The Lion Lounge: Creation of an Online Campus for World Campus Students
1. The Lion Lounge
Creation of an Online Campus for World
Campus Students
Liam Jackson and Kim Tweedy
Penn State World Campus
2. In the Beginning…
http://topfreeimages.blogspot.com/2011/11/stonehenge.html
3. In the Beginning…
• Idea for project started 8
years ago
• Original Vision: “E-student
Union”
• Students would be able to:
– Check bill
– Find their academic
adviser
– Get personalized
updates
Photo credit: Penn State Live
4. In the Beginning…
• University was launching portal page for
traditional-aged students
• World Campus students had to add a
World Campus tab
• Static, not customizable
5. In the Beginning…
• Marketing was beginning to discuss
redesigning the World Campus website…
6. The Challenge
• Branding and Design
– Lacked relevant imagery and video content
• Content and Site Architecture
– Site architecture and content grew organically
– Lacked consistency
– Prospective student and current student content
intermixed
– Website was not mobile-friendly
7. Market Research
Research Findings
•Penn State World Campus website was viewed as:
– “Boring”
– Crowded; too much going on
– Not as credible
– Distracting with too many links and tabs
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9. The Lion Lounge
The Process: 2+ Years
Phase Start Date
3.Project scope July 2009
4.Content and design March 2010
5.Market research May 2010
6.Usability testing May 2010
7.Launch and measure results July 2011
8.Usability testing, post-launch May 2012
11. Who was involved?
• Outreach Marketing
– Brand Strategy, Web Strategy, Creative
Services
• Advising and Learner Success
– Student Engagement, HelpDesk, Academic
Advising, Academic Support, Career
Counseling
12. Project Scope
Define the objective:
To optimize retention, we will completely overhaul the
website and create a new interface that allows our users
to easily find the information they need, when and where
they need it, online and/or mobile, with clear calls to
action.
• Prospective students
• Current students
14. Who are our current students?
– ~12,000 students during 2011–12
– Median age: 30
– 52% female; 48% male
– 38% live in Pennsylvania
– Many have never visited Penn State
campus
– Adult learners: time is precious
15. Content and Design
• Overall look and feel
– Simply innovative
– Modern, not trendy: contemporary feel
without the fluff
17. Content and Design
• Colors
– Penn State blue, warm and modern
• Dynamic Content
– Keep them interested, keep them coming
back
• Consistency with Flexibility
– Consistent layouts, tons of options
18. Content and Design
• Typography
– Clean, simple and easy on the eyes
• Navigation
– I know where I am, and where I can go
19. Usability Testing
• Large usability test
– Previous website
• Many smaller usability tests
– Site wireframes and mockups: “click” testing
• Repeat large usability test
– New website
20. Site Wireframes and Mockups
QUICK AND DIRTY TESTING
• GOAL: get a sense for whether specific design, layout,
and/or navigation elements/labels are working
• APPROACH: find out what’s not working, take our best
guess at fixing, repeat until we think we’ve fixed it, look
out for new problems, repeat repeat repeat.
• Participants were: current students, “friends and family”
21.
22.
23.
24. Usability Test 1: Header Area
Version 1: Full horizontal image with Version 2: Three quarter image with
alerts and tasks stacked under new alerts and tasks in right hand column.
and military student entry points.
25. Usability Test 1: Header Area
Users of Version 1 nearly always completed
tasks twice as fast as users of Version 2.
33. Why Don’t We Ask Them? Current
Students and the Section Name
34. The Lion Lounge Goals
• Advising & Learner Success goal:
student success
• Retention: Allow students to find
pertinent information in
quick/convenient manner
• Community Building: Feel connected
to Penn State
35. How Did We Pursue Goals?
• Design of site (courtesy of our wonderful
marketing team)
• “My Backpack”
• Organization of content
• Graduate/undergraduate split
• Engaging frontline staff bios
• Integration of community-building initiatives
• Support resources easily findable
• Mobile-friendly site
36. Design of Site
• Color scheme based on design of
main World Campus site
• Expandable menus for ease of
navigation (fewer page loads required,
hopefully)
37.
38.
39.
