Betty Kusnierz, Academic Affairs,
Weber State University (WSU), 1004 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-1004
(801) 626-7124
bkusnierz@weber.edu

Overview

Most educational institutions include a course catalog as part of their Web site, albeit as more of an afterthought or add-on rather than as a key focus of their Web strategy. The relatively low effort put into the development and maintenance of an on-line catalog is in contradiction to the critical role the printed catalog publication plays at most colleges and universities. While an on-line catalog does not eliminate the need for a printed counterpart, a good on-line catalog is nonetheless a wonderful and indispensable tool for students, academic advisors, faculty and staff. Creating a useful on-line catalog does not need to be technically complicated or time consuming and can be done in partnership with students and faculty. This paper demonstrates how this can be done successfully and uses as a model the development of an on-line catalog for Weber State University in Ogden, UT.

History

The on-line catalog at WSU evolved through trial and error. Like many educational institutions across the country, WSU at first opted for using PDF files to provide catalog information on the Web. This proved to be cumbersome for those trying the access the catalog information, especially when attempting to download the PDF files over a slow connection. After numerous complaints, a catalog committee undertook the task of identifying the key aspects students, academic advisors and faculty wanted in an on-line catalog. The committee, along with the help of students in a technical editing class at WSU, spent six months reviewing on-line catalogs at other colleges and universities and talking to students, faculty and staff to gain a good understanding of what was desired in an on-line catalog. The overwhelming message was that an on-line catalog should be a clean, not "glitzy," straightforward HTML format that is hyperlinked, segmented so that each section downloads quickly, and organized so that the user never loses their place or has to back out of a long trail of followed hyperlinks.

Based on the results of the catalog committee study, WSU developed a successful on-line catalog that is popular with both current and prospective students, academic advisors and faculty. Some of the feedback about the on-line catalog includes: "Your system is very user friendly, thanks." "I like the way the catalog is organized. We use it here in the Academic Advising Center, and it's wonderful to navigate-very easy for students, and that's a big plus." "I am very impressed with the layout of the catalog and the user-friendly links to helpful information. I am a student at another university and their web site doesn't compare to how helpful and informative yours is." "Thank you for not clogging up valuable space with pretty pictures which are of little value when trying to get facts."

Design

Sample Screen Capture from WSU On-Line Catalog

The solution to a segmented, hyperlinked, organized and straightforward HTML format is to use a frames format, which is easily accomplished by using a program such as FrontPage. While, in many instances, the use of frames is not favorable, for an on-line catalog it works! In particular, the use of frames allows a menu bar to be kept in place at the top, thus providing easy navigation through the catalog in addition to a quick link to a feedback form and to the home page. In addition, the use of frames allows for displaying program/major requirements in one frame while also displaying the course descriptions in another frame. That way, when a particular course is listed as a requirement for the major, the course description for that course can also be easily referenced.

This sample shows key elements of the basic catalog design and the frames page layout. This frames page consists of three frames. The frame on the top is consistent on each page in the catalog:
A bar at the top to identify Weber State University and give links to the WSU Home Page and to the WSU Web site help and search features.
The catalog year is identified (with a hyperlink back to the catalog home page).
A menu bar allows users to access course requirements in a number of ways:
a. By college - Each college page contains general information about the college along with links to departments/areas and degrees offered within the college and also a link to the college's home page.

b. By academic area/department - Each department page contains general information about the department along with links to the requirements for degrees and programs offered under that department and also a link to the department's home page.
c. By degree/program - Each degree/program is linked to a page that displays the requirements for the degree/program along with the descriptions for courses within the program.
d. By general requirements - This includes the core and general education requirements for all degrees.
In addition, the menu bar contains a link to all the course descriptions that also gives access to the on-line schedule of courses. The Search/Other option on the menu bar allows a user to search the catalog for a word or phrase and also provides links to information about admission, registration, student services, etc. Finally, on the far right of the menu bar is a link to a form for asking questions or providing feedback.

The key to the successful implementation of the frames format is to create separate frames pages for each academic department, each degree, etc. That way the hyperlinks are replacing the entire page and not just an individual frame and it is less confusing for the user. Each frames page is named with a tilde (~) and all the individual pages that make up the frames page are kept in a separate directory. The naming scheme corresponds with the course abbreviations. For example, the frames page for the sample on the previous page for the sociology bachelor degree is named ~soclgyb.htm (soclgy is the abbreviation for sociology courses and the b stands for bachelor degree). The pages contained within the frames are:

banner.htm

pages/soclgyb.htm pages/c-soclgy.htm

Likewise, the frames page for the anthropology minor is named ~anthrom.htm and consists of:

banner.htm

pages/anthrom.htm pages/c-anthro.htm

All links within the catalog to the sociology bachelor degree go to ~soclgy.htm and all links to the anthropology minor go to ~anthrom.htm. When program changes occur, the pages that are edited are pages/soclgyb.htm and pages/anthrom.htm. When course changes occur, the pages that are edited are pages/c-soclgy.htm and pages/c-anthro.htm. This organization makes it easy to maintain the catalog and is seamless to anyone viewing the catalog on the Web.

To initially convert the catalog text into HTML and save it into separate files, WSU hired three students and gave them instructions that stepped them through the process. They were able to complete the conversion within one month. By using FrontPage, because it is relatively easy to learn, the students were also able to assist with loading the files onto the Web and establishing the hyperlinks. None of these students had previous experience doing this.

Special Features

Additional features of the WSU on-line catalog that people like are:

The Welcome page for new students accessed off the catalog home page. This is the only page that is "dressed up" with graphics and provides links to catalog information and home pages for everything a new student needs to know about (e.g., admission, registration, etc.)

