Archive for 2005
Over the past few months, a lot has been written about freshmen blogs initiated by higher ed admission offices to give prospective students a taste of the college experience at their institutions. Whether they are maintained by individual bloggers or group of blogging students, these blogs can provide real insights on the freshman experience while allowing - via comments or emails - interested high school students to get the scoop on college life. As reported in "Colleges using blogs to attract students," an article by Anya Sostek published in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, students are not the only ones blogging on the behalf...
Read MoreAs promised earlier, below is the third "recommended reading list" I've prepared for my "Best of 2005" series. So, after higher ed executives and marketing/PR/ communication professionals, it's the turn of Web professionals with these 10 must-read posts published on collegewebeditor.com in 2005. Higher Ed Web Pro Files: 15 interviews with great insights from your peers How to measure the ROI of the college website? Step 1: define strategic goals How to measure the ROI of the college website? Step 2: set up a website dashboard Higher ed website redesign: why you should build your case Higher ed website redesign: how you...
Read MoreAs announced earlier this week in "Top 10 most popular blog posts on collegewebeditor.com in 2005," I've prepared this selection of my 10 most interesting posts for anybody working in higher ed marketing, PR or communications: Live from Salisbury’s Web Communications and Strategies Conference: Where does marketing fail in colleges and universities? Public Relations: Make sure you monitor bloggers posting about your university Search Engine Optimization: Why and how to optimize your college’s article in Wikipedia Wikipedia articles: background information for journalists? Social networking content management: the next big thing to recruit and retain college students? Is RSS a good way to reach high school students? How...
Read MoreWhen I launched collegewebeditor.com last February, my plan was really to blog for Web professionals as well as people in charge of Web marketing, PR or communication. With this specific audience in mind, I've written a few posts intended to be shared with executives. Lately, I've realized that several higher ed executives (a few department/service directors and VP's, for sure) do read this blog. That's why I've decided to put together this list of the top 10 must-read posts for university/college executives as part of my "Best of 2005" series: How many admission marketing dollars should be spent on the web? Your university...
Read MoreSo, here's the deal: if you answer 10 very simple questions related to the way you use this blog, you'll get a chance to win a $30 gift certificate (I would love to give such a certificate to anyone taking this survey, but let's be frank - all my Google Ads earnings since I started the blog don't even add up to $30). The winner will have the choice between Amazon and iTunes, but all the participants will help make collegewebeditor.com a better blog in 2006. So, please take 3 minutes - promise, it won't take more - and answer my 10...
Read More'Tis the time to be jolly, but also for the traditional "best of the year" features in mainstream media and the blogosphere. So, let's start today with the most viewed (and hopefully read) posts in 2005 on collegewebeditor.com. I've also planned to publish 3 other lists of the top 10 must-read posts for Web professionals, PR/Marketing practitioners and higher ed Executives later this week. If you haven't read these already, now might be the perfect time to get this done... After a thorough review of this blog's stats over the weekend, the 10 most popular posts are: Live from HighEdWebDev 2005...
Read MoreAs you know, a lot of admission offices in universities and colleges across the country (and probably the world) have started to use blogs maintained by current students to give to high school students a preview of the college experience at their institutions. At Ball State University and other institutions, admission offices recruited a few freshmen to share their first-year experiences on their own individual blogs. College life being what it is - busy and demanding, posts on these individual blogs might not be as regular as they should to catch a real dedicated audience. That's why the "group-blog" approach adopted at...
Read MoreDirector of Web Services for UB (State University of New York), Mark Greenfield has had the chance to witness the birth and the development of the Web in higher education. He reports to the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and manage a Web team with its own blog. Mark is responsible for approximately 50 sites (about 10,000 web pages) directly related to student recruitment and retention, academic policy and procedures, and student academic services. These sites are maintained through a home grown CMS built using PHP and Oracle, WordPress as well as Contribute. 1) What's your background?...
