Web Strategy and Development Blog

Redesigned physician assistant studies website: Academic excellence + work-life balance

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The redesigned physician assistant studies website recently launched as part of the Academic Website Project. It is the seventh academic website to receive a full redesign for the mobile-friendly website template, a process that includes the creation of new content, design and multimedia elements.

Homepage of the physician assistant studies website

Clarifying and communicating unique benefits

Early in the redesign process, we worked with the department to identify the following recruitment messages:

  • Physician assistants play a vital role in health care while also maintaining a positive work-life balance.
  • Missouri State’s physician assistant studies program allows students to finish in just 24 months — faster than many other PA programs.
  • Graduates of this program have a history of success on the physician assistant certification exam.

Emphasizing key recruitment messages

Photography throughout the site features physician assistants in action and students learning through hands-on experiences. The careers and outcomes page emphasizes the positive work-life balance associated with the profession.

The program’s efficiency, which gives it a strong recruitment advantage over programs that take longer to complete, is spotlighted on both the departmental homepage and the physician assistant program page. These pages consistently reinforce the message, “You will finish our program in just 24 months.”

The website highlights graduates’ success on the certification exam, which is required for anyone wishing to practice as a physician assistant. These pass rates have a permanent home on the exam pass rates page.

Site credits

  • Project lead and content: Lucie Amberg, new media specialist in the office of Web and new media
  • Design: Abby Isackson, graphic designer in the office of publications
  • Photography: Kevin White, senior photographer in the office of publications
  • Editor: Kevin Agee, new media specialist in the offices of communications and Web and new media
  • Implementation: Brian Heaton, content management programmer in the office of Web and new media, with Lucie Amberg and Sara Clark, director of the office of Web and new media, and student coder Louis Freeman

Mobile-friendly academic website conversions: Spring semester progress

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Campus scene with many students on mobile phonesMobile usage is growing exponentially — particularly among our largest demographics of prospective students, Millennials and Gen Z.

Last year, Google experienced two mobile milestones:

  • The mobile tipping point, in which the number of mobile searches in the U.S. surpassed searches on PCs
  • Mobilegeddon, a change to the Google search algorithm that benefits mobile-friendly websites over their non-mobile-friendly counterparts

Academic websites converting to mobile

In response to the growing need to reach our audience on mobile devices, we began the process of converting all academic department websites to a mobile-friendly format in 2015.

The conversion process is not a complete redesign. Instead, it converts each site to the mobile template and reorganizes existing content for consumption on mobile devices.

Like the academic website redesigns, conversions are funded by the provost’s office and processed on a college-by-college rotation according to the deans’ prioritization.

Websites that are converted to the mobile-friendly template will later undergo redesign, during which new content, multimedia elements and design elements will be created. This two-step process allows our office to optimize all academic websites for mobile consumption as quickly as possible.

Progress in the first half of 2016

During the first six months of this year, we published the following mobile-friendly website conversions:

Progress anticipated for the second half of 2016

An additional 14 academic websites are either currently in conversion or scheduled to begin the process before the start of the fall semester. We expect all of these conversions to be published during the first half of the fall semester.

Mobile-friendly academic website conversions: Fall 2015

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Students walking on campus while looking at smartphonesMobile usage is growing exponentially — particularly among our largest demographics of prospective students, Millennials and Gen Z.

In 2015, Google experienced two mobile milestones:

  • The mobile tipping point, in which the number of mobile searches in the U.S. surpassed searches on PCs
  • Mobilegeddon, a change to the Google search algorithm that benefits mobile-friendly websites over their non-mobile-friendly counterparts

Academic websites converting to mobile

Our office began the process of converting all academic department websites to a mobile-friendly format early this year.

The conversion process is not a complete redesign. Instead, it converts each site to the mobile template and reorganizes existing content for consumption on mobile devices.

Like the academic website redesigns, conversions are funded by the provost’s office and processed on a college-by-college rotation according to the deans’ prioritization.

Websites that are converted to the mobile-friendly template will later undergo redesign, during which new content, multimedia elements and design elements will be created. This two-step process allows our office to optimize all academic websites for mobile consumption as quickly as possible.

Fall 2015 progress

During the fall semester, we published the following mobile-friendly website conversions:

 

How to Upgrade to Mobile-Friendly Templates

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Missouri State University is transforming its homepage and other websites into mobile-friendly templates, and we need your help.

Student on smartphoneYour audience is mobile

Mobile websites are key for recruitment. According to the Noel-Levitz 2015 E-Expectations report, 71% of high school juniors have viewed a college site on a mobile device, and they rate the college website as the most influential resource when researching colleges.

Second, Google recently experienced two mobile milestones:

  • The mobile tipping point, in which the number of mobile searches in the U.S. surpassed searches on PCs
  • Mobilegeddon, a change to the Google search algorithm that benefits mobile-friendly websites over their non-mobile-friendly counterparts

Sample mobile websiteHow to get a mobile-friendly website

If you have a Web Press site, your path to a mobile-friendly website includes three steps:

  1. Content review and planning
    The Web Help Desk will provide you a content inventory and site map, so you can review your content and make plans on how to adopt the best practices for mobile websites.
  2. Conversion
    The Web Help Desk will convert your website to the mobile templates, then you can implement your plans from step one.
  3. Publication
    Once everything is converted and optimized, the Web Help Desk will publish your website live.

Upgrade to Mobile-Friendly Templates

Please know that we’ll be processing requests on a first-come, first-serve basis. We will do our best to work through the queue as quickly as possible.

Exceptions to this process

 

Mobile-friendly academic website conversions: Summer 2015

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Mobile usage is growing exponentially — particularly among our largest demographics of prospective students, Millennials and Gen Z.

Google recently experienced two mobile milestones:

  • The mobile tipping point, in which the number of mobile searches in the U.S. surpassed searches on PCs
  • Mobilegeddon, a change to the Google search algorithm that benefits mobile-friendly websites over their non-mobile-friendly counterparts

Missouri State content viewed on a smartphoneAcademic websites converting to mobile

Our office began the process of converting all academic department websites to a mobile-friendly format early this year.

The conversion process is not a complete redesign. Instead, it converts each site to the mobile template and reorganizes existing content for consumption on mobile devices.

Like the academic website redesigns, conversions are funded by the provost’s office and processed on a college-by-college rotation according to the deans’ prioritization.

Websites that are converted to the mobile-friendly template will later undergo redesign, during which new content, multimedia elements and design elements will be created. This two-step process allows our office to optimize all academic websites for mobile consumption as quickly as possible.

Summer 2015 progress

Over the summer, we completed and published the following mobile-friendly website conversions:

An additional 13 websites are currently in conversion and will be published in the mobile-friendly format this fall. The conversion process will continue until all academic departmental websites are optimized for mobile consumption.