus are clear. Good access to Study Abroad.
www.walkerart.org This is very good site for a mix of an educ ational/cultural
institution
www.wmin.ac.uk/mad - University of Westminster - School of Media, Arts and
Design again clear info, easy to navigate"
www.wsa.soton.ac.uk - Winchester School of Art student friendly - good intro by
head of school easy to find your way around (though
graphics is a bit poor) good on staff profiles and research
and courses plus links to departmental and staff sites
www.york.ac.uk University of York has a very clear easy to follow site. Useful
features include facility for alumni to updat e their records and
direct links for staff
www.kiad.ac.uk The KIA D website was one of the easiest to navigate and
had lots of good information on it. I hate to say it but it was
much better than Surrey 's. In fact, it was a lot clearer than a
lot of the university websites around. Trying to get contact
information on some of them is a nightmare!
Staff web survey 2006 12
