Interview: Office of Classroom Management site redesign

Office of Classroom Management (OCM) is one of the many units with recently redesigned Web sites. I talked to Toni Pangborn, OCM support manager, about the process.

What were your reasons for redesigning the site?

Our original site was put together as our department developed and expanded services, and we considered the site "home-grown." Over time, we added sections and new content within a basic design shell, but had not developed objectives regarding specific architecture on how best to present our content. During the same time frame (8 years) the visitors to the site also evolved, and the information they needed was not easy to locate. Since we had written and added the content, we could find the information, but often the users could not. We also did not do a good job of introducing what was available on the site, or how our organizational units worked to support them. They often could not find the solutions to issues that we knew were included on the site.

Also during this time, Web site search tools were becoming more enhanced, and U Relations was more proactive in determining what each site should, or should not include. It was within this context that we started a project to redesign the site.


What kind of user research did you do?

In addition to candid comments from staff and users via direct communications or survey results, we gathered data from our post-service incident reviews. (A service ticket is created for any classroom issue that requires repair or additional action. Upon resolution, we complete a post-service review with the original caller.) We also invited faculty to participate in a focus group in which the web site was the only topic of discussion.

Armed with user feedback, we researched web site resources and obtained good information regarding best practices, and then melded this with the course work our lead staff member completed.

How were keywords and navigation chosen/developed?

Navigation is through a combination of functional and organizational outlines. Keywords are from customer/user feedback and staff experience. In keeping with the project objectives, we wanted the headers and the navigation to use the wording that our customers use.

What did you learn from the process?

We needed to have strong web programming resources available to make the desired changes. Without this we'd have a great plan, and wonderful content, but we wouldn't be in a position to implement it. In order to get this done well, the additional ASR resources were a key part of our team.

Another learning moment was that it took much more time to implement than we originally expected. In order to apply the new University templates, we would not be simply modifying the current pages, and the new design meant a much longer process was required.

And lastly, not everyone on the team had the same definition or impression of "good writing" or "good design." Our layouts and content was revised more than once, but by having the project plan established at the beginning, we were able to steer decisions back to the original objectives and stay on track.

Thanks, Toni! Readers: What is your experience with site redesigns? Discuss in the comments.

Also, if there's someone you think we should interview, or a project we should feature, let us know.