Read MoreFollowing in the footsteps of others institutions such as Cornell University and the Ohio State University, Duke University has been blogging its website redesign for almost three months as initially announced in this post published on September 27, 2005: "Duke is redesigning its home page. The Office of News and Communications, which is leading the redesign, has established this blog to provide updates and a forum to discuss the the new site, which it hopes to launch by January 2006." The blog has been used to explain the development process, share design mock-ups and defend the design and technical approach retained...
Read MoreFriends are very precious, but iPods can be ferocious. Even if a 99-cent song doesn't seem to be such a big deal, feeding the small digital beast can become a costly habit, especially on a college student's budget. The people in charge of student recruitment at the University of Alabama have not only realized it but decided to use it to help with their marketing efforts. According to "UA gives away iTunes in recruitment effort," an article published in The White Crimson Online, "the University is giving away iTunes in exchange for the contact information of prospective students. [...] On a new...
Read MoreInformation about academic programs ranks very high in what high school students are looking for on a college/university website. This is why the podcasts produced by the department of foreign languages and literatures at Iowa State University are a very, very good idea. As announced in an article titled "Podcasts are being used to bring in new ISU students" and published in Iowa State Daily, Julio Rodriguez, instructional support specialist and director of the Foreign Language Learning Resource Center has come up with the concept of LangCasts, 10-minute podcasts that explain to prospective and current students why they should major or...
Read MoreAs announced last month in a previous post, the first higher ed online conference about the so-called Web 2.0 technologies (blogs, wikis, podcasts, vodcasts, etc.) will take place in April 2006 on a computer sitting on your desk. You won't need to submit a budget request to attend this conference (isn't it nice?), but that shouldn't prevent you from taking part in the conference as a presenter. The call for presentation proposals is open until January 31, 2006. You will find out if your proposal is selected on February 20, 2006 and will have to send your presentation by March...
Read MoreIn a previous post titled "How to educate your director, VP or president about Podcasting", I pointed you to a few articles about podcasting and its use in higher education to help introduce the notion to your manager. If you were able to pick his/her interest with these links, you might want to push a bit further by inviting them to check out the following multimedia resources about podcasting: "Podcasting: how it can work for student recruiting" - a 80-minute screencast of the presentation Dan Karleen gave last month at a conference in Chicago. "Podcasting for a purpose" - a 40-minute...
Read MoreIf you're a regular, you might remember that I posted a couple of times about this initiative in New Jersey. The NJ Higher Ed Webmaster Association is now a reality with by-laws, an elected executive committee and a new website. Initiated by Tryon Eggleston of Bloomfield College (now working as a Web Specialist at Drew University) and Stephen Schur of Ramapo College a few months ago, the association was officially created last Wednesday at a meeting held at Drew. The 16 members in attendance adopted the association's by-laws and elected the following executive committee: President: Stephen Schur (Ramapo College) Vice President: Cindy...
Read More"Dean Dad" is the pseudonym used by a dean who has been blogging anonymously at "Confessions of a Community College Dean" since June 2004. I've already told you to check out his blog as it really offers interesting insights. Dean Dad has also recently written a very good piece for Inside Higher Ed titled "Deaning 101." 1) You have been blogging for about a year and half. Why did you decide to blog at that time? Can you tell us a bit more about your experience with blogging? My intro to blogging came from an article in Slate.com about baseball...
Read MoreI've already posted about the online social networking phenomenon that has taken such a big place in our students' life. However, an article published by the good old mainstream media will probably have more resonance with your boss and your stakeholder. If you want to educate your director, VP or president about this topic, Business Week has just made your life a bit easier with its next cover story (December 12 issue): "The MySpace Generation" already available online. If you've already heard a bit about social networking sites such as MySpace, Xanga or FaceBook, you won't probably learn a lot from...
Read MoreWeb Manager at Pierce College, a community college district based in Pierce County, Washington state, Elaine Nelson is a writer who literally fell into the Web in 1998. At Pierce, she reports to College Relations and is in charge of a 6,900-page website serving 25,000 users. The College web presence relies on several maintenance methods: a PHP-based homegrown system, a templating system, FrontPage or Nvu, WordPress, and Drupal. While she's been blogging for more than 4 years at her personal blog, ePersonae, Elaine has also started a work blog at her college. 1) What's your background? What did you do before...
