Higher Ed Experts

Southeast Missouri State University launched its mobile website in January this year. When I heard the news I was very pleased because a team from SEMO had attended the Going Mobile Webinar Series in October 2009.

A few months ago Thomas Marrone, Web Design & Support Manager at SEMO Marketing & University Relations emailed me to share the news (and say thanks). At that time, I asked him a few questions about the whole project. Things have been so busy for those past few months that this email interview got stuck in my “draft post” pile.

With the next Going Mobile Webinar Series scheduled on August 4, it makes sense to publish this interview now as it might give you an idea of how the higher ed Mobile Web Open Source Platform developed and maintained by our presenter, Dave Olsen, can help you (whether you attend the webinar or not).

Southeast Mobile Web Site, Southeast Missouri State University

1) How long did it take to develop the mobile version of your website? How big was the team working on this project?

The project was completed on Jan. 19 and we launched it on the 21st. We had been working on it off and on since October 2009, so about three months.

Brian Holdman, Technology Specialist for University Advancement, took the lead on this project and figured out the nuts and bolts. I handled the interface design. We had networking support from Tom Westbrook and Tre Wallhausen and application support from Dan Koeppel, all in Information Technology. One of our student workers, Daniel Johnson, also provided usability input and a lot of work on the database that drives the campus map.

So the site was done with the involvement of 5 full time staff and one student worker, though we all chipped in with bits and pieces and developed the mobile site on the top of our other responsibilities.

2) How did the webinar series “Going Mobile” help you with the development of this website?

The Webinar was crucial in introducing us to the MIT Mobile framework and the work that Dave Olsen did adapting the Framework for use at other campuses. We also got in touch with Dave directly and he was very gracious in answering our questions once we really dug into the project.

3) What did you learn during the process that might help your colleagues at other institutions?

Don’t be afraid to mess around and see how far you can take a side project. We started messing around with the Mobile Framework to see what was possible, and as we began working with it, it became clear that we really could build a product for the campus using the resources we had.

Because the MIT people and Dave were willing to share their work with the Higher Ed community we could take that and create a mobile site with extremely limited resources. The only thing we “paid” for the mobile site was the HigherEdExperts Webinar fee; everything else was institutional labor cost the University was going to be paying anyway. When you compare that to some Universities that have paid $40,000 for a vendor to build them an iPhone application I think we made out pretty well. So, the lesson from all that is to keep an eye on what’s out there and always take up on someone’s offer to share what they’re doing with you.

I know this is a very long title for a short post, but what I can say…

Last week Fortune released its list of the smartest people in tech in several categories.

Dr danah boyd, who will present an online master class about the social media practices of young adults this Thursday for Higher Ed Experts, was nominated the smartest academic in Tech.

The smartest people in tech – Smartest Academic: danah boyd – FORTUNE

So, this online master class is your chance to listen to the smartest academic in tech this week.
Registration are open until tomorrow (July 13) end of the day at www.higheredexperts.com/socialmedia

I’m really excited to announce that Dave Olsen from WVU has finally decided to blog at Mobile in Higher Ed.

Dave did a tour-de-force last summer by developing in 19 days WVU mobile website. Last year he used the MIT Mobile platform. He has kept modifying the platform ever since to make it easier to adapt.

Mobile in Higher Ed – for when i need more than 140 characters

On August 4, Dave will present an updated and improved version of the 2-webinar series he gave last October for Higher Ed Experts, Going Mobile: How to Develop your Higher Ed Mobile Website. The series includes a demo where Dave will walk you through the different steps necessary to use the Mobile Open Source Platform, Mobile OSP. The demo will be available for registered participants as soon as June 28, so you can get started on your summer projects.

Going Mobile | Higher Ed Experts

With all the current buzz around the professional use of Twitter, Facebook or YouTube in admissions, alum offices or institutions at large, it’s hard to believe that social media has been around in higher ed for 5 years or so.

While MySpace isn’t the talk of the (campus) town anymore, it played an important role – a few years ago – in this social media tsunami. At that time, danah boyd was already studying and researching these websites — and her work made me think about the possibilities for admissions marketing practices back in February 2006. More recently, I shared on this blog my comments about a paper she co-authored about retweeting practices.

Fast forward to 2010. Social media isn’t optional anymore to engage our constituents and Dr. boyd is one of the most sought-after experts on the social media practices of young adults – presenting around the world about the topic.

