let the students to the talking

Let the students do the talking…

Alison Wildish

Edge Hill University

Tags: case2007

- Edge Hill University - Where I’m coming from- The changing web- Yesterday: Where we were at Edge Hill- Today: Where we are- Tomorrow: Where we are going- What will the future hold? - Questions

Contents…

- Established in 1885 (Teacher Training, University College)

- University title in 2006

- Size: 8160 FTEs

- Located in Ormskirk ?!

- Substantial investment in Marketing…

Edge Hill University: In context

Me and my role

Worn all hats: Designer (marketing), then developer (techy), manager (bureaucracy !)

(Informal) hybrid role – IT Services / Corporate Marketing

Committees: Information Strategy, Marketing & Recruitment plus IT Services and Marketing Management Groups

Manage all Web Services except VLE

MarketingProspective students; Enquirers and applicants

(PR) Stakeholders

Different angles

AcademicTeaching and

Learning

IT (Services)Current students and staff

Easy access to information/services, communicate messages, support and retain

- The wider web: word of mouth (user reviews), feeds - More collaborative tools – more people have their say- The pro-am culture… everyone is an expert- Prosumer- What is a trusted source?- Informal

The changing web

Alison is…

taking a moment to

compose her thoughts…

Updated seconds ago

- Social networking (Facebook, MySpace, Bebo) 98% of EHU students

- Young people prefer use IM than email25% take up of email at EHU

- Feeds everywhere - Personalised homepages back to the portal- Blogging- No real sense of privacy / protection of identity

The changing web: trends

- Not on the (UK) radar in September 06

-3rd on Alexa stats (Above MySpace, Bebo and YouTube)

- 1000’s students already using it…

- Developerplatformavailable

The changing web: Facebook

The changing web: trends

“I want it that way”

User choice is everything, I want to choose what

I want to see and how I see it

The changing web: trends

“Everything you cando I can do better”

Everything you provide I can (usually!) get for free

“100 MB inbox?! I can get twenty times that for

free…

and it always works!”

The changing web: trends

“I will speak as I find”I can say whatever they want; anytime, anyplace, anywhere

Edge Hill University is in the middle of nowhere, has p*ss poor student nightlife and is full of arrogant d*ckheads

The changing web: trends

A Universityresponse…

The changing web: trends

Be afraid, be very afraid…

“Am I bovvered?”(Image courtesy of the Catherine Tate website : www.catherinetate.co.uk)

The changing web: trends

Embrace it!

The changing web: trends

Why do we need to worryif the experience

matches the reality?

People have bad daysPeople swear

It’s not for everyone

The changing web: trends

POSITIVESnegatives

An opportunitynot a threat!

The changing web: trends

Web 1.0

FORMAL

Managed

‘Corporate’

Prospective students, sell, prospective students,prospective students…

“Send it to us… we’ll put in online…”

“We’ll send an email out to the students”

The changing web: trends

We ‘got with theprogramme’

The changing web: trends

The changing web: trends

The changing web: trends

The changing web: trends

The changing web: trends

The changing web: trends

Where now?

They don’t use our stuff

so…

we’ll integrate with their stuff

Where we are going…

blogs.edgehill.ac.uk

The changing web: trends

The changing web: trends

(My vision of) the future…

Core student ID

Students / Prospective Students

UK Federated Access

(My vision of) the future…

The Prospective Student

Vague awareness:Posters/flyers/word of mouth > Third party websites, YouTube…

General interest:Prospectus/Corporate Website > Third party sites (real student reviews)

Serious Applicant: Prospectus request/course details/websites > Website community

(My vision of) the future…

university.ac.uk

Info from:- UCAS- TQI- NSS (monthly not annually)- Alumni reviews (graduate prospects)- General comments

whatuni.co.ukHotcourses.comPush Guide

facebook.com

(General) prospective student

edgehill.ac.uk

Info from:

- Community- Updates (subscription)

(Serious) prospective student / applicant

(My vision of) the future…

Easier to get word of mouth information

More reality

More push-pull with other sites – get in their space…

Our students are our marketing and PR

What they think, where they go, what they say is everything

The changing web: trends

Make peopletrust you!

But how?

Get out there and keep it real!

Everything I have said is gospel because I’ve

published it on my blog!

Thank you…

Any questions?

Alison Wildish

Head of Web Services

Edge Hill University

blogs.edgehill.ac.uk/webservicesTags: case2007