Challenge:
How do you interest teens, their parents, and educators in exploring nontraditional careers – such as nursing for men or technology for women? IMA was first faced with this challenge several years ago, when they collaborated with the Nontraditional Career Resource Center (NCRC) to create the online game, “Could This Be Your Life,” taking students through an interactive journey of selecting a career and making other life choices based on NJ job data. The success of the game – which was subsequently implemented in Spanish and recreated for Illinois State University – brought NCRC back to IMA when they wanted to redesign their Web site.
Solution:
IMA learned from the outset that the site brand would be derived from their previous design work on the interactive game. The site had to comply with Rutgers University brand standards, while being fun, interactive, and built to attract a middle-school and high school audience. By selecting contemporary images of people who were successful in nontraditional careers, students could project themselves into these roles. In addition, we programmed the site with random “fast facts,” while hand-selecting “Did You Know” copy and “Related Links” so that they complemented each page.
The site was built using the Ektron content management solution, which gave NCRC staff tremendous autonomy over their changes and additions. Many of the site features – such as the Ajax popup biographies of staff members, workshop providers, and individuals who had pursued nontraditional careers – are fed using Ektron smartform technology. In addition, the site includes two blogs – one password-protected for students who have attended NCRC programs, the other public for news of interest regarding nontraditional careers – both of which are programmed using Ektron social networking capabilities
Results:
The site is vibrant, dynamic, and much easier to navigate than the previous version. It has already been honored with a silver Davey award in the Education category. NCRC staff report increased site use, which is poised to increase even more once IMA’s current eMail newsletter and SEO campaigns, now underway, are completed.
Quote:
According to Dr. Terri Boyer, Director of the Center: “The Nontraditional Career Resource Center had such a wonderful reception to our online program, “Could This Be Your Life?” designed by IMA, that we decided to use them for NCRC’s site redesign as well. After an extensive planning and client-oriented discussion, we ended up with an award-winning site that was much more attractive to our audience, and that contained the kind of social networking capabilities, such as blogs and virtual communities, that continue to draw users back to our site on a regular basis. As a virtual technical assistance center, this is critical to our ability to disseminate resources and build awareness of our programs and services. “
Visit the Web site at www.ncrc.rutgers.edu.
