Staff Writer
A college website is the first glance of the school seen by eager students interested in enrolling. The website is where information about the college is found, how to apply and what it can offer to students looking to start or continue their education.
On Sunday, March 29 a new website was launched for all Broward College (BC) students.
“The new website will be easier for students to navigate and reduce the number of pages,” said Karen Peruzzi, assistant director of Web Support SVC of Information Technology at BC. The site, which has been in the redesigning process for two years now, was developed by five separate tech people from Information Technology.
Students were confused by navigation of the old website and this new site will be clearer for students to find things, said Peruzzi. Surveys were held at student events and open houses where students, faculty and parents were asked to look at the previous site and find what they didn’t like about it. “We found that it took longer for students to find links to certain pages they wanted to access,” said Peruzzi.
After researching student’s needs the redesigning process began. More color and a modern style were created for an eye appealing website, said Peruzzi. The new website is now more helpful to students and is connecting all campuses. It has many new options for current, transfer and future students making it more student-centric, it’s all about what they need and want, said Peruzzi.
The Career Center, Student Success and Campus Life are the new main navigation tools on the site. A dropdown search, a turning calendar, and having access to changing the announcements is all new to the homepage.
“I had just gotten used to how the website operated and now it’s changed making me have to learn how to use it all over again,” said Psychology major Alexandria Meyer.
After the website was redesigned, it was presented to Broward College Leadership for approval and later was launched.
Also a “maps page” has been added with a link to Google Maps that shows all of the campuses. Information about local transportation that is provided at BC is also available on the same page.
“Pages will all have certain links to them and the pages will be condensed,” said Peruzzi.
A tutoring page was added for all campuses and also a Child Care page for students who have children, providing information about the program for each campus. Page resizing and bookmarks are now on each page link; email is still set up the same next to student log in.
“I like how the new homepage has the BC Seahawks emblem, it makes it a more personal website and gives off the vibe of a more friendly school,” Amanda Ortega, Communications major said.
Students are able to voice their opinion on what they don’t like and what they would like to see on the homepage. “Surveys are there on the rotating announcements and on the Contact Us page, we want feedback to make sure the students like what is happening,” said Peruzzi.
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