Although the school year is coming to an end, the school
district's website is just taking off. Now appearing at www3.cpsd.us is a
new and improved Cambridge Public School website. The district's first
website was launched many years ago, and continued to grow
exponentially. With the widespread growth of Cambridge Public Schools
has come the increased importance of having an informative, up-to-date
website.
INITIAL STEPS
In order to begin the process of redesigning the District web site,
research was conducted to determine the needs and wants of the
community, teachers, parents, and students. A user survey was created
where more then 500 participants provided feedback and new ideas on
functionality and information for the new district web site. Taking all
of the information, ideas, and recommendations, CPS staff determined the
goals for the new web site and began the web development process.
THE NEW WEB SITE
CPS's
new website is focused on the user's experience, making retrieving
information easier, faster and in a way that was more efficient than
through the old website. The addition of a search function helps viewers
find what they are looking for at a click of a button.
This
design consists of a simple layout for easy organization for lots of
information, flash animation to accentuate the wonderful work happening
across the district, as well as great applications such as calendars and
news stories that make the website a true asset to the school system,
its employees, as well as the students and parents. Within the new
website are sections devoted exclusively to students, parents, and staff
—all of which makes it easy to find information right away.
NEXT STEPS
This is just the start of the district-wide redesign process. The next
phase will involve redesigning all of the school web sites in order to
improve them and make them a valuable resource for all. The new site is
also built and hosted on the same platform as the District’s new “Youth
and Resource Development System” (YARDs). As both YARDs and the
Districts web sites continue to evolve the integration points between
external information delivery and internal staff, student and parent
portals will become more transparent.
The overall goal is to create a seamless online experience for all
stakeholders with ease of access to information, communication,
collaboration and all online tools to support the mission of Cambridge
Public Schools.
A special thanks to all user survey participants and to the testing groups for their hard work and valuable insight.