A few weeks ago, a group of Missouri State staff and faculty attended the HighEdWeb 2009 Conference in Milwaukee, WI. This conference is targeted at web developers in higher education. Last year, I sent out a summary of presentations, and several of you requested I send it again this year. Below are the favorites from 2009. Anyone can access the conference presentations and handouts.

Goal-Driven Web Strategy: Implementing Technology with an Eye on ROI

Favorite Chosen by Rob Hornberger, Enrollment Services

This session gave practical instructions on how to quantify results regarding whether or not integrating technology into a marketing plan has worked. We had real world exampled on how to calculate a return on investment, using examples such as an alumni broadcast email or an admissions visit event.

I learned calculations for how much of an employee’s salary was used on a project, how to access an online ROI calculator and determine how to populate the various fields, and why summer is an excellent time to engage admitted students for fall in a social network.

The Kids Are Alright

Favorite Chosen by Joe Hughes, Modern and Classical Languages

Mark Greenfield’s presentation addressed the elusive point at which technology and pedagogy intersect.

Tips: 1) Understand the Business, Understand the User, Understand the Medium; 2) Be Authentic

Augmented Reality – Merging the Virtual World into Ours

Favorite Chosen by Grayson Gordon, West Plains Computer Services and Chad Killingsworth, Web and New Media

This session demonstrated the Augmented Reality technology of which I was partially familiar and showed how applications can be developed for campus use. Combining 3d models into live video has all kinds of potential. This session demonstrated how easy it is to do and how it can be done with any computer with a web-cam.

Several marketing possibilities were demonstrated including a demonstration of TOPS Baseball cards. I saw how Augmented Reality could be used as a possibility for a Virtual Campus tour using commonly available open source applications.

BFF <3: How Social Networking Made the Class of 2013

Favorite Chosen by Brad Mitchell, Web and New Media

Ithica College used a third-party too, Social Engine, to create a private social network for incoming Freshmen and those interested in attending their institution. Social Engine was integrated with their Banner system. When a person changed from an applicant in their private social network to a student, their profile was ported over as a new student profile in Banner, and their information was carried over as well.

The most used tools within the social network were wall comments, personal profiles, and friending of others. The least used tools were private messages, photos, and the discussion forum.

Better Living Through Minions: A Guide to Student Workers

Favorite Chosen by Brad Mitchell, Web and New Media

Student workers are the most valuable resource to a web office. Students can see things, such as a page’s design, layout or content in a different way than we can. They are a great resource for testing a new web site.

Some great training tools for new student workers are:

• Lynda.com
• Opera Web Standards Curriculum
• Cheat Sheets at addedbyes.com

Usability Workshop with Jared Spool

Favorite Chosen by Lindsay Winchester, Web and New Media

My favorite session of the High Ed Web Conference was the final workshop with Jared Spool. His focus on usability was specifically targeted at my role as a designer.

His workshop focused on the navigation style of sites. His method of navigation was aimed at pulling viewer toward their desired content versus pushing them in a direction we as content generators think they should go. His main idea was that website viewers will come to your site with a purpose in mind. They have a specific piece of information they want or a task to do. If a site’s navigation focuses on keywords that a viewer is likely to look for, your site is now leading them down a trail toward that information by “scent.” Viewers do not mind multiple clicks if they feel they are getting more specific information with each click, if they feel they are actually moving closer to there goal.

My main takeaways from this workshop is that navigation should be designed and structured to incorporate more keywords. From his research the ideal navigation is 7 to 10 words long for each choice. Anther main point I agreed with is assume the user has no knowledge of your institution. This is especially important for university sites to consider. One of a university’s website target audiences is prospective students. That translates into avoiding jargon terms as your navigation. The final take away for me was that from each page instead of structuring your navigation to reflect a hierarchical system, let the flow of information be more organic. The flow of information should be driven by the content itself. People structuring their pages should ask themselves, “What is the next piece of information the viewer would want?” There were many more interesting points from this workshop, but these were the highlights that particularly interested me.

Increasing Web Site Usability (With or Without a Redesign)

Favorite Chosen by Brian Heaton, Web and New Media

• Users will only spend approximately 10-15 seconds scanning a page before moving on, and then will only “read” 20% of the text.
• Eye tracking studies have led to the development of the F-pattern which is the prime real estate on your page. The implications of this are:
  • Most users don’t read text thoroughly
  • First two paragraphs = your most important information
  • Subheadings, paragraphs and bullets should start with information-carrying words
• When writing for your web site remember:
  • Most people scan web pages—not read them
  • 50% text on the web as opposed to its print counterpart
  • Cut the “marketese” and the welcome mat
  • Don’t use clever spelling, like Fysics
  • Use terms your target audience(s) will be looking for while “scanning,” e.g., Master’s vs Graduate
  • Users expect underlined/colored text to be a hyperlink
  • Highlight (bold) key words, not entire sentences

Inform, Interact, Inspire: Reimagining the Admissions Website

Favorite Chosen by Brian Heaton, Web and New Media

• Carleton College research indicates prospective students prefer home page photos of ornate buildings and campus settings and not people, which they suspected were staged shots of models. Carleton College called this a desire for a “sense of place.”
• Research with prospective students passing through the admissions office demonstrated that prospects expected many of the same items available on (or directly accessible from) the university home page to also be on (or directly accessible from) the admissions home page. This lead to important lesson #1: to the prospective student, every page on your site is an admissions page.
• There are two types of prospects, based on where they are in the admissions cycle. The first type of prospect, a searcher, is looking for something in particular, e.g., campus demographics or an application form. The second type, an explorer, is interested and now they want to learn something about you; they’re in search of that sense of place. They want to see the virtual tour, faculty and student profiles, blogs and campus/student videos.

Interactive Maps: Making Them Work for You

Favorite Chosen by Chad Killingsworth, Web and New Media

This session validated much of the work we have done over the past 2 years to the campus map. The session specifically talked about the importance of having all the maps use a common source, have a good search and a very clean interface.

Talking to Your Boss about Twitter

Favorite Chosen by Sara Clark, Web and New Media

Lori Packer provided a great summary for how to show all kinds of social media, including Twitter, to decision makers. First, show them the stats, second let them see the conversation then take them for a test drive. Some takeaways from her session included:

• Social media is not about control. Social media is like a river: you can’t control the river, but you can harness it to further your goals.
• It’s best to just get started first then generate a strategy.
• Use Twitter to do your job better and look for opportunities.