Many World Campus students — who live all over the world — may never have a chance to visit a Penn State campus in person, yet they still want to feel a part of the Penn State family and understand what it means to be a Penn Stater. They may not ever step foot in their adviser's office to see the pictures of family and friends on their walls, but they still want to feel a personal connection to this person, who will be their most constant contact as they work toward their academic goals. We created the Lion Lounge, an area of the World Campus website for current students, to help students feel that connection to World Campus and Penn State. It’s also a place that lets them find information in a user-friendly, engaging way. We conducted a comprehensive content audit and usability testing to ensure that students could easily find information they need. The result was an overwhelming success, based on students’ positive feedback. The site features: •The Backpack, a list of essential links on every page on the site. •A system to post general or technical-related alerts, allowing us to notify students about important events. •A sleek landing page that incorporates alerts, RSS feeds from a student blog and online communities, and a banner-style image that changes each time the page is loaded. •Graduate/undergraduate content that can be filtered at the click of a button. •Engaging bios of many student-facing staff, including advisers and technical support members. •Other helpful sections of the site including “Your Courses: A How-to Guide” and “Paying for Your Education.” •A mobile-friendly version of the site, which includes ways to sync with the World Campus calendar or view in web browser. We continue to develop the site and are incorporating more features to enhance this student-centered site. Experience Level: Beginner - Assumes no prior knowledge of topic. Prerequisite Knowledge: none. Skills/Knowledge Gained:
understanding of World Campus student audience, example of how we tailored content specifically to meet the needs for our audience, example of how we're building an online community via a website
