City College’s Web site gets a face lift

By Fleur Bailey
STAFF WRITER

After three years of exploration, research and analysis, the new City College Web site is expected to be launched in June 2009.

Beth Cataldo, multimedia studies coordinator and project manager for the site’s redesign, has been working to ensure the Web site contains useful information for students and is easy to access and navigate.

“The whole look and feel of the Web site will change,” Cataldo said. “It’s hard for the department to keep the Web site up-to-date as we’re stuck with the old technology and it’s become static.”

Michael Callahan, 30, is a business major and student ambassador at City College. He works in the lobby at Conlan Hall and often gets asked for help in navigating the current Web site.

“It can be daunting for first time users,” he said. “It looks a little cluttered but there is actually more information there than people know. They should streamline it and make it more approachable for the students.”

Earthbound Media Group (EMG), the company employed by City College to handle the redesign, provided a 400-page analysis of the college’s Web site.

EMG used Section 508 Guidelines from the American with Disabilities Act while preparing the report. The guidelines are government requirements for accessibility for internet and intranet content, especially for disabled individuals. The college could be at risk of a lawsuit if they do not meet the guidelines.

The new site is aimed to be “one of the leading and most distinctive college Web sites in the United States,” according to the EMG analysis. The research and evaluation was conducted so the updated site can provide educational and learning opportunities.

The findings of EMG’s 24-question survey showed that staff, administrators and faculty predominantly visited the site to access the class schedule, faculty directory, forms, enrollment and course registration. At the time of the survey in March 2008, students were using the Web site between one time per week and several times per semester.

The Web site was redesigned to make it a more positive experience for students, to reduce the costs of finding the wrong information, and to minimize the use of paper at City College, according to EMG. The company also observed the “lack of organizational strategy,” in the current Web site, something that has been noted by the students.

City College student Tikvah Heller, 21, uses the Web site to register for classes, print her schedule, and find out about grades.

“The organization is poor and the links aren’t very clear,” she said. “The search engine is difficult to use and the information for student clubs is quite limited. I think a new site with new features would be good.”