Higher education institutions have faced major upheaval ever since the Covid pandemic and the move to digitalization, with many of them needing to completely overhaul their digital experiences in order to cater to the shifting habits and expectations of prospective students.
In this series of articles, we’ll explore this need for revamping & streamlining the digital experiences of higher education institutions:
Part 1 will focus on the key components of top-notch digital experiences for higher education institutions;
Part 2 will provide recommendations & resources for delivering these experiences, focusing on breaking down a few platforms which are a particularly good fit for higher education & e-learning.
The shifting habits of people in general and prospective students in particular require a different approach to how HigherEd tailor their websites and overall digital experiences to cater to the new ideologies and habits of younger generations such as generation Z. The key components of a HigherEd digital experience thus fall into two main categories: user experience and communication/messaging.
1. Good, user friendly UX
There are four key elements when it comes to the user experience of a higher ed institution’s website.
Accessibility
It is essential that education be accessible to everyone, and in the case of education institutions, this equally applies to both the institution’s physical facilities as well as its digital experience.
With digital technology becoming more and more prominent in society, digital accessibility has become the norm rather than a nice-to-have, with legal regulations and repercussions for failing to follow them. This is also reflected in the philosophy of the Open Web, based on the core idea that the digital is for everyone.
Good performance & smooth journey
Performance is one of the most important features of online experiences, with people quickly abandoning slow-loading websites or ones with issues such as significant layout shifts. The key considerations here are fast loading pages, logical organization and functioning forms.
Essentially, there shouldn’t be any blockers or obstacles to do things and access the information needed, meaning no redundant/complicated processes to accomplish basic tasks such as applying for exams, handing in papers or checking grades.
User-friendly navigation
Poor navigation is a very common issue on universities’ and other higher ed institutions’ websites. Depending on the size and abundance of curricula, it can be very difficult for students to easily find what they are looking for. Navigation thus needs to be optimized for both existing and prospective students.
Mobile-first/responsive design
Mobile-first and responsive design is another aspect that is becoming the norm, and it is even more important for younger generations which predominantly use their mobile phones over other devices.
2. Good, student-focused communication
These are some of the main considerations for effective messaging and communication for HighterEd digital experiences.
Student-focused marketing & messaging
A common problem with marketing and content production is the difficulty in adopting the intended recipient’s perspective and hence failing to address their challenges and needs.
The same holds true for messaging and marketing in higher education; make sure your communication is focused around prospective students and the information they most typically look for.
Additionally, since younger generations tend to be digital natives, they are used to more thought out and engaging digital content rather than exclusively basic written content. Use diverse formats such as videos to appeal to students in a world where attention spans are much shorter than they used to be.
Timely & transparent communication
All communication needs to be on a high level, timely and transparent. Key information such as tuition fees, curricula and teachers’ contact information needs to be clearly communicated and easily accessible.
It’s also important to have a good information architecture with a robust infrastructure that enables customizations such as separate websites for specific departments.
Lean, straightforward pages
When communicating, how you say something is typically just as important as what you say. You need to account for people’s reading and scrolling habits, and structure your pages in a way that allows easy intake of key information, without bloat or redundancies.
In conclusion
Just like pretty much every sector, higher education has needed to keep up with digital transformation and technology’s impact on people’s habits. What’s unique about HigherEd is that its target audience are predominantly the younger generations, currently most typically the digital native generation Z, and so HigherEd digital experiences need to be tailored for them.
Stay tuned for part two of this series in which we’ll take a look at practical tips and tactics for producing great HigherEd experiences, as well as a few examples of widely used platforms that can best provide the required features.
