Integration of Online Academic Tools

This project came about as a natural progression in the development of the Enrollment and Planning Web presence and the desire to create a seamless, intuitive, integrated Web experience for our students. Not only was the Web the preferred communications channel for students, it offered opportunities for improved services, greater efficiency, quicker publishing cycles, wider availability, and substantial cost savings. There was also a desire to move away from print communications to electronic communications and services. In April 2002, the decision was made to discontinue the printing of the various class schedules because of its limitations due to substantial course additions and deletions subsequent to publication. Subsequently, in September 2002, senior leadership in the Provost’s office decided to drastically reduce the size of the printed catalog from approximately 300 pages to 150 pages, with course descriptions available only in the Web version of the catalog.

The vision for the “Integration of Academic Online Tools Project” took shape in the spring of 2002. It was a result of numerous conversations with a wide range of constituents including students, faculty (including the Faculty Senate), academic advisors, financial aid advisors, admissions advisors, Web developers, and senior leadership in the Provost’s office. This vision was a seamless system for informing students of requirements, offerings and policies, which would also simplify and improve the efficiency of the administrative tasks that students perform.

The administrative tasks that students perform were distributed throughout numerous Web-based academic sites that were developed independently by the various units with minimal integration, which led to a great deal of student confusion and frustration. The goal of this project was to holistically develop these tools and sites, basing the overall information architecture on the user’s intuition. While there were numerous tools and sites that would be touched by this project, there were 4 main components — the Undergraduate Catalog Web Site (http://undergrad-catalog.buffalo.edu/), the online class schedule (http://src.buffalo.edu/schedule/ ), the Rainbow Book Web site (now called UB Programs At-A-Glance — http://ataglance.buffalo.edu/), and the Undergraduate Academic Bridge Pages (sample page: http://academicprograms.buffalo.edu/iebp.php).

Action Plan Development

This project followed the principles of user centered design (UCD). UCD is a collection of techniques, processes, methods and procedures for designing usable Web sites. It embodies a philosophy that places the user at the center of the process with users being consulted at each stage of the design process. Potential solutions for this project were explored using a variety of user research methodologies including:

  • A thorough benchmarking of peer institutions
  • Focus groups and meetings with key audiences
  • Frequent communication with the undergraduate academic advising community and the Faculty Senate
  • Web site usability testing
  • Statistical analysis of the log files of the various Web sites
  • Task flow analysis

Considerable time was spent developing a strategic plan for this project which included a clear mission statement, an understanding of the primary and secondary audiences, success metrics, and an understanding of the relationship between the various sites. As a result of this planning, three primary goals were identified:

  1. Provide course descriptions and pre-requisite/co-requisite information from the catalog on the online class schedule, and provide class schedule information on the catalog site.
  2. Provide an improved search tool for students who are looking for options on what classes they should take.
  3. Syndicate content to mitigate the risk of inaccurate and inconsistent content, such as academic policies, requirements, and regulations on UB’s various Web sites.

Implementation

The project team consisted of members from two units, Enrollment and Planning and Academic Affairs.

At the heart of this project is the “catalog database,” a set of Oracle tables that provides the content for all four Web sites. An administrative console was developed to allow staff to add, edit and delete data. Additional applications were developed to publish the information to the Web. These sites are all published as static pages, resulting in less load on the Web server and improved usability for the user due to the faster download times. The system has many features found in Web Content Management Systems (CMS). It allows the end user to update and maintain content without involving technical staff, and allows for the syndication of content.

This project has progressed over the past 2 ½ years in four stages:

Stage 1 – September 2002 through October 2003

  • Completed revision to the online class schedule with a focus on improved usability (October 2002);
  • Converted the Catalog Web site from a static set of pages to a database-driven site (August 2003);
  • Built an application to allow for searching courses based on course title and/or course description (September 2003); and
  • Provided course descriptions and pre-requisite/co-requisite information from the catalog directly on the class schedule (October 2003).

