Course Requirements

For this first assignment, you need to visit the college or university whose number you drew in the lottery to find the answers to the questions the class devised. You need to seek information for all the questions for all three audiences: current students, prospective students, and alumi. Begin the search for each answer at the college's home page. Remember that the site might not have the answers but don't give up searching until you're sure it doesn't.

As you seek the answers, you need to take a screen capture for each step along the way. Make sure you rename your screen captures in a systematic way as you go so that when you are finished you know what sequence each picture belongs to. As part of this assignment, you need to create a web page for each information task, annotating the screen shots so that the viewer of your pages will be able to follow your trail and your thinking. This part of the assigment will form material for your analysis of the site.

After you have completed your information-seeking tasks, return to the home page and study the layout and the labeling system. Ask yourself how well or how poorly the navigation and labels support each task.

You are to write an anaylsis of your college or university's web site, taking into account the trails you have created and annotated. The analysis needs to consider the structure of the site, its labels, and its appropriateness for each of the audiences and tasks you investigated.

Your trails and your analysis should form a comprehensible and easily navigable Web space. Place your files in your directory on CROW and make sure you have an index.html page that links to your assignment in an obvious and unambiguous way. On a piece of paper, hand in an account of the naming system you used to collect your screen captures.

• Current Students: Imagine that you are an undergraduate in your sophomore year and that you have more or less decided to major in U.S. history. The fall term has not quite begun but you already need to plan for next semester.
  1. When is the registration period for the next semester?
  2. What are the requirements for a history major and who is teaching one of the core requirements that you will need to take in the Spring?
  3. What general education or core requirements are there for this college -- besides those for the major in history you are considering.
  
  
• Prospective Students: Imagine that you are seeking a residential college that offers a range of degrees in the humanities and social sciences. You're not yet sure what you want to major in but you're pretty certain it won't be math or the sciences.
  1. Where do students attending this college live after their freshman year?
  2. What kinds of extra-curricular activities are available (including intramural sports teams and clubs)?
  3. How much will tuition and fees cost for the first year?
  
  
• Alumni: Imagine that you graduated from your college 10 to 15 years ago. The college regularly contacts you seeking to update its information about you and also, by the way, asking you to help support your alma mater.
  1. Can you use your college's Web site to update or enter information about your current situation (address, job, life circumstances)?
  2. Does the site offer career support for you?
  3. Can you use the site to locate buddies you've lost touch with?

1. Adrian College http://www.adrian.edu/ [Colleen Masny]
   
2. Albany State http://www.asurams.edu/ [Tammy Seidick]
   
3. Alfred University http://www.alfred.edu [Ray Nosko]
   
4. Alverno College http://www.alverno.edu/ [Mindy McGowan]
   
5. Antioch http://www.antioch-college.edu/ [Eric Jensen]
   
6. Bay State College http://www.baystate.edu/ [Felicia Douglas]
   
7. Coppin State University http://www.coppin.edu/ [Minnie shorter]
   
8. Frostburg State University http://www.frostburg.edu/ [Alysen Espersen]
   
9. Loyola College http://www.loyola.edu/ [Joie Hill]
   
10. Morgan State University http://www.morgan.edu/ [Ursula Goldman]
    
11. Mountain State University http://www.cwv.edu/ [Lynn Seah]
    
12. New Jersey City University http://www.njcu.edu/
    
13. Norfolk State University http://www.nsu.edu/ [Joan Blazucki]
    
14. St. Mary's College http://www.smcm.edu/ [Lisa Maynor]
    
15. Salisbury University http://www.ssu.edu/ [Jared Glasser]
    
16. University of Maryland Eastern Shore http://www.umes.edu/ [Leah De Freitas]
    
17. Villa Julie http://www.vjc.edu/ [Lonnie Lanham]
    
18. Western Maryland College http://www.wmdc.edu/ [Debbie Sydnor]
    

Week Links