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Work Assignments: Team Content Review

In December and January, we will be working in teams of two, so that we can begin to analyze content and best practices in greater depth and formulate ideas for improved content. The goal of these teams is to build a common knowledge base and to investigate the correlations and dependencies of our offices, their functions and services. Each group consists of team members from related areas.

Team work breakdown:

1. Team membesr will share with each other their office content assessment and best practice findings, and identify content dependencies and relationships.

2. As a team, you will:

• Review summaries from previous team findings to gain insight into the types of information that faculty, students, and administrators use and seek. It may be helpful to use these findings as a means to evaluate the content on your sites.
  
  
• Review all best practices summaries compiled by the group to identify sites outside of the realm of sites that you investigated individually to see if any other sites warrant review based on your expertise.
  
  
• Brainstorm on how to identify other best practices (for example, through professional societies to which you or your colleagues belong) and investigate them. One place to start is the Technology Commission of the The National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) whose list of Academic Advising Resources on the Internet includes topics like admissions, graduate school, careers, financial aid.

3. Identify the topic/function areas for which you have existing content and note your audience(s), linkages, dependencies, etc. Note also the schedule for displaying information which is not available year-round and the schedule for content updates based on deadlines and audience needs.

4. Conversely identify topics/content that is missing from your sites (note items that are currently in work, as well as, items that need to be developed)-again note your audience(s), dependencies, schedule, etc.

5. Identify your traget audiences. What special groups of students, faculty, staff, parents, prospective students, etc., do you need to reach?

6. Investigate the other offices that provide information on similar services and or that link to your sites. Determine whether or not out-of-date content is circulating the MIT net. Conducting a detailed search of the MIT homepage should help with this identification. See instructions below.

To locate sites that link to yours: Go to the MIT advanced search page (http://gloomybog.mit.edu/?&ql=a) and search for documents that "must contain" your URL "in a link" and "must not contain" your URL "in the URL". To locate sites that contain information on your office: Go to the MIT advanced search page (http://gloomybog.mit.edu/?&ql=a) and search for documents that "must contain" your office "in the body" and "must not contain" your URL "in the URL".

7. Identify content areas/topics that fall in between offices or lack ownership, so that responsibilities can be recognized and established.

8. Compile your findings in written form to be posted in the project locker and present your findings to the group, see assignments and presentation dates listed below.

9. In your write-up and presentation, please be sure to address the following additional questions:

• Do you feel that your content and best practice reviews are finished or are further investigations necessary?
• What do you know and what do you need to glean from faculty, students and or administrators?
  
  
  • What are the specific questions your team has?
  • Would you wish to conduct focus groups, surveys or interviews? All three?

Assignments

Drafted byMelissa Martin, December 6, 2001
Revised by Mary Enterline, December 12, 2001

Comments and questions to advisinginfo@mit.edu