Ava Fonss, Editor-in-Chief
@afonsscourant
In January, the district announced the launch of a new mobile application, which is now available for download on the Apple App store and Google Play store, designed to improve mobile connectivity and accessibility. This launch comes just a few months after the release of an updated and consolidated district website. Over the last few months, students, parents, and other members of the school community have become increasingly acquainted with the technology and its new features.
The revamped website includes several changes to design, navigation, and content. “Our old website had been the same for many years, so we wanted to take the opportunity to both modernize and improve it,” NCPS Webmaster Michelle Schneider said. “We aimed to make the design of our new website more user-friendly, intuitive, and aesthetically pleasing.”
Modernization was also an important factor in the decision to create an NCPS mobile application. “People are using their phones more than ever, so having an app allows people to access our school information in a convenient manner,” Ms. Schneider said. “The app also reflects real-time updates we conduct on the website, which will allow for greater visibility of the activities and events we host across all of our schools.”
The process of planning, creating, and piloting the new website took approximately five months and began in July of 2022. “We worked extensively with our developers to mold the templated design of the website into our own platform,” Ms. Schneider said. “We also connected with board members, principals, curriculum leaders, and other important community members to determine which elements, both old and new, should be incorporated onto the new website.”
According to Ms. Schneider, a team of approximately ten people—including software developers and NCPS representatives focused on digital learning and technology—were involved in the creation of the app and website. “It was a collaborative effort between myself, our software developers, and our digital learning and technology administrators,” Ms. Schneider said. “We started by explaining what we wanted to accomplish and then began to determine our design.”
During the design process, navigability and ease of use were important factors. “We knew that everyone wants to easily find what they’re looking for, and began to focus on two main goals: improving the organization and layout of everything and enhancing the functionality of our search bar,” Ms. Schneider said. “Some changes we made to make the website more user-friendly included organizing the menus into smaller sections, combining pages with similar information, updating and reviewing materials based on our most recent educational practices, and updating the search bar to pull more relevant results.”
The development process of the mobile application occurred alongside the creation of the new website, and data collected from users of the website allowed the design team to determine which pages and features were most essential for the app. “To create the app, we broke down information by school level and added quick links to our most frequented information based on the analytics we gathered from our website traffic,” Ms. Schneider said. “From this, we continued to modify the app’s content, layout, and functionality until it was ready for launch.”
Another important factor during the design process was implementing features to allow members of the school community to stay more up-to-date with news and events. “With our app, district and school-specific information can be accessed easily while on the go, allowing users to stay updated in the moment,” Ms. Schneider said. “Users can quickly see upcoming events at both the district and school-specific levels, as well as articles from the newest events across our schools.”
One challenge that the design team faced while developing the new technology was determining the relevance of different information. “We became aware of the sheer amount of information stored on our old website, and understood that a new organizational system needed to be implemented if we wanted to keep everything on file,” Ms. Schneider said. “Much of the transferred data had been from many years ago, and we still wanted to make it easy to find relevant and up-to-date information.”
Counseling Department Chair Cynthia Rivera collaborated with Ms. Schneider to design the new counseling page on the website. “We’ve been working with our webmaster to reorganize the content on our page and make sure that the website meets our needs,” Ms. Rivera said. “The counseling page has to be accessible for families and other outside sources in addition to students, so making our page easier to navigate is something that was important to us.”
According to Ms. Rivera, the content available on the counseling page of the website rem ains largely the same, but the structure and availability of that content has changed. “The important information that people need to access most often is now front and center,” she said. “For example, seniors who are filling out their college applications in the fall need to fill out and access certain forms, so we put that on the front page to begin with. We’ve also made course selection easier to find.”
Senior Alexa Banford has found the new website both more aesthetically-pleasing and easy to navigate. “Although the change was slightly inconvenient when the website was first launched, I’ve become accustomed to the new website over time, and I’ve noticed that it’s much easier to find the information I need,” she said. “As I went through the college application process, it was especially helpful to have the forms and information I needed readily accessible.”
One feature now available on the NCPS website is the ability to translate the content of the website into different languages. “Learning about different cultures is an essential part of the district’s curriculum and we understand that English may not always be the primary language used in every household,” Ms. Schneider said. “Having a wide range of available languages on our website improves accessibility and allows us to connect with a significantly larger part of our community.”
According to Ms. Schneider, feedback received from the first users of the website allowed the design team to improve the user experience. “Our early testers appreciated the website’s new, aesthetic design but wanted easier navigation options,” she said. “Because of this, we opted to add additional drop-down menus for each school, giving quick access to pages, links, and other documents that people use the most. We’re always looking to improve our website and app and encourage feedback from all users.”
Going forward, Ms. Schneider hopes to continue building on the features of the website and app. “We are currently in the process of designing a notification feature on our new app that would allow parents to sign up for reminders for school events hosted by our different parent-teacher committees (PTCs),” she said. “We hope this will strengthen the bridge between our district and our different PTC organizations to keep our community informed and get students of every grade level involved.”
