Overview
With over 25 undergraduate majors and 50 specializations, Concordia University Irvine provides the opportunity to explore a wide variety of subjects. Knowing the importance of these academic offerings in prospective students’ decision-making process, the Office of Marketing & Communications is committed to presenting information about our undergraduate majors, minors, and pre-professional programs that is rich, accurate, and engaging.
Every year, our undergraduate academic program pages on our website receive tens of thousands of pageviews. Research from Ruffalo Noel Levitz’s 2015 E-Expectations Report indicates that information about academics tops the list of the type of content that students are most interested in finding on a college’s website, followed by cost/financial aid and admissions/enrollment.
Furthermore, the value of a college education has also become a hot topic in recent years. When asked what kind of website content best demonstrates value, prospective students most commonly responded with the following types of content: job placement stats; testimonials/quotes; grad school placement stats; program rankings; program videos; accreditation details; and faculty profiles.
Therefore, the Web Team has undertaken a redesign and content strategy that focuses on the value, outcomes, and opportunities of Concordia’s undergraduate majors – and how they uniquely prepare students for their callings. To do so, though, we are requesting collaboration with faculty members to help gather content, tell stories, and demonstrate the many benefits of each of our academic programs.
Content Gathering
Throughout the next several months, we will be contacting faculty members for feedback, suggestions, and approval as we work through all of the undergraduate majors. To assist with this process, we have put together an online form to gather information, as well as more details below for each of the content areas we would appreciate your input. After submitting the form, a member of our team will follow up with you with a first draft of content and provide an opportunity to address any other questions or comments you may have. If you have any questions in the meantime, please email us at [email protected].
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Introductory Messaging
The introductory messaging needs to effectively serve as a hook for prospective students, drawing their attention and exciting them about a chosen major. A well-crafted, concise message, it can be seen as the “elevator pitch” for why someone should consider this major at Concordia.
Some questions to consider:
- What are the strengths of this major?
- What sets it apart from other universities?
- What do you find to be the strongest sell when you are at Preview Days talking to prospective students?
Outcomes
“The heart of Concordia is people.” As such, story-telling remains a central part of our content strategy. Where general data may speak to value with numbers, percentages, and placement rates, the outcomes demonstrate the benefit of each major by pointing prospective students to examples of real people whose undergraduate academic experience equipped them for their next vocational calling(s).
Examples of what outcomes might look like:
- Alumni success stories
- List of graduate schools attended
- List of companies employing our graduates
Opportunities
In addition to content that speaks to value and outcomes, we can also demonstrate the benefits of our majors by showing the opportunities students have during their four years here. In other words, you don’t have to wait until you graduate to experience the benefits of your major – and that applies both inside and outside the classroom, on campus and off.
Examples of what opportunities might look like:
- List of companies where students have interned
- Related clubs and organizations
- Related majors, minors, and academic programs (undergraduate and graduate)
- Study abroad programs
- Academic competitions
- Off-campus / summer involvements
- May Term
- Living Learning Communities
- Scholarships
Faculty Spotlights
We will continue to make available faculty bios for every professor who teaches in our undergraduate programs. However, knowing that there is variation in the amount of information that faculty members provide, we also can highlight certain faculty members in the form of a Faculty Spotlights section. These might be faculty members who have recent accomplishments that we want to draw special attention to or a story we can tell on the website.
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