Read MoreIt didn't take too long to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to repurpose its admission-oriented streaming videos available on the Admission website, "Real Nebraska" As reported in "UNL podcasts reach out to prospective students" an article published in The Daily Nebraskan, this show is "modeled after The Daily Show staring Jon Stewart. Real Nebraska is a monthly recruitment video series started in 2003 that comically showcases student life at UNL." 7 episodes are available on iTunes. A new show should be released every month. David Burge, associate director of admissions - as well as a real TV-talent, is the host of these unconventional admission-related...
Read MoreSean O'Key is a sophomore majoring in telecommunications at Ball State University in Muncie, IN. Sean has been blogging for a while on personal blogs such as The O'Key Factor before starting to post for his university's admission office at Spokey’s STUDIO 360. Sean is one the 12 student-blogcasters who have been blogging and podcasting about the real student life at BSU since the beginning of the semester. Two months into his new gig, Sean gives us his insider opinion about this unique, interactive student recruitment initiative. 1) You have been blogging since the beginning of the semester as...
Read MoreWell, if you work for a higher ed institution on the East Coast, it's your lucky day. The talented Shelley Wetzel behind the great Salisbury Web conference might have left her position at Salisbury University, but she is still game when it comes to promising conference projects. As Shelley confirmed via email, the 2006 Edu Web Conference is "currently looking for host institutions. The RFP is on the website and the deadline is Dec. 16th." For now, the conference organizing committee is composed of Shelley Wetzel, Rich Vallaster and Joe Cliber (Creosote Affects). Among the members of the advisory board, you'll...
Read MoreSome very interesting people have been planning quietly a great event: an online conference modeled after Global PR Blog Week 2.0 that will try to address all the new developments on the Web that have started to shake up the higher ed PR world. Available to the public this morning on Dan Forbush's wiki, The Future of PR, the conference overview pre-document promised some very interesting things for April 2006: Higher Ed BlogCon will focus on the use of blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts, vblogs and other digital tools in the following areas: Instruction Public Relations, Marketing & Advancement ...
Read MoreI'm often told that I ask lots of (too many?) questions, but don't volunteer answers easily. So, I thought I would be the one giving answers for a change to celebrate this blog's 100th (yep, 100 posts since February 12, 2005) post on this blog. If you're a regular, you probably know that I have a series called "Higher Ed Web Pro Files" featuring interesting web professionals working in universities and colleges all over the country - well, actually the world. As of today, 12 very talented web pros have accepted to answer my questions, the same questions I've decided...
Read MoreAs you've probably noticed, I've been blogging a lot about podcasting lately. Right now, I'm doing research on the topic for another project of mine. I'll tell you more about it soon. Thanks to this research (and Dan's College Podcast News), I've come across the very professional admission podcasts produced by Dennis Miller, the director of Public Relations at The Mansfield University of Pennsylvania. As explained in Mansfield's press release this new podcasting initiative is "a series of interviews with MU students that will give high school students and parents insights into a student’s first semester experience at college. “This is...
Read MorePaul Kruczynski, Senior Web Implementation Specialist and Brett Essler, Web Publications Editor from Buffalo State College presented a very interesting case study at HighEdWebDev 05 on how they implemented and integrated podcasting in their university website. They also had the terrific idea to make a podcast out of their presentation available from the impressive podcasting section of their website along with the slides of the session in both PDF and Powerpoint formats. If podcasting has been on your mind - or your to-do list - for a while, you should definitely take the time to listen to this podcast or check out...
Read MoreAdam Finlayson from Northwestern University presented yesterday an interesting session at HighEdWebDev05 titled "Improving Accessibility with a Content Management System (CMS)." After attending this session, Brian Phelps, who agreed to be our very-own correspondent at the conference, filed the following report. "There are two barriers to improving Web accessibility: learning the techniques and implementing them. HTML-savvy designers and developers easily overcome these hurdles, but what about WYSIWYG-using department assistants making updates? Teaching Dreamweaver basics is challenging enough without the what, when, and why of accessibility recommendations. Learn about techniques Northwestern University uses to improve accessibility and how a content management...
