District Administration - February 2009 - (Page 44)

How Well Does This Web Site W LEARN WHAT OUR WEB ANALYST SAYS IS RIGHT AND WRONG WITH THIS DISTRICT SITE Ogden City (Utah) School District www.ogdensd.org By Laura R. Bona THE OGDEN CITY UTAH School District, located south of Salt Lake City, comprises 23 schools. is inner-city school district was established in 1849. Design e design and layout of this site is uncluttered and straightforward. On the home page, an adequate selection of applicable information is presented that will satisfy visitors of all kinds. ere is a featured area for “OCSD Latest News and Events,” as well as for “Celebrations and anks.” e Ogden School Foundation’s “Helping Hands Donations for Students and Teachers” is prominently featured, as is the “Student Safety Hotline” program. e individual sites for all the schools in the district share the same layout and offer a similar selection of content. ere is a prominent “Home” link at the top left of almost every site page, which in most cases leads not to the district’s home page but to the main page of that section. e district logo, which also appears in the top-left corner throughout the site, does not serve as a direct means of returning to the district’s main page. Navigation ere is a consistent top navigation bar, with links to “Schools,” “Departments,” “Faculty & Staﬀ,” “Parents,” “Students” and “Employment Opportunities.” A “Welcome” left-side navigation listing contains 14 links, several of which expand to oﬀer section-speciﬁc content access. For example, under “Board of Education,” there is an expanded list of link options for “Board Goals,” “Board Meetings,” “Citizen’s Guide to Board Meetings” and “Board Policy Manual.” 44 February 2009 The design and layout of this site is uncluttered and straightforward. On the home page, an adequate selection of applicable information is presented that will satisfy visitors of all kinds. Many of the links on the site open in separate browser windows; however, it is easy to get back to where you clicked from simply by closing the secondary browser window. To assist in more eﬃcient browsing, the few navigation link labels that are presented as obscure acronyms or program names (such as “Cognos” and “SIS 2000+,” a system through which parents and students can access grades) should be expanded and clariﬁed. Unfortunately, at the time of this review, there was no site search functionality oﬀered and no site map available. Usability ere is a helpful amount of school district and related information provided on this site. Speciﬁc department information (including athletics, curriculum, community relations and adult education) is easy to locate. e individual school sites oﬀer a similarly inclusive menu of content, appropriate to the given school. is site is not optimized for access by disabled users. School-to-Home Interaction Parents can locate a good deal of the information that would be of particular interest to them, with some notable exceptions. For example, the link to the student application/enrollment form is somewhat buried under “Departments,” then “Human Resources,” then “Documents and Forms.” From the “Parents” drop-down/cascading link listing, there is information on the district acronyms with which parents should District Administration http://www.ogdensd.org

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

District Administration - February 2009
Contents
Advertiser Index
Editor's Letter
News Update
Security
Curriculum
Crisis Response
Supervisor's Opinion
The Rise of the Virtual Teacher
Speaking Their Language
Alternate Transportation Routes
Opinion
The Aftermath of the New 403(b) Regulations
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Problem Solution
New Products
Product Focus
Professional Opinion

District Administration - February 2009