Weekly Progress Report 6/17-6/21
- What you have done?
This week was primarily spent gathering all of the materials that already exist for Ohio State Mansfield’s orientation program. I sorted the materials collected into five main categories that I plan to use as headings/pages in the final project website. The categories are
1. Academics
2. Getting Around Campus
3. New Student Resources
4. Pay Your Bill
5. What to Do on Campus
I believe these five categories align with the main goals identified by my client in our earlier meeting. Those goals included, “know deadlines and student procedures,” “know campus resources and where to find them,” and “know how much your bill is/how you will pay it.” The resources I have collected include:
1. PowerPoint slides (in PDF form)
2. Handouts, including
-bookmarks
-postcard
-tri-fold handouts
-A4 paper sized items
3. Video with audio
- What do you need to do?
This next week (6/24-6/28) I will meet with my client to review the items I have collected and determine which ones will be included in the final project website. I am open to including all of the items, time permitting, but I understand that the client may wish for the website to be more streamlined and focused on a few things rather than including everything.
- How and why you have adjusted your Project Plan?
Collecting materials took a little longer than I anticipated, due to waiting on email responses from other colleagues who needed to send me original files. Thanks to my position as a fellow employee, I had access to some of the materials directly through a shared Box folder, but others I had to pursue by contacting relevant staff individually. This was not a huge delay and has not significantly impacted my Project Plan.
Weekly Progress Report 6/24-6/28
- What you have done?
This week I had the longer meeting with my client on 6/26 to discuss the orientation resources I had collected and determine which resources are the most important to include in this initial phase of the project. As mentioned before, since I am an Ohio State employee and work closely with my client on a regular basis, I hope this product will continue to grow and develop after this semester and official project deadlines have passed. Since this is the first phase and I am operating within a relatively tight timeframe, I will limit the information included on the portal to main items needed.
During our meeting, I shared my ideas for the 5 main categories for the website: Academics, Getting Around Campus, New Student Resources, Paying Your Bill, and What to Do on Campus. After some discussion, we made a few changes to the wording of the categories to maintain consistency. The new names for the categories on the sites will be:
- Academics
- Campus Navigation
- New Student Resources
- Financial Aid
- Campus Activities
Together, my client and I reviewed the materials I had collected from staff who present or have a role in the in-person orientation event. We decided to keep several resources as-is, such as the video about course scheduling created by Academic Advising. Other materials will be revised for use on the website, such as the Career Services postcard. The content will remain the same, but it will be shared a different way on the final site.
- What do you need to do?
Now that we have collected all the current resources and selected what will be included on the website, I will now be working on uploading the content and revising the material (as needed) for online hosting. Several items will require more intensive work, such as an interactive version of our campus map. I will also be determining in the next week if we need to record videos for “site navigation/instruction” or if we will rely on text/images to guide students through the portal.
- How and why you have adjusted your Project Plan?
At this point, I am still feel like I am progressing normally under the project plan. I am on track to create the shell version of the u.osu site for the client by 7/3, as outlined in the MOU.
Weekly Progress Report 7/1-7/5
- What you have done?
This week was probably the most fun I have had on this project so far—it was time to build the site. I enjoyed manipulating the u.osu portal and determining how to organize the information. Adjusting and uploading the learning materials was a fairly streamlined process. I created an interactive campus map, which is a new resource for Ohio State Mansfield. I used H5P to create this resource, and I am grateful I was introduced to this software in an earlier MLT class.
Fortunately, I was able to use a u.osu template for the basic framework of my site, so it made the brand compliance element of this project easier. As I worked on building the site, I also frequently checked how the site would appear on a mobile device, since many of our students are doing things on their phones rather than a laptop or desktop computer.
- What do you need to do?
As of now, I have the information organized into headings/categories on the site. Each category has a landing page with text directions and information about what is in that category. The home/landing page has the same format. I was originally planning to create video/audio for these landing pages to use as navigation. At this point, I am not sure if I still want to do this. I will be checking in with my client and showing her the project as is, and take her feedback before making a final decision. I am happy with how the portal is coming together, but I think adding video might be a nice additional touch that is appropriate for our learners, mostly Gen Z students, who often prefer video to plain text.
- How and why have you adjusted your project plan?
The biggest potential adjustment to my project plan will be determined in the next week during my meeting with my client. We will decide whether or not to include video and audio on the website. If we decide to stick to the original plan and include video, I will need to move quickly and finish that portion. We have been having regularly dreary weather and rain which may make filming/photographing campus buildings and locations difficult. Otherwise, I am satisfied with how the website has developed and how it organizes the material.
Weekly Progress Report 7/8-7/12
- What you have done?
This week was the final push to complete my project before handing it off to my client on 7/15, per our agreement. This week I made final editing touches to the website and created a welcome/navigation video for the landing page. This video entailed creating visual and text as well as recording audio narration and editing everything together. I completed a final review of the site for branding consistency and grammatical corrections. I tested each page and the links within the page to make sure everything was working properly.
- What do you need to do?
In the coming week I will present the product and hand it off to my client, Dianna. I will also be presenting my project to my advisor and second reader at the end of the week which is exciting and a little nerve-wracking. I am looking forward to sharing my work and hearing feedback.
- How and why have you adjusted your project plan?
There has been one significant change to the project that has occurred over the last several weeks. Though my client is the Orientation Coordinator, she reports to the Director of Enrollment and Admissions. I was able to share the project with her and the admissions team at large and during this meeting it was determined that at this stage in the project, the client would prefer to not include overt assessments embedded in the website. Originally I had envisioned embedding several quick knowledge checks in each category. The Director made the determination that the first orientation cycle that uses this product does not need to be rigid or mandated. She expressed fear that if assessments were embedded and/or required, it may scare students off from using the resource at all. She indicated that in-person orientation has no such assessments or “quizzes.” She did agree to a second phase of the project in which I and my client could create an attitudinal survey to distribute during fall semester to students who used the portal as a way to determine if it was useful to them in adjusting to campus life. I am a little disappointed in this outcome, but I am grateful for the opportunity to continue this project in the upcoming school year as it grows and develops.
Milestone #3 Reflection
- Incorporation of any feedback (from advisor or client)
As mentioned in the prior week’s reflection, the biggest piece of feedback that I incorporated was the elimination of embedded knowledge checks in favor of an attitudinal survey to be shared in several months time after the semester has begun. I am grateful that I was able to have an open and collaborative relationship with my client throughout this process. Being able to meet regularly and talk through different ideas as the project grew was beneficial to me and to the final product.
- Documenting any revisions to deliverables
Several small revisions were made throughout the deliverables process. Since I was able to frequently connect with my client throughout the process (and significantly before the project started), I feel like I was able to plan the deliverables in a way that closely aligned with my client’s needs and priorities. Since this project was done on a relatively small scale, I am anticipating making some adjustments to the project as it is shared with other stakeholders. Like I mentioned, the biggest shift to the project (removal of embedded knowledge checks) occurred after meeting with a significant stakeholder, the Director of Enrollment at Ohio State Mansfield. Overall, I am pleased with how the project adhered to our original plan while remaining flexible to client and stakeholder needs.
- Documenting any revisions to production schedule
I was fortunately able to stick to the schedule I had outlined in the Project Plan. I think this was due largely to the fact that I had already done a lot of “pre-work” on the project since it it closely related to my job. My status as a SME also helped with my ability to appropriately plan deliverables and a project timeline.