2008 Woodie Awards
Catching up with technology?
Brian Galgano
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: Op/Ed
Ask anyone to use one word to describe our generation and more than likely the word "technology" comes to mind. With technology becoming increasingly vital to our everyday routines, this new technological generation has different wants and desires than past generations.
With technology changing every day and our society becoming more interconnected through various mediums, I have begun to question whether Muhlenberg is advancing fast enough with the movement. Muhlenberg is at a crucial point in which it needs to seriously evaluate its current website.
I feel that our current webpage is difficult to navigate, is not welcoming for prospective students, lacks the tools needed for current students, and quite honestly lacks a lot of information.
I recently began looking at our webpage and following the various links from the main page. As I clicked further into each link, I found that the information I was looking for was either minimal or non-existent. In some cases links were not active, but in most, they led to poorly designed and uninformative web pages.
One of the most irritating aspects of the website was the number of times a link forwarded me to a PDF of our college catalog.
The most disheartening discovery, however, was that most of the web pages of various campus organizations and academic departments did not present enough information about their programs.
The question that kept coming to mind was, is this a website for prospective students or current students? Muhlenberg needs a website designed for current as well as prospective students. Currently, I feel it has no direct audience in mind.
If the audience is for current students, it's of absolutely no use, for it is not designed for the current student. To offer a solution that many institutions similar to ours have is a my.muhlenberg.edu page for its current students. This would allow students both on campus or off campus to find relevant information in a logical, organized fashion just for them.
With technology changing every day and our society becoming more interconnected through various mediums, I have begun to question whether Muhlenberg is advancing fast enough with the movement. Muhlenberg is at a crucial point in which it needs to seriously evaluate its current website.
I feel that our current webpage is difficult to navigate, is not welcoming for prospective students, lacks the tools needed for current students, and quite honestly lacks a lot of information.
I recently began looking at our webpage and following the various links from the main page. As I clicked further into each link, I found that the information I was looking for was either minimal or non-existent. In some cases links were not active, but in most, they led to poorly designed and uninformative web pages.
One of the most irritating aspects of the website was the number of times a link forwarded me to a PDF of our college catalog.
The most disheartening discovery, however, was that most of the web pages of various campus organizations and academic departments did not present enough information about their programs.
The question that kept coming to mind was, is this a website for prospective students or current students? Muhlenberg needs a website designed for current as well as prospective students. Currently, I feel it has no direct audience in mind.
If the audience is for current students, it's of absolutely no use, for it is not designed for the current student. To offer a solution that many institutions similar to ours have is a my.muhlenberg.edu page for its current students. This would allow students both on campus or off campus to find relevant information in a logical, organized fashion just for them.