The Provost’s Office sent out an update about the online catalog this morning (text below). How does everyone feel about this response? Does it resolve everyone’s concerns about being able to find departmental websites?
I’ve responded to the Provost’s email with a recommendation that departmental websites also be linked to from the Department pages within the catalog (e.g., for Biology, that would be this page).
Let us know what you think and whether or not you have any lingering concerns about the catalog.
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Email from Provost’s Office:
Public Relations received some complaints concerning the difficulty in navigating in the University’s on-line catalog (Acalog). Some users thought it was not clear how to navigate to a department’s web site from the Acalog pages. In response to this concern, the Office of Public Relations has added a link on program pages in the online catalog to take users back to the Department website. For example, you may view the Biology program page:
The user can get back to the Department website by clicking on the link in the sentence that reads:“For more information about the Biology department, visit its website.”In addition, users can always find the Department Web Site by going to the “Colleges and Departments” link from the “Academics” drop down menu at the top of the page.
We hope that this enhancement will be helpful. Any additional feedback is always welcome. Please direct your comments or concerns to Anne Marie Stamford (stamforda1@scranton.edu). Thank you!
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UPDATE: 11/3/2010
The PR office has added links to departmental websites to the bottom of every “program” page in the catalog (which Teresa referenced below) – for example, see Biology’s program page with a link to their department page at the very bottom.
This link definitely helps, and it is nice that the administration is listening., so many thanks to all involved. But to be honest, I still find it odd that when I go to search for an academic department/major (from UofS Homepage: select Academic Menu –> select Undergraduate Programs –> select a link to a specific program), I am taken to the catalog instead of the department’s webpage.
That said, I think the issue remains: Department webpages might be a little easier to find now with these added links, but the way that a student finds the department page is (I think) contrary to the way most students would seek out information about a program. I think that a student would first want to see what a department/major has to offer to them, then what a degree in ‘X’ can do for me, and THEN finally see the curriculum for the program to know what they’re getting in to.
But hey, I could be wrong. After all, 10 years ago when I was in college, I don’t think the Internet was on computer yet :-)
I agree with Bryan’s explanation of how students navigate college websites, which was one of the reasons I raised this issue in the first place. Still, at least the administration is attempting to make navigation easier based on our comments.
That being said, I think more links to the department webpages need to be added internally. For example, when clicking the buttons for the colleges on the left toolbar, users are brought to a page that lists departments in that college and given two options: more info and programs (see: http://catalog.scranton.edu/content.php?catoid=6&navoid=113). Adding a third “department website” option would be helpful. Also, when choosing the “more info” option, their should be a link on that page to the department website, as well (see: http://catalog.scranton.edu/preview_entity.php?catoid=6&ent_oid=142&returnto=113).