As we think about accessibility, there are two sides to this coin that higher education needs to consider, figuratively speaking. First, it is imperative that college websites uphold our responsibility to be inclusive with all digital content for people with disabilities, as outlined in Colorado House Bill 21-1110. Second, and this is the main topic I’m talking about here, colleges have a responsibility to ensure their websites reflect the inclusiveness they frequently talk about. Not just with images of students of color and various identities smiling around their campuses, but developing content using resources like the Flesch Reading Ease Score to support readability for the diverse communities we serve.

Over the span of a year, the Community College of Aurora asked four critical questions about the effectiveness and accessibility of our website. First, who do we serve? Second, who is our target audience? Third, what information does this audience need? Fourth, how do we make information accessible to this audience?

After a thorough examination of these issues, we discovered that our website was not a “gateway” reflecting our college’s vision statement: we aspire to be the college where every student succeeds.

Student centering

Pedagogically, educators learn to plan, teach, and assess learning based on student needs and abilities. Student-centered learning, as it is called, provides educators with a framework to place the needs and uniqueness of each student at the center of the educational experience. Such an approach allows educators to design student-centered institutions.

However, the main question I ask is: do your college and university websites reflect a student-centered approach? Can visitors effectively navigate your website to call for actions that foster a seamless digital experience that, in turn, fosters a sense of belonging? If not, now is the time to do something about it.

It may not be easy. When the Community College of Aurora recognized the need to revamp its site several years ago, a series of challenges prevented the work from happening. At some point, our college made the decision to switch providers and start all over again. For what? Because our administration understood and valued the need for our institution to partner with a website developer who best represented the dynamic and progressive approach our college seeks to serve its students.

Blair Lee, Executive Director of Strategic Communications and Alumni Relations at my college, was the project champion for our website redesign. As Lee shared with me, “Completely redesigning our corporate website was not easy, it required significant cross-departmental collaboration to ensure all necessary stakeholders were at the table to have their voices heard and validated.”

But we knew the effort was worth it. Lee added, “The goal was to create a site that, at its core, would be used as a tool to boost enrollment, streamline communication, engage current students, and be a ‘digital utopia’ that would beautifully tell our story to site visitors.

The approach we took, he added, “enabled those who would be affected to have an opportunity to provide feedback prior to launch.”

Defining the purpose of our College website

Through research and engagement, I was able to recognize as president of the university that our website was mistakenly trying to be everything to everyone. Our current students, future students and their parents had to navigate a monstrosity of information and we (the college) just hoped the information was accessible.

Data showed that visitors to our old website spent an average of 30 seconds on each visit. Remarkably, since our new website went live, visitors now spend an average of three minutes and 15 seconds browsing our website. Additionally, our redesigned site has seen a 15% increase in our “apply” web page, which for our institution essentially functions as an application database.

“College websites were important before the pandemic. We relied on them to provide access to information and services. Post-pandemic, instead of being accessible, websites are engines of action,” says Clair Collins, vice president of enrollment management and pathway success at my institution. “As a ‘first look’ option for most students, websites are now the primary method schools [use to] generate leads, communicate their mission and vision, and drive engagement. To capture student information and maintain healthy enrollment, a strong web presence with clear calls to action has become vital. »

We also have other changes planned for the future. Given that over 50% of our students are first-generation students, over 50% are students of color, over 30% identify as Hispanic or Latino, and over 70 countries are represented at our institution, it was imperative that our university website represent our proud federal designation as an Institution Serving Hispanics. This fall, our college plans to launch a Spanish version of its entire website, and efforts are underway to develop and identify a third navigation language.

Now, more than ever, we have a responsibility as educators to create programs and learning environments that honor and accommodate the diversity of our evolving communities. I hope our experience will inspire your institution to make its digital presence more welcoming and useful for your prospective and current students.