District Administration - January 2009 - (Page 70)

District Web Site Essentials navigation across a site and/or in speciﬁc site sections is the goal. To aid visitors further in moving smoothly around the site, a breadcrumb trail (links that appear atop pages to indicate the path followed to get there, allowing a quick retrace of steps) is a helpful and worthy feature. e Orange County (Fla.) Public Schools (www.ocps.net) has succeeded in putting these design and navigation essentials into action. “We consider our Web site to be an increasingly valuable and popular medium to share our good news and important news,” notes Dylan omas, director of community relations for OCPS. “ e Web staﬀ is driven to keep the pages current using the news slide ‘spinner’ [slide show], the calendar and other dynamic components. We have found a layout that works, and we try to keep the site tidy, without too much content. One measure of our success is a decrease of more than 1,000 calls per month to our main district phone number between 2006 to 2007 and 2007 to 2008.” e OCPS site is maintained by four staﬀ members who share various duties and are primarily part of the community relations department. Usability District Web sites have a wide-ranging constituency to which to cater. To achieve optimal usability, a district site must speak to and serve parents, students, faculty and other employees, and community residents and leaders. Information should be compartmentalized and easy to ﬁnd via eﬃcient browsability and a high-performing search function. In terms of site search access, a search box (preferably located near the top right of pages) is optimal. Oﬀering an adjacent link to a site map, as an alternative to locating content, is most helpful. Search results should be complete, deep and sensible. To enhance user satisfaction, advanced search options that narrow and sort results by criteria (such as date and topic) are advisable. For example, the Katonah-Lewisboro (N.Y.) School District (www.klschools.org) has such a feature so searches can be narrowed to one of ﬁve diﬀerent content areas. e “robust” site, powered by eChalk, oﬀers an array of pages and links, and so 70 January 2009 The home page of Katonah-Lewisboro (N.Y.) School District offers 34 languages, including Chinese, as seen here. The Parents section on the Orange County Public Schools site exempliﬁes a clean, sharp design and user-friendly navigation. The Virginia Beach City Public Schools’ “vbschools x-tra” is an extensive, customizable e-mail newsletter subscription service that keeps parents fully informed and engaged. the search tool helps visitors easily ﬁnd information, says Carol Ann Lee, Katonah-Lewisboro’s director of technology. Paul Kuhne, eChalk’s director of marketing, adds that the company is a “pioneer” in helping districts design Web sites, having been around for a decade. And when a business serves families and con- sumers who are used to using the “Googles of the world,” a school site needs to oﬀer the same ease in locating information. e site’s separate pages for clubs, athletics, and groups also allow for easy information access. Not only will teachers post assignments for students on the public site, but on the district’s intranet site, where District Administration http://www.ocps.net http://www.klschools.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - January 2009

District Administration - January 2009
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Security
Facilities & Construction
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Conversations
Leadership Books
Research Center
District Web Site Essentials
The Second Annual X-Factor Student Achievement Grant
Social Studies for the 21st Century
Tech Disruptions
Professional Opinion
New Products
Product Focus
Understanding the Times

District Administration - January 2009