A comprehensive listing of all degrees and programs with links to the requirements for each one. The table format allows a prospective student to quickly see what degrees/programs are offered in their subject of interest.

The addition of PDF files as an alternative for those wanting view pages of the catalog that match the printed version of the catalog. This feature is accessed by about 10% of all catalog visitors.

Advantages

Most importantly, a well-designed on-line catalog provides easy access to the information required most often. In addition, using an on-line catalog provides consistency for the way course requirements are listed on the Web. Departments can easily put a link on their home pages to the appropriate section of the on-line catalog, and the catalog can then link back to department home pages, thus providing a cohesive integration.

A big advantage to an on-line catalog is that changes and corrections can occur mid-year. The WSU on-line catalog identifies significant changes on an errata page (found under the Search/ Other menu option).

With an on-line catalog, it is easier for departments to submit corrections and updates since they can simply go on the Web, copy the text from the on-line catalog, paste it into their word processor, edit it, and then submit the edited text to the appropriate person(s). Once more, if you use a program such as FrontPage, you can give access rights to different individuals you've trained, and they can make updates directly to the on-line catalog.

By using the on-line catalog as the primary catalog and downloading it once a year to the printed version, there is no duplication of effort. To download the catalog, all the files under the pages directory are copied onto a disk. They are then imported in the appropriate order into the desktop publishing program used to format the printed catalog. The program WSU uses is PageMaker. PageMaker has an HTML import that allows you to specify the PageMaker style to use for each HTML style. There is still some "clean up" required, but a lot of it can be eliminated by planning and coordinating the use of HTML and PageMaker styles and limiting the use of HTML tables.

The net result is that both an on-line catalog and a printed catalog can be produced with no more effort than it takes to produce just a printed catalog. For example, at WSU the process for catalog updates used to be:

Input curriculum changes once a year.
Send printouts of the catalog to each department.
Each department edits the printouts and returns them.
Corrections and changes are input and new printouts are sent to departments.
Departments proof the printouts and return.
All final changes are input, layout completed, and the catalog sent to press.

The disadvantages to this process: departments tend to wait and submit all their curriculum changes all at once, waste of paper, time consuming, many of the changes are hand written and not always legible, and requires manual input and thus a greater chance of error.

Now, however, the process is:

Corrections are made to the catalog throughout the year.
The current catalog on the Web is copied to the new-year catalog and curriculum changes for the new year are input.
Departments are notified by e-mail to check the new year catalog.
Departments review the catalog on the Web, copy and edit the text accordingly, and e-mail the changes back.
The changes are copied into the catalog on the Web for departments to review again.
Text is downloaded from the Web into PageMaker, layout completed, and the catalog sent to press.

The advantages are that curriculum changes can occur at any time, paper is saved, and the text is copied and pasted rather than retyped and so the process is much more efficient and accurate.

After several years one additional and important advantage to on-line catalogs is you can provide an easily referenced archive of catalogs for different years. WSU is not unique in that students are allowed to graduate using the requirements listed in the catalog that is in effect at the time they file for graduation, or they can use the graduation requirements listed in the catalog in effect when they first enrolled, provided they don't use a catalog more than six years old. By keeping different years of the catalog on-line, it is much easier for students and advisors to reference the appropriate catalog year.

Suggestions and Lessons Learned

It is critical to involve students and academic departments in a cooperative effort to design, create and maintain an on-line catalog. This will greatly enhance the usefulness of the catalog and allow for different tasks to be delegated. At Weber State University the responsibility for compiling and producing both the on-line and printed catalogs falls to one person, believe it or not, and represents only ten percent of that person's overall duties and responsibilities. If it were not for the assistance of academic departments and students, this could not be accomplished.

Encourage departments to link to the on-line catalog rather than duplicate the information on their Web pages. This will provide integration and also eliminate those pages with old information that someone forgot about or didn't have time to update. Some departments may prefer to link to the individual catalog pages rather than the frames pages, so it is a good idea to indicate at the bottom of each individual page the institution name and the catalog year.

Be sure to provide a clearly marked link to a feedback form that forwards the feedback to one individual responsible for routing the variety of questions that will be received. The feedback is also invaluable to determine what students are looking for most so that helpful tools can be created. For example, such feedback prompted the creation of the Guidelines for New Students page in the WSU catalog.

Test your catalog in both Netscape and Internet Explorer and at different screen resolutions. If using tables, be sure to specify the width of the table as a percent (100 percent or less) rather than a set number of pixels. This will ensure that the contents of the page will fit within the width of the frame so that a person viewing it will only need to scroll vertically and not horizontally as well.

Summary

The key to a successful on-line catalog is simplicity, organization, integration, helpfulness and teamwork. Simplify the design by keeping graphics to minimum and concentrating on providing straightforward information formatted so it is easy to read. Organize the information by section (e.g., department descriptions, degree/program requirements, course descriptions) using separate HTML files and then piecing the right combinations together with the use of frames pages, remembering to use a clear, consistent naming scheme. Integrate the catalog into the institution's Web site with easy-to-find links to the catalog from both the main and departmental home pages, and vice versa. Provide helpful pages such as guidelines for new students that group information to meet different needs. Work as a team to develop and maintain the on-line catalog as a cooperative effort among faculty, staff and students.

Since a printed catalog in many ways is considered by students to be their higher education "Bible," an on-line catalog should be no less important. A good on-line catalog does not take divine intervention, however, just a little planning.

You can view the Weber State University On-Line Catalog at http://weber.edu/catalog