That’s why I’ve been on Cloud 9 (haven’t you noticed? ;-) since she accepted last December my invitation to present this summer a Master Class about her latest research. While danah boyd is scheduled to speak at several conferences in the next few months (including CASE Summit for Advancement in New York), this online lecture followed by a Q&A is a unique opportunity to get ALL your team members and colleagues on campus to learn how young adults truly use social media and how higher ed institutions should engage them.

Scheduled on July 15, 2010 at 1PM ET (with the recording available for a full-year as part of the registration fee), this 1-hour online event is the perfect occasion to help your team (and all the other offices on campus) understand how younger constituents (prospective and current students as well as young alumni) use social media and make sure no time is wasted with social marketing tactics missing the mark.

Master Class: Social Media Practices | Higher Ed Experts

Gather a large group in front of a screen with an LCD projector in a big conference room and make this Master Class a professional development event on campus!

Register at www.higheredexperts.com/socialmedia by July 5, 2010, but hurry up as only 80 virtual seats are available for this event and they are expected to fill up very quickly.

Whether you’re working on a big redesign project or have embraced a more iterative redesign approach, usability testing should be considered as one of your web work cornerstones.

I’m sure you’ve already read or heard that testing with only 5 users will provide you great insights to improve the usability of your website (Gosh, I even wrote a post about a conference session about this — 5 years ago ;-). That’s why there is no reason for skipping Do-It-Yourself usability tests.

In a column about the topic published on May 24, 2010, usability expert Jakob Nielsen explains that it’s a good idea to invite all the web team members as well as some executives to observe your usability tests.

Nielsen lists 5 benefits to these usability testing sessions attended by the web team at large:

“Credibility. Because they’ve seen how you derive insights, they’ll believe your usability findings and reports (vs. thinking you made them up or are just offering your personal opinions or preferences).

Fewer design mistakes. When designers and developers have seen their actual customers, they’re less likely to go overboard with design ideas that aren’t going to work for users. The better the raw UI, the fewer fixes will be needed after the next round of user testing.”

Nielsen adds that executives who attend these sessions are “more likely to prioritize user experience after experiencing users” – including in their budget allocations.

If you’d love to show usability testing to your boss or train your team members to run these tests at your institution, you should definitely consider signing up for Usability Testing 360 Webinars, scheduled on June 16 & 17 (and if you have the chance to have a dedicated usability specialist in your team, Nielsen’s workshops are also great to perfect your team member skills).

Led by Chas Grundy from the University of Notre Dame, this 2-webinar series includes a first session that will tell you all you need to know to run your own usability tests and a second session that will show you live usability tests at different stages of a web design project.

This second session will be perfect to demonstrate the power of usability testing to your website stakeholders, boss or VP.

Registration for this 2-webinar series are open until June 7, 2010 at www.higheredexperts.com/usability360
The $300 registration fee includes a 1-year access to the recordings in case some of your team members can’t make it the days of the live sessions.

I don’t know about you, but lately, I’ve struggled to get all the things on my to-do done. Mostly because my list is getting longer by the minute…

While there’s a lot of pressure on your schedule, it has never been as important to make sure your skills are up-to-date as it is today.

That’s why I ask our Faculty Members at Higher Ed Experts to squeeze as much goodness (practical tips and great advice you can use right away) in our series as possible.

In our next webinars, we will even give you some “homework” (we prefer to call it: a couple of “challenges”) in our Web Writing Boot Camp and hands-on experience in our Usability Testing 360 series.

As usual, places are limited, so it’s always wise to register ahead of time if you want to secure a spot for your team. You can register by visiting each of the dedicated web addresses of the series. And, if you have any questions, feel free to email karine@higheredexperts.com – always happy to help.

Web Writing Boot Camp: strategies, techniques and tools to write Web content that will be read
May 18, 19 & 20, 2010 – 1PM-2PM ET
Register by May 10, 2010 at www.higheredexperts.com/webwriting

Going Mobile: How to build a mobile website for your institution in 24 hours
June 1st, 2010 – 1PM-2PM ET and a pre-recorded demo
Register by May 24, 2010 at www.higheredexperts.com/goingmobile

Usability Testing 360: How to run usability tests and dramatically improve your website
June 16 & 17, 2010 1PM-2PM ET
Register by June 7, 2010 at www.higheredexperts.com/usability360

Have you noticed how more and more institutions choose open source content management systems such as Drupal, WordPress or DotCMS to power their websites?

