Front page screenshot of the new WCC website. Weevern Gong | Washtenaw Voice
Editor’s Note: Sections of this story about the cost and timeline of the website project have been updated.
By Lilly Kujawski
Editor
Tomorrow, WCC is expected to launch a new website at wccnet.edu, with a fresh design, new features and improved mobile compatibility.
Preliminary work on the new website project began in 2015, said Brendan Prebo, associate vice president of marketing and communications at WCC. The Voice previously reported that the site was expected to “soft launch” last March, but this launch date was postponed to make functionality improvements. Since then, the website team has held a series of focus group sessions to identify areas of improvement, said John Powell, a web design and content manager at WCC.
The Dec. 4 rollout will be a full launch, completely replacing the old site, said Prebo.
A notable feature of the new site is its mobile optimization, Prebo said.
The college spent an estimated $365,000 on outside contracts for the build and design of the website project, Prebo said. Outside contractors include OU Campus, a web content management system developed by the California-based company OmniUpdate, the Understanding Group in Ann Arbor and VisionPoint Marketing of Raleigh, N.C., he said.
Other work was done on the new website by WCC employees. Information about the amount of time they spent and the expense was not available from Prebo. The total cost of the new website project was not available from Prebo as of Friday. The Voice will attempt to secure that information.
Many design aspects had students specifically in mind; users will now find a “student dashboard” on their MyWCCGateway account, Powell said. The student dashboard houses links to some of the tools and resources students use the most—DegreeWorks, class registration, tuition payment portal and the option to schedule an appointment with an adviser.
The new website is also organized by topic, instead of by office, which is meant to cater to students who may not know which department a particular service falls under, Powell said.
Staff members may need some time to adjust to this new organizational method, Powell said. Prebo added that the “vastly improved” search capabilities of the new site should aid in locating specific items.
Users will see a change in WCC’s sub-sites for various departments and groups. These will all be folded back into the main site, said Powell, except for the Bailey Library website, which will later see its own revamp.
Powell’s team is working to train departments on how to maintain their own pages.
Over time, the new website will see some updates, but not major changes or redesigns, Prebo said.
“We had the focus groups and we really identified a lot of areas for improvement, and I think… continuing phases will be to just follow up in those areas and make incremental improvements to the website as we go along,” Prebo said.
A series of information station tables will be held across campus from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow to provide information about the site to students.
