Columbia's New Website Receiving Rave Reviews
Everyone around Columbia College Chicago shares a passion for arts and culture and a commitment to democratic higher education. One other idea around which they have always found common ground is that the college's website was a far cry from reflecting the institution's reputation as a cutting edge arts and communications college.
On Tuesday, July 18, after more than a year of work, Columbia launched its new and improved website. The new design, consistent with the school's award winning visual identity program, features vastly improved navigability, an enhanced internal search engine, and an upgraded events calendar.
"We've also added substantial new content - about 300 pages worth," says Mark Lloyd, assistant vice president for marketing and communications. "The new homepage lets us showcase work of our students, faculty, and staff, and highlights key news and events from across campus."
The renovation has been managed by a Web Implementation Group (WIG) that includes representatives from Marketing and Communications; the college Webmaster's Office, led by Matt McClintock; Information Technology headed by Bernadette McMahon; Instructional Technology led by Rebecca Courington; Creative & Printing Services, headed by Mary Johnson; and the Provost's Cabinet, represented by James MacDonald.
The WIG received counsel from a Web Advisory Group (WAG) that included more than three dozen faculty, staff, and student representatives. WIG and WAG members met periodically for 18 months during the implementation process.
Groups of departmental webmasters will be scheduled for training on the new content management system through the rest of the summer and throughout the fall semester. 'We want all sites kept consistent and current and continue to allow for creative contributions at the unit level,' says Lloyd. "We also continue to seek out interesting stories and profiles to add to the rotating homepage feature, as well as offering the opportunity for our community of talented artists to present their work."
Over the next 12 months, the WIG will be working to enhance interactivity, to implement streaming capacity, and to ensure the site's overall consistency in design and content. There will also be further useability testing of the site with key audiences.