Read MoreDaniel M. Frommelt from The University of Wisconsin - Platteville shared his experience in converting his university website to web standards and gave a few very good tips on how to proceed in a session held yesterday at HighEdWebDev05 and titled "Conversion to Web Standards: Tips, Tricks, and Methods." After attending this session, Brian Phelps, who agreed to be our very-own correspondent at the conference, filed the following report. You're sold on the "Benefits of Web Standards": reducing file size, minimizing bandwidth, generating printer-friendly pages, optimizing search engine placement, and achieving greater accessibility. Now learn how to take a common site...
Read MoreYesterday at HighEdWebDev 05 in Rochester, Richard Ells from The University of Washington offered interesting insights about web accessibility for higher ed websites and shared his experience on integrating the famous Section 508 requirements and the W3 standards into website management workflow in a session titled "Building Accessibility Into The Workflow". After attending this session, Brian Phelps, who agreed to be our very-own correspondent at the conference, filed the following report. By comparing the Section 508 and W3C-WAI accessible design requirements with Web site management workflow patterns, we will identify where in the Web management process the decision and action points...
Read MoreAs announced in July, Steve Krug, the author of "Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability," gave the keynote presentation of HighWebDev05 in Rochester yesterday: "Why it S*cks to Be You." Brian Phelps, Web manager at the University of the Pacific but also the expert behind PhelpsTeKnowledge has accepted to share his well-taken notes with all of us who couldn't make it to the conference this year (or the attendees who didn't feel like taking notes ;-) What's usability? "If something is hard, I just don't use it as much!" If you have room for only one usability rule:...
Read MoreSince the launch of the iPod Video about 3 weeks ago, a couple of announcements have been made about its possible academic uses in higher education. But, what about the possibilities offered by the new portable RSS-enabled video device for admission offices? Think about the popularity of the admission video in colleges and universities. On CD-ROM, DVD and even online, these have become part of the toolbox of many higher ed admission offices. Now, what do you get if you combine the attractiveness of videos with the power of RSS subscription? Probably an even more powerful and efficient recruitment tool. Used by admission...
Read MoreEmily Hambidge studies Journalism at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Emily has been blogging since last January on her personal blog, A Serendipitous Intention, and since this semester at Purdue University Beat, her news writing class blog. Emily has accepted to offer us some insights on a student's viewpoint when it comes to blogging and podcasting by answering our questions. 1) You have been blogging since January on your personal blog? Can you telll why and how you started? Have you heard about blogging before College? I started blogging as a way to communicate with friends and family who I lost...
Read MoreAccording to the report "Teen Content Creators and Consumers" published yesterday by The Pew Internet & American Life Project, "Teens are much more likely than adults to blog and they are also more likely to read blogs." Want some hard numbers? 19% of online youth ages 12-17 have created their own blog. That is approximately four million people. 38% of all online teens, or about 8 million young people, say they read blogs. This report data was collected in October and November 2004 via telephone interviews among a random sample of 1,100 pairs of teens (12-17) and a parent or guardian. The margin...
Read MoreWeb Content Coordinator at Capital University in Columbus, OH, Bob Robertson-Boyd used to work as a web professional in another capital, on the Hill in Washington, D.C.
At his university, he reports to the Director of Public Relations and his VP is in charge of Marketing. The website serves a student population of about 3,000 and is maintained with a mix of Dreamweaver and Contribute. However, Bob is currently rolling out, iteratively, a new website that uses the Estrada content management system. Besides, his job at Capital University, Bob is also involved in some personal research about the very interesting concept of social networking content management.
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As a higher web professional, I'm sure you've already heard and read a lot about podcasting. Your director, VP and President have not, so it might be a good idea to share this post with them. The past week has witnessed a lot of media coverage about podcasting in higher education. A few interesting articles targeted to the non-initiated crowd and showcasing the possibilities of podcasting - especially for courses and classes - have been published and resulted in interesting comments from the early adopters and insiders: Last Friday, "Missed class? Try a podcast" by Jodi Cohen, The Chicago Tribune's higher education reporter,...
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