Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Continuing Education Sites Lacking, Researchers Say
11/20/2007
Continuing and professional education (CPE) sites are somewhat effective at helping students with their enrollment decisions, but they're lacking in some key functionality areas: content, search capabilities, and multimedia. In the second of its three-part series of research reports, "Optimizing School Web Sites as a Marketing and Recruitment Tool," education consultancy Eduventures found that prospective continuing education students in large part think these sites come up short in areas they consider crucial and made specific recommendations for the types of content that should be added to these sites to boost their effectiveness.
According to the report, in which more than 500 prospective students were surveyed on their experiences with higher ed sites, colleges' and universities' CPE sites are strong on aesthetics and marketing but lack depth. Of those surveyed, 94 percent said that information on the costs of education is important, but only 59 percent said the information was conveyed adequately on actual sites. Only 56 percent said that the multimedia content on the sites was "interesting and relevant." And only 63 percent found the sites' search functionality to be useful.
"The Web site is a window into the institution," said Sean Gallagher, program director and senior analyst of the Eduventures Continuing and Professional Education Learning Collaborative. "In the students' eyes, a quality Web site reflects the quality of the learning experience."
The report recommended that deans and directors of continuing education programs beef up their sites with information on tuition, fees, schedules, and credit transfer policies and that they "incorporate multimedia features that resonate emotionally with prospective students and upgrade in site search functions, particularly those used for sorting programs and courses."
The full report--"Optimizing School Web Sites as a Marketing and Recruitment Tool (Part II)"--is available for members of the Eduventures Continuing and Professional Education Learning Collaborative. Further information can be found at the link below.
Read More:
About the author: Dave Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's educational technology online publications and electronic newsletters. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com.
Have any additional questions? Want to share your story? Want to pass along a news tip? Contact Dave Nagel, executive editor, at dnagel@1105media.com.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- RIAA Outsources Fingering of Students Who Share Music Illegally
The RIAA is outsourcing the hunt for music thieves. Its largest target currently is those who operate from within colleges and universities, a move that has piqued the attention of Educause.
- Microsoft Expands Education Footprint in Asia Pacific Region
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced new partnerships to extend accessibility and computer literacy in the Asia Pacific region during a speech in Jakarta at a government leader gathering earlier this week.
- IT Struggling Over Security, Compliance
IT pros are having a hard time balancing security, software patch management and IT auditing with a host of other duties, according to a survey released Monday by Shavlik Technologies.
- Toronto College Upgrades Network with Gigabit Ethernet Wireless Links
Toronto-based George Brown College has gone public about its deployment of six BridgeWave GE60 wireless links to upgrade its campus-wide network.
- Gates Highlights R&D at CES08, Unveils Microsoft Touch Wall
Microsoft's Chairman Bill Gates spent a lot of time Wednesday talking about "empowering the workers" at the Microsoft's 12th annual CEO Summit 2008 in Redmond, WA, where he gave a keynote speech. However, Gates wasn't talking about political revolutions or even pay raises for office workers before the CEO crowd. Instead, he was referring to new software technologies that can better enable collaboration, social networking and decision-making on the job.
- Vista Vulnerability Study Puts Microsoft on Defensive
Microsoft and some independent security researchers had the blogosphere buzzing Wednesday over a series of denunciations after one company claimed that the Vista operating system was more vulnerable to malware and other exploits than previous operating systems.
