Pavillion Ballroom, 4th Floor
A web site in an academic environment is a project in constant production with stakeholders that range from front-desk staff to the Dean. How do you move gracefully across layers of leadership to redesign a college site in order to present a new and cohesive web experience to your students and the public? Learn what the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota did to make this a success. By focusing on people first, a workflow was developed that built on the existing responsibilities of staff in each unit. With roles established, a new Web site and the technology to build and maintain it quickly came together. With people working collaboratively, traditionally tricky issues such as implementing new software, political buy-in for new visual designs and setting priorities were implemented with ease. This two-part presentation starts with the college's Chief of Operations, Ryan Warren, sharing how he assessed the web functions in the college by forming a cross-college workgroup to gather information and the pulse of the college. Ryan will discuss how the college tackled such issues as web ownership, web control, and relationships between the University & college and college & academic units. A highly collaborative effort that focused on clear decisions and communications continues to guide the college’s decisions related to all college Web sites. The second part of the presentation features the college's Web and Multimedia Lead, Jeff Abuzzahab. Jeff will share how he developed trust across units to build a peer-group of web editors. Putting the core college site last, this investment in people allowed the centralized web services of the college to function in an open and collaborative way. When at last it was time to rebuild the core college site, it was done with input from every academic unit. The result? A brand new site with complete support and ownership from the college community. With over two years of success with this model, Jeff will touch on the challenges and strengths, demonstrate collaborative web tools and share plans for the future.
Jeff Abuzzahab is the Web and Multimedia Lead at the College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. A designer with a fine arts background, Jeff works in the Information Technology field where he specializes in design production. Jeff started his career at the University of Minnesota in 1995 where he has been involved with research projects and online course development. In 2007 Jeff turned his focus to administration, heading up the Web and Multimedia team for the College of Education and Human Development.
Ryan has served as the Chief of Operations in the College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota since Fall, 2006. Prior to this appointment, he worked as an administrator in the Dean’s Office at Teachers College, Columbia University where he also earned a Masters of Arts in Computing and Education. Prior to working in higher education, Ryan served as a Content Manager at Classwell Learning Group, and began his career as a high school educator following his 1998 graduation from Butler University.