40. Homepage Design
• Banner-style image across top
• Prominent backpack
• New Student Orientation link “front and
center” (actually off to the right)
• Space for alerts - box disappears when not
in use
• Feeds from student blog and social media
• Penn State time
41.
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45.
46. Backpack
• Group of 7 helpful/necessary links
• “Carry it around with you”
• Found on every page of Lion Lounge
47. Backpack
• Widely used: 85-90% of traffic to
homepage leaves selects backpack
links
• Top links clicked:
– My courses (50-60% select this)
– WebMail (15-25%)
– eLion (10-15%)
48.
49. Support Resources Findable
• Prominent links for academic advising,
career counseling, technical support,
military/veterans services
• Usability Tests – Where to Find
Advising?
• Time to complete task fell by 61% on
new site design (32 s. to complete
now)
50.
51. How Info is Organized
• Other prominent menu items:
– Course Catalog
– “Your Courses: How-to Guide”
– “Paying for Your Education”
61. Community Building
• Community section highlights ways to
connect with others (social media,
organizations, etc.)
• Campus shots - banner images
• Feeds from social media/blog on
homepage
62.
63. Mobile-Friendly Site
• Based on undergraduate academic
planner sent to students
• Text-only
• Includes bottom links for contact and
calendar (custom Google Calendar
with academic calendar and fun
historical dates)
64.
65. Moving Forward
• Still looking to create that “E-student
Union”
• Will eventually pull in info from student
information system, after login to site,
creating personalized experience on
site
66. Continued Usability Tests
• Coordinated by Outreach marketing
team
• What are we testing?
Ability to Find Task completion time - New Site
compare to old
Advising info 32 seconds (-61%)
Course info 1 min, 8 seconds (-55%)
Proctor information 54 seconds (-42%)
Drop course info 44 seconds (-41%)
68. New Features Coming
• Better Grad/Undergrad split solution
• Custom-designed podcast player
• Degree audit interpretations for
undergraduate programs
• New Student Orientation
70. THANKS!
Liam Jackson
lnj104@psu.edu
Kim Tweedy
kxm78@psu.edu
@tweedys_tweets
Notas del editor
Vision of our director: campus experience for distance learners One-stop shop portal that was personalized and customizable
Vision of our director: campus experience for distance learners One-stop shop portal that was personalized and customizable
Focus groups of local WC students said that it was difficult to use. Had to add tab every time you launched site. It was at this time that marketing was beginning to discuss redesigning the World Campus web site. A&LS began talking with marketing to discuss the e-student union idea with them since the site was going to be redesigned.
Focus groups of local WC students said that it was difficult to use. Had to add tab every time you launched site. It was at this time that marketing was beginning to discuss redesigning the World Campus web site. A&LS began talking with marketing to discuss the e-student union idea with them since the site was going to be redesigned.
NOTES: Prior to this, there wasn’t a separate website for current students.
Web site IS their campus.
Web site IS their campus. Rebuilding the World Campus website is like rebuilding our campus, except it’s all online. Help students to feel connected Provide information in an easy-to-find method
Students want a feeling of connection to the University…kept that in mind when designing the site. WC students join the alumni association @20% higher rate than membership rate at UP and commonwealth campuses (52% vs. 34%) We have the 2 nd largest Blue & White Society (student alumni chapter) next to UP. @1050 members
Students want a feeling of connection to the University…kept that in mind when designing the site. WC students join the alumni association @20% higher rate than membership rate at UP and commonwealth campuses (52% vs. 34%) We have the 2 nd largest Blue & White Society (student alumni chapter) next to UP. @1050 members
Strong collegiate feel evoking feelings of a part of the Penn State community; legacy and tradition; be a part of something larger that will impact the rest of their lives.
Colors: Inviting, not technical Dynamic content: fun and engaging, provide news and updates that are valuable to them.
Typography: Arial, clean simple; dark gray font; more leading; scannable headlines Navigation: breadcrumbs, tabs, link styles, and menus; keep users from getting lost or accidently revisiting pages that they have already viewed.
Previous website was for prospective students
TOOL: Usabilla
Example of how Usabilla works.
MOBILE
How did we come up with the name “The Lion Lounge?”