Keeping you informed about changes to the NOVA website.

The NOVAaccess page on Facebook has switched over to the new timeline look! We created a bulletin board banner displaying some of the many great things you can take advantage of as a NOVA student.

Be sure to check it out and if you haven’t done so already, Like us — connect with your friends and get the latest NOVA updates, events, news and more!

As always, we want to hear from you! Send us your feedback and suggestions through the “Leave a comment” area below. We will personally reply to all entries submitted.

The new Hybrid Courses website contains key information for students who are thinking about taking a hybrid course. It is divided into eight sections that cover a range of material including:

• Is a Hybrid Course for You – in this section if you answer a series of 15 questions and press submit, it will reveal based on your choices if you will make a good hybrid course candidate
• What Is a Hybrid Course – this page contains an overview of what a hybrid course is
  
• Challenges of Hybrid Learning – this page reveals some of common challenges many students may and contains links to external resources at the bottom
• Strategies: General / Online – these two sections cover general and online communication tactics
• Letter From a Hybrid Student – this page provides a student account of someone who took a hybrid course(s)
• Video Testimonials – this section contains four short testimonials from hybrid instructor’s perspectives
• FAQ – this section addresses the most common questions students ask about taking hybrid courses   

The clean design of the hybrid site incorporates a mix of visuals and concise/informative content. Simply click on any of the buttons on the right to go to the section you would like to see.

The website data below was collected during August 1 – October 31 and November 1, 2011 – January 31, 2012.

Traffic Volume

• The number of unique visitors to the website increased 42% between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31
• There were 5.4 million recorded visits to www.nvcc.edu between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31, which was the highest traffic volume of any quarter in the previous 12 months
• People are spending 30 seconds longer on the website
• 39% of the traffic to the site came from people using the Search box; more than 54% came directly to the site
• Internet Explorer remains the top browser
• iPhone and iPad devices are becoming more widely adopted with each successive quarter

Visitor Profile (November 1, 2011 – January 31, 2012)

The top five sources of traffic within the United States came from:
1. Virginia
2. DC
3. Maryland
4. New York
5. Pennsylvania

The top five sources of International traffic came from:
1. Canada
2. South Korea
3. India
4. Germany
5. United Kingdom

User Behavior (November 1, 2011 – January 31, 2012)

The two highest percentage of user clicks in the right navigation area were Current Students and Faculty & Staff.

The top five landing pages were:
1. NOVA home page
2. NOVA Connect
3. Library
4. Webmail
5. Employment

The top five most viewed pages were:
1. NOVA home page
2. My NOVA
3. Online Application
4. Schedule of Classes
5. Faculty & Staff

The top five most searched terms were:
1. Bookstore
2. Library
3. Parking
4. Testing Center
5. Nursing

The layout of the Faces of NOVA page has been completely redesigned. Instead of the old list of linked names, you can now find all the students and faculty we have featured in a multidirectional scrolling photo grid. Hover your mouse anywhere on the page, shift it around and select the person you would like to read about by clicking on his/her photo. A window will open and you will be led to the specific feature story for that individual.

As always, we want to hear from you! Send us your feedback and suggestions through the “Leave a comment” area below. We will personally reply to all entries submitted.

We developed a website for a new NOVA partner SySTEMic Solutions. SySTEMic Solutions is a collaborative effort between school divisions, higher education institutions, and employers to meet the critical need for scientists, engineers and technicians.

The site is divided into five sections: an intro, the SySTEMic Solutions model, corporate partnerships, news and contacts. Included on every page you will also find buttons to the SySTEMic Solutions blog and the Pathway to the Baccalaureate website.

A website was developed for Global Studies for new international students to learn about NOVA, the programs available, and information regarding specialized international programs students may find interesting. An RSS Feed was created along with interactive menus you can hover over that connect you to other sections of the site for Students, Global Connections and Faculty & Staff. The site is also for students and faculty/staff to get involved with educating international students about courses, teaching opportunities and learning resources NOVA has to offer.

Under Students > Study Abroad, a gallery was created showcasing some of the overseas lands students can visit, in addition to other useful information in accordion menus. Under Global Connections > International Collaborations are details and resources about our International Partnerships. The Faculty/Staff section contains details on how a professor can lead a study abroad program, explains professional development opportunities, and more.

The U.S.-South Africa Partnership for Skills Development (PSKD) program is a college-wide grant project funded by the United Stated International Development Agency. The program supports the South Africa Department of Higher Education and Training to improve economic growth and private sector competitiveness, and workforce development by strengthening the capacity of the Further Education and Training colleges and increasing the educational and employment outcomes for the country’s youth. NOVA is one of the major implementing partners and will be going to South Africa in March.

This external site comprising of six sections (Home, About, Contact, Resources, News and Photo Gallery) was designed to present the material in an organized way that is easy to update. The Instruction Resources section is password protected for use by the FETC partners; the Newsroom features their newsletters and connects you to their blog; and the Photo Gallery features images from the first meeting.

As always, we want to hear from you! Send us your feedback and suggestions through the “Leave a comment” area below. We will personally reply to all entries submitted.

The Office of Pregnant and Parenting Student Support (OPPSS) provides student support services to pregnant women, expectant fathers and newly parenting students, with children up to five years of age, in an effort to increase student success and retention.

The website is divided into three sections — an overview page, services page and contact page. The home campus for OPPSS is MEC, but a mobile unit visits all the NOVA campuses twice a month.

NOVA History Collections features NOVA’s archival documents and photographs. It includes student publications, yearbooks, commencement programs, meeting minutes and photographs. The purpose of the website is to display and preserve information about NOVA’s history in one central location as NOVA approaches the 50^th anniversary of its founding. Users can conduct full-text searches of the items or browse by subject term. Users can also download, save and print any item.

There are six collections:
College History

Alexandria Campus
Annandale Campus
Loudoun Campus
Manassas Campus
Medical Education Campus
Woodbridge

And a variety of other items including:
Photographs
Student Publications
Yearbooks
Commencement Programs

The Alexandria Campus Collection is currently the largest, but library staff are continuing to work on digitizing and uploading new documents and photographs to each collection. They are building NOVA History Collections into a comprehensive resource for information about NOVA’s history.

NOVA’s Career Development Leadership Team and Cooperative Education & Coordinated Internship Services are now offering an External Job Announcements Database for use by students, faculty and staff, alumni and employers.

The database, developed as part of an initiative with NOVA’s Financial Aid Office, is a FREE job posting service and searchable database for external off-campus jobs posted by community employers for NOVA students, as well as coordinated internships and cooperative education jobs for work-based learning.

Faculty and staff can also use the database to partner with community employers who would like to post job and internship announcements.