New pilot initiative to improve campus websites
Jointly offered by the Communications and Marketing Office & CodePurple*
It is the expectation of the Communications and Marketing Office that academic department and administrative office websites be kept up to date. It is critical that when prospective students and other visitors reach out to us, that they find current and relevant information. Check out our new initiative to assist departments in doing this.
The pilot initiative
CodePurple will hire, train and supervise student laborers each semester to manage web content for academic departments and administrative offices that sign up to be part of this initiative. Each semester, each department/office that has signed up for this would be paired with a student from CodePurple who will meet with a department representative to determine needs, generate content ideas, gather materials, etc. CodePurple will keep the Com-Mar Office informed about plans and changes to ensure institutional standards are met. CodePurple will share metrics and results to the client to determine how successful changes have been.
Benefits:
- alleviate the current burden on departments and offices
- ensure a quality result that will align with and aid institutional communication and marketing goals
- students will gain valuable hands-on learning experience in a real-world context.
Available services
- updating faculty pages
- adding news, features, posts
- advising on side navigation
- identifying outdated content to update or remove
- developing a calendar for content changes
- developing content that will improve the department’s online search-ability and assist in attracting prospective students
- assisting with developing a web strategy, offering recommendations for improvements
Cost
Because CodePurple is a self-sustaining organization, there are fees involved. This also ensures follow-through on the part of campus clients to meet and provide feedback. CodePurple’s hourly rate is $15/hour, but because we in the Com-Mar Office believe strongly in this initiative, we are subsidizing half the cost of package purchases. Work exceeding the prepaid package amount can be purchased at $15 for each additional hour, which will not be subsidized by the Com-Mar Office.
Available packages (price after subsidization):
$150 per semester: 20 hours of labor
$225 per semester: 15 hours of labor
$75 per semester: 10 hours of labor
Interested? First come, first serve
To sign up to be part of this pilot initiative (it will be reviewed in the spring and at the end of the year to determine what changes need to be made or whether it is meeting everyone’s needs well), email Peter Miller. There are limited packages available, so first come, first serve.
* What is CodePurple? CodePurple is a new co-curricular for the Informatics Department and is a subset of mennonite.net that hires GC students to various programming and other tech-related jobs. This is an outlet for professional development during college, a place to practice the integration portions of the informatics degree, and an opportunity for students to solve problems for the institution. It is led by Peter Miller.