Stage II – October 2003 through March 2004

  • Schedule information was added to the course descriptions pages on the catalog Web site (March 2004); and
  • Automated the catalog production process to improve efficiencies in workflow, resulting in the 2004-05 Web catalog being published in March so that it was available for the entire Fall 2004 registration cycle.

Stage III – April 2004 through November 2004

  • Launched the UB Programs At-A-Glance Web site, replacing the Rainbow Book Web site with expanded content pulled from the catalog database (completed September 2004);
  • Added course descriptions for graduate level courses to the database for inclusion in the online class schedule (Completed September 2004); and
  • Completed automation of the production process and workflow for the print and Web versions of the catalog by creating the ability to output content from the database as Microsoft Word documents, which are then distributed to the academic departments for review.

Stage IV – November 2004 –through February 2005

  • Replaced the undergraduate academic bridge pages with content generated from the catalog database (January 2005);
  • Created a complete listing of undergraduate and graduate degree programs which serves as the home page for the academic bridge pages (January 2005); and
  • Added a comprehensive list of all undergraduate faculty listings to the catalog site (February 2005).

Results

This project has been a huge success, resulting in improved service to students, significant cost savings, improved efficiencies, and better management of content. Feedback from students, faculty, and staff has been extremely positive. Usage of all of the sites related to this project has increased significantly. Over the last year, page views on the catalog site have increased by almost 50% and unique visitors increased by almost 20%. Unique visitors to the UB Programs: At-A-Glance site has also increased by almost 40%.

Integrating content on the various Web sites has simplified the course selection and registration process for students. It is now easier for students to understand what courses they can and should be taking, and when those courses are available. Automating production of the catalog site has allowed the annual production timeline to be tightened, resulting in the Web version of the catalog being available in late March to help students register for the following Fall semester. Previously, the Web version of the catalog was launched in the September/October timeframe, leaving students to rely on outdated information.

The “Course Description Search” feature on the catalog site has provided a much improved process for searching for courses. Whereas the search tool available on the class schedule was limited by the use of abbreviated titles and no access to course descriptions, the Catalog site now allows for searching on the full title and/or the course description. Since it became available in October 2003, the catalog course search tool averages over 50,000 page views per month, and peaks at over 100,000 page views per month during registration periods.

This project has also resulted in significant cost savings for the university. Because class schedules are no longer printed, there is an annual savings of over $50,000 on print and distribution costs. Reducing the size of the printed catalog has resulted in savings of several thousand dollars per year. Production of the Web version of the catalog is now automated. The entire catalog is created in a couple of weeks. Previously it took several months to create the site manually. In addition, there are over 20,000 links that are automatically created as part of the publishing process that would have been cost prohibitive if done manually.

The CMS features have had several benefits. The syndication of content has greatly improved the accuracy of key academic content and made this content much easier to maintain. Previously, there were numerous lists on UB Web sites of our academic programs and majors, none of which were identical and all of which were incorrect. With content now coming from a single database, it is easier to provide accurate, up to date information.

The strategic planning process also brought to light many related issues. For example, there was considerable confusion on campus regarding pre-requisites, such as the required or recommended nature of pre-requisites and the ways that the current pre-requisite checking system functions. This project focused attention on this issue and provided recommendations for improvement.

Many valuable lessons were learned from this project. It reinforced the value of creating Web sites and Web applications based on the principles of user-centered design. Many features were the direct result of feedback from users. Team members gained a better understanding of the culture of the university and the relationship between central administration and decanal units.

As we move forward, there will continue to be enhancements and additions to these sites including:

  • The ability to syndicate content on departmental Web sites. For example, allowing the School of Management to pull their course descriptions from the catalog database onto their site in their own look and feel;
  • Creating custom print options for both students and internal staff; and
  • Adding alumni profiles to the At-A-Glance site.

This project has been the subject of two presentations given at higher education Web conferences. In July 2003, Michael Conroy made a presentation at the Web Communications and Strategies Conference in Salisbury, Maryland. In October 2004, Mark Greenfield and Kara Saunders made a presentation at the HighEdWeb Conference in Rochester, New York.

Last updated: October 04, 2007 3:41 pm EST