Executive Summary
From ETS
Executive Summary for ReDesign Process
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY for the TLT Website Redesign
Project Goals Revise the
- Architecture
- Design
- Information content
- Functionality
of Teaching and Learning with Technology website, so that it better meets the needs of users and of TLT.
Vision
- Users find the revamped website easy to use, informative and useful
- The website supports the TLT mission and strategic plan
- Distributed content provision; content providers/owners keep content relevant to users and up-to-date
- To ensure that content has the ability to be built from different sources and that it can be distributed likewise through the use of content aggregation (RSS/XML)
- Opportunities, as relevant, for users to interact with staff and each other (e.g. collaborate, provide feedback, help others find information), and contribute content / expertise
Timeline
- Identify changes that need to be made; prioritize these by end March 2008
- Launch first iteration of revamped site by mid-August 2008, incorporating high priority changes and low-hanging fruit
- Launch second iteration of revamped site by March 2009, incorporating further changes
Principles
- Be driven by user wants, needs, expectations
- Adopt a culture of iterative, continuous improvement
- Set the stage for easier and quicker future redesigns by improving the technical platform
Assumptions
- Site will be built upon the Weblion content management system
- The redesign will not include each TLT unit's sites, applications, or the staff intranet.
Summary of Redesign Process
This process is based on the team's experience of previous redesign processes, and recommendations in Goto & Cotler (2005).
- DEFINE - February 11 to March 14
- Identify (e.g., via interviews with stakeholders and users)
- Who the audiences are
- What these people what users want / need / expect in terms of (a) information (b) functionality
- What TLT wants these people to (a) know (b) do (c) feel as a result of their visit
- Plan the revamp process in detail
- STRUCTURE - March 14 to April 25
- Construct site information architecture and design to meet both user and stakeholder needs
- Determine ownership of content; plan schedule for keeping content topical and relevant
- DESIGN and BUILD - April 25 to August 15
- Build prototype site on appropriate technical platform
- Validate information architecture and design via frequent usability testing
- LAUNCH and MEASURE - August 15
- Once site is live, continue to monitor usage and usability quantitatively (via site visit statistics) and qualitatively (via user tests and user feedback), in order to plan and implement further improvements
- Train content providers to add and edit content; support content providers
A more detailed version of this plan is laid out here. This plan is set out linearly, but in practice some steps can proceed in parallel. In particular, the design and build stages will involve iterative development, testing and revision in the light of feedback.
References
- Goto K & Cotler E (2005) Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow that Works. Peachpit Press / Pearson Education, Berkeley CA.
- Human Factors International (2006) User-Centered Analysis. Human Factors International, Inc., Fairfield, IA
- Krug S (2006) Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, Second Edition. New Riders, Berkeley CA.
- Morville P and Rosenfeld L (2007) Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Third Edition. O'Reilly Media Inc., Sebastopol CA
