NOVA working to make website a welcoming front door for students

In Thursday’s NOVA Operations Weekly, I wrote about last week’s Supreme Court decision related to DACA and included (what I thought was) a helpful link from NOVA’s website. As it turns out, that link was not helpful at all—so disregard it with my apologies. Thank you to the employees who wrote to let me know.

I share this story not just to tell you that I made an error, but to give you a sense of why, over the past weeks, NOVA’s communications team has been doing a deep dive on our website. As someone newer to NOVA, I likely use our website about as often as our prospective and current students do—which is quite frequently. When I’m not certain about something at NOVA, I search our website, and unfortunately, my searches have retrieved outdated information—including NOVA policies, practices, and procedures that are no longer in effect; contact information for offices that no longer exist or for individuals no longer with our college; and sometimes even minutes for committees that are almost a decade old. (Thus, my Thursday link.)

The challenges facing NOVA’s website are certainly not uncommon: higher ed websites can have thousands and thousands of pages, most long forgotten until a search pulls them up. When these outdated pages represent college positions or policies, however, issues mount because users have no reason to doubt the information presented. If it’s on NOVA’s website, it must be right. Right?

Our shift to remote learning has underscored the significance of our website and the need to make sure that it really does reflect the current state of affairs. Now more than ever, it is our front door, and we want it to be a welcoming one that leads students forward, not down a closed hallway or into a shuttered office.

In addition to identifying dormant pages and simplifying the navigation of our website, the communications team is implementing best practices to assist us in keeping NOVA’s website current. For example, subpages will link to “evergreen” source pages that include always up-to-date schedules, dates, operational hours, procedures, policies, etc., so that when any of these critical items changes, the subpages remain current. The team has also worked to streamline pages so that students quickly get the information they need without having to click and click and click. For an example, they should be able to click (just once) on the “Become a Student” link on our homepage.

NOVA has also tracked the use of our Call Center and Virtual Advising services, which has increased between 300% and 400%, depending upon the function. The virtual chat function—accessible on our homepage–has grown especially quickly. This data gives another glimpse into how frequently our students and prospective students visit NOVA’s website as their front door for assistance and answers.

My thanks, again, to the employees who reached out to note my link was in error and my gratitude to the dedicated professionals who are updating our website to ensure the latest information on this topic and more is always available 24/7 for our students.