This blog is about News University's site redesign. We want to share our new design ideas and the new features being planned for the world's leading e-learning site for journalism and media training for professionals, educators, students and the public. Please join us in this exciting reinvention process.
Learn more about the project Learn more about News University
Jan 22 2010
Posted by hfinberg
We made a big step yesterday. At 5:30 p.m., Eastern Time, we made the first of two technology changes to the new site and technology platform for Poynter's News University project: We turned off the registration system on the old site and are now signing up folks only on the new platform.
After 133,804 users, our final sign-up on the platform was a student from the journalism school at the University of Minnesota. Go Gophers.
Jan 4 2010
Posted by hfinberg
It will happen this month. A new e-learning site will be born.
We just aren't sure as to which day will mark this milestone. We are that close with the launch of the new News University site.
Here's what we know right now: The basic structure of the site is finished. We are tweaking some of the courses. [OK, we are tweak a few courses and doing some major remodeling for others.] We testing various new features, including the improved Course Report functionality.
We are also getting ready to launch several new courses. More on that later.
Oct 26 2009
Posted by hfinberg
Yes, we are STILL very quiet about the new NewsU site. It isn't that we haven't had much to say. We have. However, taken out of context, our posts wouldn't made much sense to folks outside the project.
So, what have we been doing since the item I wrote about "Now the fun begins"? [See below.]
Beyond the conference calls -- lots of them -- and the lists of things to do, our developers [http://www.atendesign.com] and the NewsU Crew have been working on three major aspects of the project:
Aug 5 2009
Posted by hfinberg
On our new site Course listings page we'll have many ways to find courses. This new page, on the new site, will replace our LEAST favorite page -- that long, long listing of course titles. Four years ago, it didn't matter. We didn't have that many courses. Today, it is just overwhelming.
We'll be adding a search box, just for courses [Yea!]. And we'll have a site search function as well.
However, one of the design/functionality features that has us excited involves "browsing."
Aug 4 2009
Posted by hfinberg
We have been quiet lately. Too quiet. But there's not much to post on this blog when much of the technical work won't matter to most folks. So long as it works.
However, we are about to make some important decisions. We are looking at design mockups and starting to get into the redesign weeds.
Jun 11 2009
Posted by hfinberg
Today's call with our developers produced an "ahh" moment: Where should course content reside within the Drupal framework? Should courses launch in their own window so we don't need to deal with frames, etc.? Could that be confusing? Would we need a different navigation.
On the positive side: Courses could have a "wide open" look and feel.
On the negative side: Consistency, user experience, navigation.
It is a challenge when you move to a new site: how much do you twist what you have done [in the past] to what you can do [in the future, with the new system]?
We have signed off on the basic wireframe concepts. I probably not going to post wireframes. Too many "assumptions" built in to the look that aren't really the look/UI of the new site.
Jun 1 2009
Posted by hfinberg
We have some early results in how NewsU users rank the various ways to find courses in our upcoming new design.
We asked folks, via a three-question survey, to rank these methods of finding training:
May 19 2009
Posted by hfinberg
The crew at Poynter’s News University is about to embark on our most important project since we launched four years ago: redesign of the site. However, this isn’t just about a new look – although we really need a face-lift. This is about re-imagining how best to serve our audience. How can we make NewsU more useful to our more than 100,000 registered users in more than 200 countries?
That’s why we are launching this blog. We want you to know what we are doing and why. Our hope is that you’ll add your thoughts, comments and ideas. We’ll keep you posted on our progress and, at certain points, ask for feedback and suggestions.
To get started, here are some of the specifics. We are working with a Denver-based company called Aten Design Group. The new site will be based on Drupal, an open-source content management system.
Why Drupal? Many of the functionalities we need are part of the collection of modules already created by the Drupal community. That saves us time and money.
May 19 2009
Posted by caseyf
Online training, no matter how effective or engrossing, isn't much use if you can't find what you're looking for. That's why we're spending a lot of time thinking about the best ways to help you, our users, get to our courses. We want to make it easy and intuitive to browse and find the courses that matter most to you.
May 19 2009
Posted by justin2pin
Last Friday we had a handful of volunteers in the Aten Design Group office performing card-sorting tests for the NewsU redesign. Card-sorting is a user-led design exercise that provides insight into how users expect to see content categorized. We use card-sorting as an early step in the redesign process to assist in the creation of consistent, site-wide navigation. From here, we establish an information architecture for the Web site, produce wireframes and plunge ahead into technical implementation and visual design.