| dc.description | The original conference started in 2000, under a different name and location. The current eduWeb Conference's director headed up the former conference for four years to great success. The conference grew to incorporate educational institutions around the country and attendees and presenters from around the world!
The conference continues to focus on "both sides of the fence" (front end and back end) regarding a website's development.
The "front end" includes marketing, communications, advancement, admissions - it includes any non-IT office that now has a website and knows that part of its strategy is to communicate to internal and external audiences.
The "back end" includes information technology, database development, applications, instructional design, mobile technology, RSS and more.
The core to having a conference like this was to bring these sides together...to learn from the other side, to learn to talk each other's language and hopefully bring a better working relationship among the personnel that now create the Web.
The conference was well organized and had their highest attendance ever. It was an eye opener for me in the sense that very few Canadian post secondaries attend this conference. The level of interaction and technology related initiatives on Post secondary websites and recruitment sites are far more advanced in the U.S. than they are here.
As a first time attendee and observer, I learned that Post secondary website maintenance & developers are a very connected and tight knit group. They share and discuss many ideas and are comfortable with using each other’s content. They often reveal good tips, formats and cutting edge technology and upcoming trends.
http://cuwebd.ning.com/
http://www.edustyle.net/
Websites and Blog spaces
Another area of discussion and current trend is being on social networking (even YouTube) or Higher Ed related blogs and discussions. There seems to be over a 100 post secondaries (ranging from junior colleges to Ivey level schools) that participate in this platform to either facilitate or discuss their schools, programs and everything related to their institution.
http://www.bloghighed.org/
http://www.educatednation.com/
Web Marketing & Design
While all schools have websites today and a majority of them buy web ads, there is more to advertising and managing your website, than it appears. Areas such as website Positioning & Segmentation have to be considered. There needs to be key message Development & Testing, followed by calculated Campaign Budget Planning. Awesome competitive Intelligence and great Content Architecture.
Buying ads and Search Engine Marketing is a science and has a science to it. Search Engine Optimization and PPC Search Engine Marketing are key factors when designing and building a web campaign.
Inquiry and lead management
While every institution has ways for potential students to inquire about learn more their programs and school, the key is to optimize responses, generate more leads and manage the ones you get. A turnaround of 2 days or more and in some instances weeks is not optimal for any organization. Options where a student makes an initial inquiry could be;
o Contacting the student within unites of their initial inquiry to further answer questions and or help them register
o Giving the potential student an option to have a live electronic chat or a live person to talk to
Web content Management
While this is foundational and the most elementary piece of the puzzle, many institutions tend to overlook or complicate this part. A great home or landing page is not enough to generate a registration, navigation and user friendliness are keys.
Communication and transparency
While all organizations are not the same, and every one has different structures, it is paramount that the web unit and Recruitment & marketing are housed in the same area or department. And in many instances they are, but the key is also clear communication and transparency. Initiatives, campaigns and ideas have to be communicated amongst the 2 groups and there needs to be synergy.
Ultimately, Based on my observations and notes, there are many areas (some are being addressed and some need to be) that Athabasca University needs to either improve upon or introduce in order for us to stay competitive and a leader in distance education.
As time progresses, most institutions have online/distance education or the student has a hybrid program delivery method available to them. What we need to is stay ahead of the masses and introduce or build upon on some of our past successes and innovations and attract a NEW and more demanding groups of students to remain competitive and viable!
In working with some of these ideas and recommendations, I would like to see more interaction and communication between the web development group and Student Recruitment & Marketing. Also, Athabasca University should participate in some blogs and have their web team more involved globally to get a much better perspective on what is cutting edge. Consider investing more in the Inquiry and lead management side and have more resources / budget available to advertise on the web. | en |
