Transitioning websites can be a tricky and unsuccessful task for any organization, but Wayne State College successfully completed the job.
The new and improved Wayne State College website, wsc.edu, boasts an impressive variety of links. Each page features links to different areas of the site, allowing for easy navigation of everything WSC has to offer.
The new design is attractive, easy to navigate and makes use of WSC colors without overdoing the yellow–something I wish I could say about the old website.
The new webpage immediately greets us with a smiling face and the header “A smart choice” dominating the screen. We are early on introduced to the first theme WSC presents, a “high-quality education at an affordable price.”
Within the same header, a link is provided to explore WSC. This link largely appeals to potential WSC students and parents, with information about majors and minors, costs and aid, life on campus and scheduling a visit.
Following the schedule a visit link, the title, “Your home away from home” pops up. WSC also makes the claim that our “great housing, dining, activities, and support services make Wayne feel like home.” No comment.
The link to student housing brings up a caption stating, “Welcome home,” again reiterating the theme of WSC as a homey campus.
Scrolling down the home page reveals links with on-theme titles such as, “A welcoming environment,” which features alumni president of student senate, Carter Ossian, speaking about his experience at WSC.
The link below guides us to more student stories. More titles, such as, “I Found My Home at Wayne State,” and “Wayne State is Family” continue the theme of WSC being a welcoming and close-knit campus.
I believe part of the new design aims to ease parents’ concerns. Among the student testimonies of their positive experiences at WSC, a link titled “Wildcat Parents” pops up. This testimony is not from students, but from the parents of a WSC student. The parents explain their experience dropping a child off and credit WSC organizations and staff for calming their nerves.
My favorite part of the new website is the “Young Alumni Spotlights” section. Four stories of WSC alumni who are onto the next step in their careers are shown. These individuals even share advice to us Wildcats just starting our careers.
The first row of important links features seven categories, including myWSC, resources, alumni and friends, news, events, campus map and directory. The search bar follows these quick links, contrasting against the white links and allowing the search bar to be easily spotted. As a Wildcat, I am pleased myWSC is listed first, providing easy access for WSC students to log in.
Below the seven links stretched across the top, six more resources are listed in a slightly larger font. The first link, “Academics,” lists resources for undergraduate, graduate and non-degree programs. The second, “Cost & Aid,” provides access to financial aid, scholarships and a tuition cost calculator. The third, “Admissions,” provides application and transfer links. The fourth, “Campus Life,” lists links to housing, dining, recreation and campus safety. The fifth, “Athletics,” features links to club, intramural and collegiate sports, as well as the athletics calendar. The sixth, “About WSC,” features quick links such as accreditation, and service and outreach.
The myWSC link brings up an also updated version. Here, the dashboard presents Canvas courses and upcoming tasks. Student organizations such as CatPAC and drama club are listed as groups which students can join to follow updates, allowing for easier and more accessible ways to get involved in campus groups.
My favorite addition to myWSC is, hands-down, the directory. Here, you can locate contact information for any faculty member, including professors, deans, counselors and coaches. In addition to emails and phone numbers, the department, building and office number of each faculty member is listed.
The tedious task of hunting down faculty for a Wayne Stater interview has been resolved. The directory provides every piece of information you need to locate faculty in a simple and concise manner.
The myWSC page also gives students the opportunity to provide feedback on new and potential features under the forms tab. A “bug report” form inquires what technological issues users have experienced with updates. A “feature request” asks users what features we would like added to the myWSC page. These forms reveal that WSC knows the updated sites are not perfect yet but are still hoping to improve through feedback.
If you have an issue with the updated myWSC page, fill out these forms. Now is the time to bring any technological bugs interfering with your education to the attention of WSC.
