english hw

TO: Mary Fleming, Dean, Arts and Sciences

FROM: Richard Smith, Chair, Department of History

SUBJECT: Recommendations for Ensuring Quality and Consistency of Department Websites

DATE: March 4, 2003

Summary

After a study of options, the committee on website quality recommends that each department appoint a faculty member to be directly responsible for website design and maintenance. These faculty should receive training through the Instructional Resource Center (IRC) on a set of College-approved design principles and practices, and they should be appropriately rewarded through stipends and perhaps release time. A steering committee of five of these faculty should be elected to approve all website designs and oversee future changes in design principles.

Problem and Background

Associate Dean Herrera formed the website quality committee after his study of department websites revealed wide variations in quality of design, completeness, accuracy, ease of use, and design style. The dean charged the committee to develop “(1) policies on consistency and quality, (2) recommendations as to who should be responsible for web design and maintenance in each department, (3) training of departmental web designers, and (4) appropriate compensation.”

The committee (Professors Smith, Rashid, Van Pelz, McKinney, and Schwartz) conducted its own study of websites and of department practices in hiring, supervising, and training website designers/managers. This study revealed

· no consistency in use of design programs, in design principles and features, in contents, in quality of prose, and in quality of maintenance

· two favored methods for managing the websites: either hiring of graduate students assistants (from within the department) or assigning of faculty, with varying amounts and kinds of compensation

· some dissatisfaction by chairs with the work of both groups (more with the work of graduate assistants) and agreement that the college should institute principles of consistency and a fair way of compensating faculty for this important function.

Recommendations

Based on study and discussion, the committee recommends as follows:

1. Design policies: Design of departmental websites should allow for variations in style that reflect the different characters of the disciplines. Such features as graphics and fonts should be appropriate to the traditions and needs of the field. Types of content should also be allowed to vary. However, a central committee of the College (see below) should set high standards for

· Accuracy of contents (including maintenance of links)

· Ease of navigation by students, prospective students, faculty, and visitors

· Consistency of information about the College and other University offices

· Use of links to existing University and College websites (we found lots of needless duplication of information, some of it inaccurate)

2. Management of websites: Faculty members better understand the missions and information of departments than do students, hence should be assigned to manage these websites. We recommend that

· faculty be compensated for at least 10 hours per week of work devoted to design and maintenance of these sites

· compensation be in the form of

· stipends (2.5K to 5K above salary) or

· release from one course per year or

· use of this work to substitute for regular committee service

· faculty agree to serve, if elected, on the five-member steering committee (see below) for one year

· faculty be trained by the IRC staff and their work monitored by the staff

3. Website Steering Committee: A standing committee, under supervision of the Associate Dean, should be elected every year (staggered terms) to approve all new website designs, monitor websites, and suggest changes as new technologies and design standards emerge.

Evidence

Based on our study (see Table 1), we found that departments who assigned qualified faculty to be their web designers and maintainers achieved better overall quality and satisfaction than did those who hired student assistants and then tried to supervise their work. But quality comes at a price. The best websites were those designed and managed by faculty who were paid stipends above salary, received release from teaching a course, or were allowed to count this service in place of regular committee service. Two of the departments that used faculty in this role were unhappy with results (and the sites showed it); in both cases the faculty members, though technically qualified, were given no special compensation for the task.

Only one department was consistently happy with work by a graduate assistant hired to manage its website; all others who chose this method complained that these assistants—though technically proficient in web design programs—made frequent errors in uploading of content, made bad decisions about links and arrangement, and made errors in technical prose (and sometimes in grammar, punctuation, and spelling). Technical proficiency did not substitute for knowledge of and commitment to the mission of the department. In almost every case, the assistant required several hours per week of supervision by the chair or another faculty member to ensure quality.

Indeed, the two most complete, attractive, and accurate websites in our study were managed by faculty who had formerly supervised these assistants, and who had taken over the work themselves (and the attached compensation) when they saw that they could manage the sites more efficiently and cheaply if they did it themselves.

Table 1. Results of Study of Dept. Web Management

Models Number Satisfaction Accuracy Ease of Use Attractiveness

By Chair

Faculty 6 4 High (4) High (6) High (4)

Designer Moderate (2) Moderate (2)

Grad Student 7 1 Low (2) Low (2) Low (3)

Designer Moderate (4) Moderate (3) Moderate (2)

High (1) High (2)

Our recommendations are consistent with policies at Northern Virginia State University (www.nvsu.edu/computers/webdesign/policies.htm), whose websites won the 2001 EduTech Award for Academic Web Design (www.edutech.org/awards/2001/acad.htm). At NVSU, each college has its own elected committee of faculty web designers, who work closely with their version of the IRC to keep up with industry standards. President Doris Weil’s statement on receiving this award reflects our own views: “Our websites have become the gateway to the University for most of our students, parents, prospective faculty, and potential donors. We must have the same care for quality on the web that we give to the quality of our publications.”