Park University’s Web page is in the middle of a transition. Numerous pieces of the page have been reworked while old pages, content and systems have been left in place.
The clash between the archaic remnants of the old park.edu and its new graphic-heavy layout have led many students to experience bad links and broken content. Together, they have caused the page to become harder to navigate compared to the previous version, according
to students.
Amid these frustrations, Patrick Baxter, Park University’s web manager, has been working to solve the problems.
Baxter came to work at Park in 2011 with the charge of pushing Park’s Web page into a modern direction, a daunting task to be sure. At the time, the park.edu domain consisted of over 30,000 different pages linked together without structure.
Worse still, according to Baxter, information across the site was not consistent from one page to the next.
“I did a review of the Website at the time and found a lot of conflicting information,” he said. “On one section, say admission requirements, there would be information and it was not the same as other pages concerning admissions. We’ve been consolidating
information to make sure it has integrity.”
This consolidation is far from over though and has led to a number
of other issues across the page. A number of students have claimed that bad links now plague the search engine and web page while others have found information a lot harder to find.
Jacquelynn Harris, sophomore, has experienced a number of these issues.
“It’s disorganized,” she said, “It took me forever to find the online class page. I wasn’t where it was before.”
Alice Brimer, junior, expressed the same discomfort when discussing the new page.
“It was tricky to find things,” she said. “I needed to change my address and it took me two days to find the form. I do like it more than the old page though.
It looks more professional.”
Corbie Krogman, junior, concurred with the new look.
“I think it looks more professional, though it’s more geared to prospective students than current ones,” he said.
According to Baxter, a number of these changes were made as a direct response to security concerns while others are due to the page’s unfinished roll-out.
“The main page is designed for the general public,” he said. “The general public knows you can change your major. It doesn’t need to see that information, that system to do so.
“With that information public, hackers could send 50,000 forms for a change of major to Park,” he said. “Current students will find a lot more in depth information on MyPark.”
According to Baxter, a number of other problems students are facing comes from the fact that the Web page is not completed yet.
“We are working with a phased release,” he said. “It was decided to have the student support systems and admissions in the first release phase which rolled out June 3.
“We are now finishing up the second phase which includes academic programs, departments, and schooling. After that we will work on the third phase which will be athletics and other departments. The whole thing will take until June 30 of next year at the latest,” Baxter said.
Many links across park.edu are currently not working due to this phased rollout and will be cleaned up and removed as each additional phase is released.
In the meantime, Baxter has placed his emphasis on communication in order to ease the transition.
“Our office is always interested in things that students want to see more of. If you have an issue with Park’s Web page,” he said.
To contact Baxter with your thoughts or concerns about the university’s website, email him at [email protected]