The trend has been accelerating these past few months with several high profile redesigned websites such as Duke University and Bates College as well as other redesigns in process.

With more and more higher ed institutions opting for open source solutions, it makes no doubt that these non-commercial solutions should be considered by committees or teams in charge of evaluating possible web content management systems at your institution (that is if you don’t have any or aren’t happy with yours, obviously).

So, if you’re planning to implement a new CMS at your institution, you should definitely consider registering for the first higher ed open source CMS Fair.

What is an open-source CMS Fair?

Think about your traditional college fairs, but for CMS (and without the brochures ;-).

During this 3-webinar series scheduled on April 13, 14 and 15, 2010, you’ll be able to pick the brain of three of your higher ed colleagues who have implemented and managed an open source CMS.

The ultimate goal of this webinar series is really to give you exclusive access to expertise and experience that you’d be able to use in your own evaluation process while comparing 3 of the most popular CMS in higher education: Drupal, WordPress and DotCMS:

DotCMS for Higher Ed Websites
Michael Fienen, Web Marketing Manager at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, KS, will tell you all you need to know about DotCMS and how this open source content management system can be used to power an institutional website. He will also demonstrate in a pre-recorded demo a few basic user scenarios.

Drupal for Higher Ed Websites
Blyth Morrell, Web Services Manager at Duke University, will tell you all you need to know about Drupal and how this open source content management system can be used to power an institutional website. She will also demonstrate in a pre-recorded demo a few basic user scenarios.

WordPress/WordPress MU for Higher Ed Websites
Shelley Keith, Web Site Coordinator at Southern Arkansas University, will tell you all you need to know about WordPress and WordPress MU and how this open source content management system can be used to power an institutional website. She will also demonstrate in a pre-recorded demo a few basic user scenarios.

And, if you need an extra incentive to register for this great series, how about 2 extra on-demand webinars about CMS implementation and redesigns for free?

If you register by March 30, 2010 for Open-Source CMS Fair, you’ll get free access to these 2 webinars until July 31st, 2010:

How to survive a Website Redesign & a CMS Implementation
(Recorded on February 17, 2010)
Ben Riseling, Manager of Web Operations for the Office of News & Communications at Duke University, will make sure your survive your next website redesign coupled with a CMS implementation. He will share the best tips and tricks he acquired during the 9-month process preceding the launch of the new duke.edu powered by the open source CMS, Drupal, in October 2009.

Website Redesign & CMS Implementation: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
(Recorded on April 22, 2009)
Tonya Price, Director, Marketing and Web Operations at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, will share what went bad in WPI redesign coupled with a CMS implementation and how her team managed to overcome these challenges. She will also present her recipe to prepare, manage and survive any big website redesign project that will come your way.

If you want to learn why Drupal, WordPress or DotCMS could be your next web content management system, make sure you register for Open Source CMS Fair at www.higheredexperts.com/cmsfair.

It’s “submit-your-proposal” season in higher ed with a few call for proposals recently launched or closing soon.

If you’ve never presented at a conference, why not try this year?

It would be nice to see new faces (nothing wrong with the regulars, of course) and hear new perspectives.

I’ve compiled a list of the top 5 speaking venues you should consider along with a few details (deadline, direct link to call for proposal online forms, etc.)

1. eduWeb Conference – Chicago, IL (July 26-28, 2010)
   Deadline: March 19, 2010
   You can submit a proposal for 4 different tracks via an online form.
2. Canadian Post-Secondary Web Conference – Brock University, ON (May 26-28, 2010)
   Deadline: I can’t find a deadline on the website, but don’t delay too much: it’s in May.
   You can submit a proposal for a presentation or a workshop via an online form.
3. High Ed Web Conference – Cincinnati, OH (October 10-13, 2010)
   Deadline: I can’t find a deadline on the website – maybe it’s a new trend ;-) April 1st, 2010 (no kidding – thanks to Colleen who let us know by posting a comment)
   You can submit a proposal for a presentation, a workshop or a poster session via an online form.
4. 2010 Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education – San Diego , CA (Nov 7-10, 2010)
   Deadline: April 9, 2010
   You can submit a written or a video proposal for a presentation/paper via an online form.
5. Higher Ed Experts Webinars – online all year long.
   Deadline: on-going
   Got an idea for a webinar or a webinar series? Just send me a short note via email at karine@higheredexperts.com so we can connect and talk about it.

Have I forgotten another good option? Let us know by posting a comment!

