Oberlin Online Design Guidelines: Academic Departments   printable pdf version 1 May 1999 To: Department and Program Chairs Faculty Technology Liaisons From: GF Educational Technology Committee Arts and Sciences Dean's Office Re: DEPARTMENTAL WEBSITES More and more prospective students, faculty, and donors are finding out about Oberlin College, its curriculum, and resources by perusing Oberlin Online and our associated intranet. Interesting, informative, and up-to-date web pages are key to a positive first impression of the College and help to attract the best students and faculty. The academic sections of the site, for which faculty and staff are responsible, are crucial to recruitment and to campus life. Therefore, it makes sense that every department and program have and regularly maintain a website linked to Oberlin Online. To assist in reaching this goal, the Deansí Offices in consultation with the GF Educational Technology Committee provide the following guidelines. Guidelines for Content The departmental web site at its top level has: An Overview Description of departmental goals, etc. (some of this could be taken from the catalog) Photographs of student-faculty activities, facilities, etc.(OCTET can provide some assistance with electronic imaging.) Contact information for the department: mail & email addresses, phone & fax numbers Links to Curriculum / Faculty / Other Information (if any) At the bottom of the page statements: "Maintained by <faculty or staff name>" and "Last revised on <date of revision>" The departmental web site at the next level down has: Curriculum section Overview -- description or chart Description of the major requirements (could simply be a link to the online catalog) Description of the minor (if any) requirements (could simply be a link to the online catalog) Course descriptions (could simply be a link to the online catalog) List and links to available online syllabi Faculty section -- List of faculty with the following information given or linked Biographical sketch Educational background Teaching interests, including courses taught Scholarly interests, including current research topics Photograph Contact information: office location, mail & email addresses, phone & fax numbers Other Information (if any; not required) Departments are encouraged to go beyond the minimum information and to present whatever they think would be important for prospective students, faculty, and donors. Of course, the departmental sites also serve current students and support current coursework. Additional sections might describe: Honors program Student-faculty research opportunities Guidelines for Maintaining the Site Departmental web pages should be updated every six months, i.e. revisions to the web pages are completed no later than three weeks after classes begin each semester (spring and fall). Completing updates prior to the start of the semester and more frequent maintenance are encouraged. Responsibility for web site maintenance may be spread among a student assistant, the faculty, and staff. To provide assistance: Each department will be eligible for funding from OCTET (under a Mellon grant) to pay a student technology assistant, who may work up to 5-10 hours per week depending upon available funding. The department is responsible for selecting and supervising the student assistant. {Of course, the student assistant is expected to support educational technology broadly; the work is not limited to developing web pages.} Each department has a faculty technology liaison who could provide oversight of the departmental web pages and the student technology assistant. The faculty liaison could gather information from other department members for posting on the web, direct the web activities of the departmental assistant (if necessary), and ensure that each deadline for updating the web site is met. {Of course, the faculty liaison should support educational technology broadly; the work is not limited to developing web pages.} The required content of departmental web pages was described above. The "look and feel" of departmental sites is not mandated, and we expect most departments will want to have their own design. OCTET may be able to help departments that are creating or redesigning websites by providing a standard template and advice. Please inquire if you need assistance. The requirements and the deadlines, described above, are endorsed by the Deansí Office and the GF Educational Technology Committee, who expect that departments and programs will honor them.