Colleges and universities do not exist to create websites. Crazy, right? But true. However, our schools’ digital presences have become vital assets that allow our schools to accomplish what they do exist to do: to recruit, retain, and educate our students; to create knowledge through
By 2020, more than $117 billion will be spent on digital and mobile advertising in the U.S. In the first half of 2018, brands spent more than $13.1 billion. And as college bound populations shrink, shift and are out priced by some in-state rates, I
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Communicators, developers, marketers, and other creatives looking for an opportunity to warm up their winter with a little professional development are in luck. HighEdWeb Southeast is a month away. The community will gather on March 1 in Hartsville, South Carolina, for the one-day conference at
University websites don’t just wish for, but depend on increased capital for an assorted list of expectations: boost the university brand, look stunning yet be user friendly, and make editing faster and easier. Choosing a CMS: Open Source vs. Proprietary Software In choosing a web
“Facebook is dead!” How many times have you read that? In tech blogs, in industry blogs or even (cue the irony) on Facebook? Breaking (or not) news: Melissa Mae Cheater, digital content manager from Western University, has found that Facebook is alive and still very
Mike Powers wants you to use your imagination. “Picture this,” he started his best-of-track session titled “If They Would Just Listen to Us.” “The phone rings in a busy office. The person answers. A professor is on the line. He has a picture of his
“You find something in your life that interests you, and then you pursue it.” -Sir Ken Robinson Ken didn’t think he would ever find himself in education. He began his closing keynote by asking the audience, “how many of you wished that you’d have a career
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It’s perhaps an apt metaphor that one of our favorite stops during the recent HighEdWeb Conference in Sacramento (aka #heweb18) was the nightly mermaid shows at a place called Dive Bar. Because, in a way, higher ed communicators find themselves in the mermaid’s dilemma. The folk tale that
Presented by Scott Olivieri. Session details. Presentation slides. “This session will be uncomfortable, but we have to talk about it,” Scott Olivieri said as a preface to his HighEdWeb 2018 presentation. Titled “Diversity on Higher Education Websites,” Olivieri examined ways institutions try—and many times fail—to portray
Presented by Kendra Saldana Kendra Saldana said that when Cornell University noticed fewer young alumni (the previous ten graduating classes) were giving to their alma mater, she knew they had try something new. She just wasn’t sure what. Kendra and her office ran focus groups,
Presented by Erin Supinka, assistant director of digital engagement at Dartmouth College Erin Supinka is a big believer in context. “Without context, we can’t understand the full story,” she said during her session HighEdWeb in Sacramento. “Context helps us understand everything else.” What followed in
Liz Gross and Andrew Cassel entered the session room tossing out vital organs to audience members. This distribution of hearts and brains set the stage for a presentation about the tug of war we often face between our feelings and “the numbers.” Each speaker played
Presented by Melissa Dix and Bonnie Willison A few years ago, Beloit made a big mistake. A 30,000-person email-wide mistake. 30,000 high school sophomores and juniors received an email with the dreaded salutation, Dear {first name}. Twitter blew up with students pointing at the glaring error.
Presented by Amanda Frisbee How do you dream? For many of us, it’s visual or audio. For Amanda Frisbee’s deaf and hard-of-hearing colleagues, “It’s more telepathic. Things just sort of come to us.” English is a second language for many people in the Deaf community,
Presented by Nikki Massaro Kauffman Web developers, designers, and content creators focus a lot on user experience, or UX. It impacts everyone who visits our websites. But one audience we don’t spend much time and energy on is the gaggle of content contributors we rely
Presented by Lougan Bishop As higher ed professionals, we’re often called upon to wear many hats…all at the same time. And it can be overwhelming! Five years ago, to take on some of these tasks, Lougan started a volunteer student team to help with social media.
Presented by Erika Forsack from Virginia Commonwealth University. Many of us know that web content has laws and regulations regarding accessibility. Social media does not. There are no officially adopted guidelines, and people can’t edit the code on social media to meet accessibility needs like
Presented by Mitch Canter He was dressed for the part. A self-proclaimed nerd, Mitch Canter’s presentation ensemble was topped off with a Nintendo-controller hat. A perfect way to set the mood for a session on gamification. Mitch opened up talking about his interest (obsession?) with
Presented by Lisa Catto “Future you is gonna be hella pissed at past you if you DON’T make the time to prepare for an eventual emergency.” -Lisa Catto There’s been an explosion on your campus! Students, staff or faculty may be hurt (or worse). First
Presented by Amy Grace Wells, editorial director of UX Booth, and Alaina Wiens, director of marketing at the Flint & Genessee Chamber of Commerce One of the presentations kicking off the HighEdWeb 2018 conference was “Sorry Not Sorry: Managing Content Strategy Challenges in Decentralized Environments.”
Every curling match begins with handshakes and teams telling each other “good curling.” Every curling match ends that way. These bookends set the tone for a sport that is high on sportsmanship and, according to Jesse Lavery, assistant vice president of college relations and digital
Presented by Chris Seek, web and digital design manager at the Office of the University Controller at the University of Colorado Chris Seek sees a lot of numbers in any given day. His challenge, he explained during a HighEdWeb session titled “Your Data Doesn’t Need
Presented by Jon McBride Sexual assault is a topic that is becoming a larger and larger part of the online conversation, both on college campuses and off. Jon acknowledged that this Instagram story has given him the opportunity to learn more about sexual assault, even re-titling his