Our main focus for the last three sprints
Sprint #18 (David Millar) took place between Monday 28 March to Friday 8 April 2016 (weeks 8 and 9), inclusive. Sprint #19 (Mikel Nieve) took place between Monday 11 and Friday 22 April 2016 (weeks 10 and 11), inclusive.
For the last three sprints we have been working predominately on two pieces of work; this work came to an end at the end of this past sprint.
Feasibility study
The first was a feasibility study around a web site design that we will need shortly. That was a fun piece of work. We gave ourselves six weeks to audit, research, build and usability-test a small site design before presenting it to the portfolio board for review. Stay tuned to the blog to find out soon what this was all about…
Launch new PGT pages
The second piece of work was to launch the newly designed pages detailing the 108 or so PGT (postgraduate taught) 2016 programmes (that’s courses to you and me) that the University offers. Until now these programmes have been on the various Schools websites. But this has meant that they have be scattered across 18 or more websites and the information on them has not been consistent. Given the consumer law advice for higher education that was published last year we need to be extra vigilant about what we say about our courses. So we have been working closely with the Schools to create content in one location, that is consistent and standardised, but which also includes some local flair and character. This content is slowly being moved to the taught programmes page under Study at St Andrews, and at the same time removed from the School websites. This will offer a consistent user-experience and make it easier to maintain. We have a deadline of Friday 6 May to get everything launched.
We’ve worked closely with Schools during this process, and one of the most common questions they’ve asked us has been how can standardised content do the best job of marketing our unique courses? The answer is that we know online users are goal-orientated – so we need to present the information they’re looking for in a way that’s easiest to navigate. By keeping that content short and concise we have the best chance of keeping their attention and helping them to find the answers to their questions.
By listening to Schools and learning more about the strengths that make their courses attractive, we’ve added a new layer to our digital architecture — allowing Schools to include a sub-page describing what a course is like. We’re pleased that by working together, through a process of iterative design, we’re finding creative solutions that will help us do the best job of selling St Andrews.