ITS Research Conducted for New Website Design

Informational Technology Services (ITS) redesigned its website for fall semester 2021 based on the results of a faculty/student campus-wide survey conducted from October through December of 2020. The survey’s goal was to discover the campus’s perception of the old website and uncover its weaknesses. The old ITS website was developed five years ago to be ITS user-friendly, but now the site is designed to be user-friendly for New Paltz faculty, staff, and students. Changes for a more streamlined website began to be implemented in the summer of 2021 and are still being incorporated.

A group from ITS reviewed the survey data in spring 2021 and suggested numerous changes to improve the website. Representatives from all internal areas of ITS divisions worked together to make changes to the website. The top ten user forms were placed on the main page along with the most important links. In addition, forms were consolidated to make them more user-friendly. For example, if a user input information into one form and another form was then needed, the system would take them to the next appropriate form. Originally, there were more than 109 forms on the website. Now the website contains only 88 forms, and ITS is continuing to consolidate or eliminate forms that are no longer needed.

ITS plans to continue improving the website as suggestions and issues arise. Below is a photo showing the old website on the left compared to the new user-friendly website on the right.