NEW WEBSITE NOT USER-FRIENDLY
As we all know, the school website was updated Columbus Day weekend. And as we all know, it was updated very poorly, and with no announcement.
Yes, there may have been something posted on the website itself, but nobody bothers to read the home page.
Why wasn’t there an email sent out? Or a student announcement posted? Those are regularly checked by students, and would have made the update process a little smoother.
The website itself if full of problems and glitches, and the layout is not very user-friendly.
One big bump they are still dealing with is the search function. My go to is always the search function. If I can’t find something right away, I search it. Yet every single search query I have tried has resulted in nothing found, whereas on the old site finding things were much easier, because results actually came up.
Many students’ complaints lied in finding their email. Having the quick links drop down was a lot easier to use. Now, students are just opening one tab after another before they reach their emails.
Another big problem I had was finding the library page. I needed to get onto the databases this weekend and spent 20 minutes digging through the site just to find the library page, whereas on the old site it had been located right along the top, no digging required.
And what about the academic catalog? With class registration for Spring semester beginning to appear on our minds, it would be nice to be able to look up what classes we should take next and what the descriptions of the courses are. Where did that go? I still can’t find it, despite the countless times I’ve tried to look. I almost wonder if they simply got rid of it.
Beyond all this, there is the problem of dead links. Students have complained of trying to click on a link and it coming up to yet another page not found. Most of the time a website will have problems like dead links taken care of before the site is put out to the public – our institution didn’t seem to think of this.
And adding to that, why is it that some pages require a login, and then come up with a page not found. My question is, why require a login at all if it isn’t for the obvious email or infobear?
All in all, this whole new layout for the website was a great idea in theory, but in practice it completely failed. Nice try, Bridgewater State.
Kayla Lemay is a Comment staff writer. Email her at klemay@student.bridgew.edu or follow her on Twitter @klemay123.
Well you must not read the student announcements because they did actually send out a student announcement. It was in the October 11th e-mail. Yeah that was the day before the long weekend started, when they changed the website. https://services.bridgew.edu/studentannounce/messView.cfm?id=13529
You can find the catalog at http://catalog.bridgew.edu/. Ironically, the BSU logo is missing because it’s pointing to the old site. They didn’t even update the catalog for the new site!
I was going to say the same thing as the comment above. It was in student announcements on the 11th. I like the new website, and find it easy to use. The My BSU tab at the very top quickly brings up the student portal for email, info bear, library, etc. The site looks new and clean. Sorry but I have to disagree with you on this one.
Hello! I think you are right about no e-mail being sent out… I tried to find one in my e-mail and could not. However several Student Announcements were sent out:
9-17-12: BSU Introduces Two New Websites. 3-12-13: Extranet, Intranet & Virtual Commons Roadshow info forums announced. Reminder for forums were sent on 3-18-13. Another reminder was posted on 4-3-13 for a session happening the next day. On 4-9-13 IT’s Tuesday’s Tips & Tricks topic was “Accessing the New BSU Intranet.” On 4-23-13 another Roadshow forum reminder was posted. On 10-7-13 IT posted “Intranet Log in from Off-campus” info. And then finally the official transition was announced on 10-10-13.
How can we ensure students are reading Student Announcements? SGA is in the midst of a communication conversation… we are looking for ways that students will actually read or hear about issues and changes. Is it social media? Print? Student Announcements? E-mail? Personal conversations? Ads in The Comment? RCC Blog? A combo of all the above? If anyone has any suggestions please e-mail Student Government Association at sgaoffice@bridgew.edu.