Live Case – Project
Make Recommendations for Improving a School District’s Website
A Collaboration Between
The Ashton-Franklin Center (AFC) School District recently established a new website and mobile app with Apptegy, a digital marketing firm that provides schools digital platforms for branding, marketing, and communicating to/with stakeholder groups. The school is now looking for ways to improve on their website’s usability and user experience, ensure that the content meets the needs of users, and provide timely and accurate information for greater transparency and legal compliance.
Peer website comparative analysis and benchmarking exercise.
Research on best practices for school website and app design.
User profiles and user stories.
Accounting of legal requirements for school website content, features, etc.
Gather, curate content such as policy manuals, board activity reports, and other documents that should be integrated (in whole or in part) to the website content.
Create a calendar for maintaining website to ensure the content is fresh, up-to-date, relevant, and compliant.
Set of actionable recommendations and prototype materials that can be implemented by the designers/developers at Apptegy and used by the school district to maintain the website.
Project Topics
Marketing
Company Information
| Company | Ashton-Franklin Center CUSD #275 |
| HQ | Ashton, Illinois |
| Revenue | N/A |
| Employees | Unlisted |
| Stage | Small Business |
| Hiring Potential | N/A |
| Website | https://www.afcschools.net/ |
Company Overview
N/A
Experiential Learning Program Details
| School | Northern Illinois University (NIU) |
| Engagement Format | Live Case - Think "Hackathon" or Case Competition with a whole class of students! This learning format allows educators to deliver experiential learning to students at scale. Students are often split into groups to work on a live case (or a series of cases) from a real host company that directly relates to key learning objectives. |
| Course | Business in Action, Summer 2022 (Collum) – AFC School District |
| Level |
|
| Students Enrolled | 40 |
| Meeting Day & Time | Mon & Wed 6:00-8:40 p.m. |
| Student Time Commitment | 4-7 Hours Per Week |
| Company Time Commitment | 1 Hour |
| Duration | 7.57 Weeks |
Program Timeline
| Touchpoints & Assignments | Due Date | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Company & Projects Reveal
Company & Projects Reveal |
June 15th, 2022 | Event na | |
|
Teams Announced/Team Charters
Teams Announced/Team Charters |
June 27th, 2022 | Event na | |
|
Project Launch
Project Launch |
June 29th, 2022 | Event na | |
|
Visit with AFC School District Representative
Visit with AFC School District Representative |
June 29th, 2022 | Event na | |
|
Deliverable 1 Presentations
Deliverable 1 Presentations
|
July 11th, 2022 | Submission Required submission-required | |
|
Deliverable 2 Presentations
Deliverable 2 Presentations
|
July 20th, 2022 | Submission Required submission-required | |
|
Visit with AFC School District Representative
Visit with AFC School District Representative |
July 25th, 2022 | Event na | |
|
Deliverable 3 Final Presentation & Paper
Deliverable 3 Final Presentation & Paper
|
August 1st, 2022 | Submission Required submission-required |
Key Project Milestones
-
June 10, 2022 - Define the challenge, target audience and users, use cases
- What defines the school district (SD)? How would you describe the school district’s brand? What are the key brand standards?
- What population does the SD serve?
- What real-world challenge, problem or initiative is the SD aiming to solve or pursue through this project? What does a successful project look like?
- What is the purpose of the website? How should it support the schools mission, vision, values, and operations?
- What constraints and requirements should/must the website meet/fulfill?
- Learn about the website users:
- Who comes to the SD’s website? Can you develop personas based upon the type of user?
- What information are they seeking, what problems do they need to solve?
- How will they use the information provided on the website?
- How would they like to get this information, and when do they need it?
- What mental frameworks and models do they apply to understand the information?
- What do they want to get out of interacting with the website? What do they consider to be a successful experience?
- How does delivering the information visitors are seeking help the school meet its goals and objectives?
Suggested Deliverable:
Personas and Use Cases; stories of how individual persona will perform tasks on the school district’s website
-
July 20, 2022 - Conduct Website SWOT Analysis
- Conduct research and consulting subject matter experts to determine the elements and qualities that will be examined for the SWOT analysis. For instance, internal elements include (but not limited to) web design and frequency of maintenance; external factors include stakeholder demands, legal and regulatory requirements, peer school websites, changes in technology).
- In addition to the personas and user stories you’ve created, what information is available on the website and its performance? For instance, are there Google Analytics data available for the last 2-3 months? Is there a website maintenance checklist?
- Create a table and process for identifying, documenting, and categorizing how internal and external elements operate as Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats model. What does your analysis reveal about the current state of the website? Opportunities and needs for improvement? Where are the gaps in compliance?
Suggested Deliverable:
Website SWOT Analysis Report
-
August 1, 2022 - Make Recommendations for Website Development
Revisit the findings from the SWOT analysis and feedback from the school representatives.
- What recommendations do you have for improving website usability and content?
- How should these recommendations be prioritized, and why? Can you provide a step-by-step plan, or set of strategies and tactics, for carrying out these recommendations?
- What messages, content, documents, etc. should be integrated into the website, and how?
- What do you suggest for a website maintenance plan? What are the key roles to perform and resources needed? What are your suggestions for a maintenance schedule, one that allows the website to be accurate, informative and user friendly while minimizing disruption for users?
Suggested Deliverable:
Website Update & Maintenance Plan
Project Resources
There are no resources currently available
Industry Mentors
Academic Mentors
Assigned Students
There are currently no students assigned.