Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Is Your University Portal Up to Snuff?
4/7/2008
The Web Marketing Association last week released its 2008 Internet Standards Assessment Report (ISAR), an evaluation of some 15,000 sites, including universities and other educational institutions. The bad news? According to the WMA, "University sites have underperformed the five-year criteria benchmark averages in all areas." The good news?
Well, according to the association, university sites are strong in design and content. They just aren't all that strong in innovation. (Perhaps, for example, your site doesn't have a Flash-based spokesmodel with a fancy alpha channel and drop shadow effect that allows her to appear to float in your browser window.)
"As the standard of excellence for [Web] sites continues to increase, consumers (and WebAward judges) are increasingly picky about what they consider to be an effective website," said William Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association, in a statement released in conjunction with the report. "To increase effectiveness, university websites need to find the appropriate balance between a fiscally minded administration and an extremely web-savvy student body."
Based on an average score of 51.8 out of 70, universities ranked at No. 45 as an industry, just behind hotels/lodging and retail. Oddly, K-12 school sites came in at No. 17 with an average score of 55, a tenth of a point below game sites and design sites. The overall industry winner was television at an average of 58 points. Magazine sites ranked at No. 21. (We didn't include ourselves in the study, as we didn't want to skew the results and bump television from it's No. 1 spot.)
The complete report can be requested here.
In other WMA news, nominations have opened for the 2008 WebAwards. Past higher ed recipients of the award have included The Art Institute of Pittsburgh (2007), Xavier University (2006), and San Diego State University (2005). This year, nominations are open through May 31.
Information about entering the awards program, along with some more handy advice from the WMA's chroma-keyed spokesmodel, can be found here.
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
- Sun, Stanford Working To Archive History
In May in San Francisco, experts from leading universities, libraries, and research institutions around the world met as part of an ongoing effort to address a pressing issue: archiving the world's history, right up to today.
- The Quilt Coalition Rolls Out XO Communications for High-Capacity Network Services
The Quilt, a coalition of 28 regional network organizations, has added XO Communications Services to its authorized vendor list. The Quilt represents 200 universities and thousands of other educational institutions across the United States. With this new relationship, Quilt members can purchase XO's high-speed IP transit and network transport services at competitive rates.
- Wimba Classroom 5.2 Expands Classroom Capture Support, Adds MP3 Downloads
At the NECC 2008 conference in Texas this week, Wimba launched a new version of Wimba Classroom, the virtual classroom component of the company's Collaboration Suite. The new 5.2 release expands options for classroom capture and adds a variety of other functional and ease of use features.
- Automation Chimera: Education Is Not Management
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
- Cognos Releases BI Software for Linux-based IBM System z Mainframe
Cognos, which IBM acquired in January, has released an update to its business intelligence software that will run on the Linux operating system on IBM System z mainframes. IBM Cognos 8 BI was being developed by the two companies prior to the acquisition, but assimilation of Cognos into IBM accelerated development.
- Facebook and Collegiality: A Serendipitous Social Niche
Facebook is a way to greet a colleague as if she or he is on your own campus: a wave at a distance, a hello at the corner burrito place, a honk as you both leave the campus parking lot. Informal collegiality has been extended over the miles.