Even if you just have a mild interest in Web Analytics, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard about Avinash Kaushik, the evangelist, guru and author who has taken this dark hard core discipline in the beautiful art of measuring results.

Avinash’s second book about the topic, Web Analytics 2.0, was published 4 months ago. I’ve recently gotten my copy, and as I’m currently working my way through this great book, I think it makes the perfect combo with our upcoming webinar series, Analytics 360.

This series including a pre-recorded session and 2 live webinars will be presented early next month by Shelby Thayer and Joshua Ellis, our higher ed Avinashes if you can forgive me the neologism :-)

If you register (or have already registered and paid) and pay by credit card for Analytics 360 before 7PM ET on Thursday February 25th Friday March 5th, 2010, you’ll get a FREE! copy of Web Analytics 2.0 mailed to the address you’ll provide us once we contact you. No questions asked.

What’s the fine print?
If you cancel your registration and ask for a refund after we mailed the book to you, you will receive a refund of your registration fee minus the cost of the book as well as shipping and handling.

So, register now (or before Thursday 25 Friday, March 5th, 2010 at 7PM) at www.higheredexperts.com/analytics360

I know you are now all asked to do a lot more with less money, time and staff members.

I bet you are close to reaching the point where something got to give. You have probably realized that you cannot keep running to try to do everything – I did.

So, how do you decide which initiatives are worth your personal/staff time and your budget money?

With the help of a data-driven state of mind: you need to stop playing catch up, define your strategy for 3 to 12 months, take the time to set up proper tracking, measure the results of your marketing initiatives, evaluate what works and what doesn’t and made new choices. Rinse and repeat.

Believe me, it will help you find your focus back and stop spending your time on channels that just don’t work.

Don’t have the time to learn how to track and measure your different initiatives by yourself?

Just invest $350 to attend next month’s 3-webinar series: Analytics 360 and organize a viewing party at your institution (the registration fee will pay for a single connection, but you can book a big room and use an LCD projector with a screen).

While anybody can set up Google Analytics on a website, making sense of all the collected data is actually a science and an art at the same time. But, it doesn’t take a 4-year degree to make sense of this data IF you get a chance to listen to two of the most passionate analytics practitioners in higher ed: Shelby Thayer and Joshua Ellis, both working at Penn State University.

As they did last year, Shelby and Joshua will share their expertise and tips with the attendees of Analytics 360 Webinars on March 10 & 11, 2010 as well as in a pre-recorded session covering the basics and including a demo.

Prerecorded session you can watch on-demand
Web Analytics 101: How to plan, start and implement a comprehensive analytics program
Shelby Thayer and Joshua Ellis will tell you all you need to know to jump start and fine tune your analytics program. After introducing the basics of analytics (goals, KPI, etc.), they will walk you through a Google Analytics implementation and explain how to set up your account to get meaningful results in no time.

March 10, 2010 1PM-2PM ET – Rain date: March 17, 2010 1PM-2PM ET
Advanced Analytics Techniques: How to track data, measure ROI and improve your web initiatives
Shelby Thayer and Joshua Ellis will help you get the most of your web analytics program by sharing best practices and good tips. They will demonstrate through a few case studies advanced analytics techniques using filters, segmentations, dashboards and more.

March 11, 2010 1PM-2PM ET – Rain date: March 18, 2010 1PM-2PM ET
Advanced Analytics for Marketing: How to track data, measure ROI and improve your email, social media, brand, SEO initiatives
Shelby Thayer and Joshua Ellis will show you how to use analytics to inform your marketing strategy no matter which communication channels you use. They will demonstrate through a few case studies advanced analytics techniques to evaluate email, offline, social media and SEO campaigns. Last, they will introduce the Google Analytics API and show you how it can be used.

Here’s what a couple of last year’s attendees said about Shelby’s and Joshua’s presentations.

• We liked the combination of Shelby talking about the concepts/best practices of analytics before Josh showed our staff how to implement in GA. It forced them to think about what they were doing and why before the “how”.
• As a more technical and experienced user, the presentations overall moved at a fast enough pace to provide a refresher, while not overwhelming a less experienced, non-technical user. I was able to pick up quite a bit about Google Analytics on day 2.
  Steve Leclaire from Monmouth University in New Jersey

Register by March 1st, 2010 (sooner than later as there’s a big chance this series will sold out before the registration deadline) at www.higheredexperts.com/analytics360