Hiring students for making web page updates

It is very common for departments to hire students to make web page updates for their areas – and we support that! We recommend that if you are hiring a student worker/technician/intern for this purpose that you consult Web Services before making the hire.

• We can help you determine how much workforce you need to work on your website(s) – do you need one or two students, or do we have office resources we can provide to you as well?
• We can offer advice on what qualities to look for in a student for this type of position. They should be technologically proficient and have good grammar skills, among other things.
• We will be required to train the student to use Cascade Server (our content management system) for updating your pages before they receive access to the system, and your student may need ongoing training as well.

If you can involve us at the beginning of the process, we will do what we can to advise you along the way. Thanks so much!

-Daphne

Sharing Your Story

I had the privilege of sitting in on the taping of our most recent Faculty Unscripted video with Dr. Joanna Shaw.  While I found the technical nature of videography to be interesting, Dr. Shaw's stories of family ties to Tarleton, her passion for students, and classroom interactions, really captured my attention.  Maybe it was the dark room or her kind voice, either way I was taken.  I found her stories to be authentic and full of detail.

Dr. Shaw has a real passion for her students and it shows.  Students are her favorite part of the job "because I meet students I would have never ran across at any other path in my life". She strives to make a connection with students by asking questions like, "What is best thing that's happened to you since we last met", prompting students to share their own stories.

As I reflect on Dr. Shaw's video, I am reminded of an article I read in Entrepreneur Magazine called "Why Leaders Are Great Storytellers".  This article, while lengthy, talks about the fact that stories do not need to be complex to be effective, nor do you have to have some great power to tell a story.  It is all about helping others connect.  If someone can see the impact and the emotion in your story, they are more likely to connect.  As Dr. Shaw says, "these are the things that make us as humans unique".  So I would encourage you all to share your stories, and share what makes you unique.  Better yet, share your story and connection to our University because you are what makes Tarleton unique!

Are you willing to make a connection?
Do you have a story to tell?

We are always looking for story tellers and would love to hear yours!

-Morgan

We're making new web page designs!

Web Services is currently working on developing new template designs for all of Tarleton's subpages, including departments, organizations, and faculty pages.

The responsive re-design project (a.k.a. Project Squishy) is well underway, and as you probably know we have implemented a responsive design on Tarleton's homepage. Responsive means that the elements of a webpage shift and reorganize depending on the size of your screen, making an optimal viewing experience for all devices, including desktop, tablet, and mobile.

We are currently testing some web page template designs to get user feedback. If you want to help us test them, just visit our survey and answer the questions. It will only take 4-5 minutes to complete at the most, and you will be providing valuable feedback about the project. We will close the survey at 5pm on May 23rd.

https://b7333158.optimalworkshop.com/chalkmark/subpagesurvey1

We thank you so much for your help! 

-Daphne

Tarleton's Online Calendar

FACT: Tarleton's students frequently visit the university's online calendar, however, what they are looking for is typically not there. (Web Services focus group studies, August 2013)

We know that students are looking for event information on our online calendar, however the calendar is not being populated as much as it could be. It's easy to do and you don't even need to login. If you aren't familiar with the current system, check out the following:

Web Services recently implemented a new online calendar system at calendar.tarleton.edu. The new system has lots of beneficial features:

• A wide range of event categories
• More social media sharing, category subscribe feature, and a "save to personal calendar" option
• Featured event slideshow at the top of the main calendar page
• Easy way to add photos to your events
• Can add to "feature on Tarleton homepage" category (pending Web Services approval)
• Easily auto-feed calendar categories to your department/organization webpage
• "Submit Events" button that does not require a login for easy adding! 

To get to the "Submit Events" link, just visit calendar.tarleton.edu and find the link on the right-side under the slideshow. It will take you to an easy online form that just takes a minute to fill out. Once your event is submitted a Web Services employee will review and post your event within one business day (typically within an hour or two of you submitting on a workday.)

Above: "Submit Events" link on the calendar page

We highly recommend that you utilize the online calendar as an additional way to publicize your events. With the calendar being visible on Tarleton's homepage as well as on prominent subpages, you can't go wrong! Let us know if you have any questions!

-Daphne

Celebrating our students, and an announcement!

Today we had our end-of-semester party and the awarding of the "Student Employee of the Semester." We celebrated by having a fajita party and just hanging out together. I think we all had a nice, relaxing lunch before the #tsufinalsfrenzy begins this evening!

The winner of the award for the spring semester is Jennifer Kiggins. Jennifer has been an excellent intern for us in so many ways. She is professional, considerate, and creative, always tackling her work with dedication and a smile.  Jennifer is a natural leader and is an encouragement to her co-workers through her example. Jennifer will be continuing her internship with us this fall and we look forward to seeing much more of her work within the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

Morgan, Jennifer, and Daphne

We have so many valuable student interns/technicians and I honestly don't know how this office would function without them. We appreciate each and every one of them.

Top: Karole, Mariah, Dylon, Josh, Ernie.
Bottom: Mariah, Jennifer, Tori, Daphne, Morgan

We are looking forward to spending the summer working on the new responsive website roll-out and focusing on the college/department websites. We are finishing up the subpage template designs this month and they should be ready for use in June.

Lastly, I would like to announce that we are creating campus community courses for web accessibility, creating accessible emails, how to market your department, and advanced Cascade Server. We should be able to begin offering some of these courses during the next couple of months!

-Daphne and Morgan

TBT: Web Services back in time...

Five years ago and until recently Web Services had a fairly small team: myself, Karole, Ernie, and last but not least, our two student technicians at the time Morgan (Hicks) Hammond and Hannah (Harris) McDonald. We are happy to have Morgan back with us this year as our Web Content Specialist, along with six student interns and one student technician. We have come a long way since 2009!

-Daphne Hunt