University Relations officials are collaborating with the Office of Admissions to conduct focus groups at local high schools to improve college, departmental and program websites.

This initiative comes after continued research demonstrating the growing importance of a healthy web presence in higher education.

Nearly 80 percent of college-bound high school students say that a campus website affects their perception of an institution, according to the 2015 E-Expectations report from Ruffalo Noel Levitz, OmniUpdate, College Week Live and NRCCUA.

"In the web industry we have long understood that the success of a website is largely dependent on its ability to service the needs of the site visitor," said Chris Nixon, director of digital design and development at University Relations. "By performing this research we get better visibility into the needs and behaviors of our respective audiences giving us an opportunity to affect change that both meets the business objectives of the site owner and falls in line with user expectations thus improving the user experience and strengthening the digital brand of the university."

So, in May 2016, Chadwick Woodard, content strategist at University Relations and a University of Arkansas alumnus, started the research service initiative to conduct focus groups and work to improve the user's experience of U of A websites.

"Having grown up in Northwest Arkansas, it's extremely important to me that we not only reach out to in-state students, but also listen to diverse perspectives to ensure we deliver an inclusive web presence at this wonderful land-grant institution," Woodard said.

Woodard grew up in Springdale and earned his B.A. in journalism in 2013 and his M.Ed. in higher education in 2015 at the University of Arkansas.

"We understand that we have many programs and departments and they want to improve their web presence, but many can't afford to bring in a third party, that would charge thousands of dollars, to conduct this research," Woodard said. "This is a wonderful opportunity for us to work with our talented staff and faculty in those programs and departments that might not have this research without this initiative, or, at the very least, save them money so they can focus on other important areas."

Woodard and Kelly Bostick, training and support specialist at University Relations, have conducted six focus groups since May 2016. This includes working with a wide range of areas at the University of Arkansas including University Housing, the Arkansas Water Research Center and the Graduate School and International Education.

"The focus group feedback has been insightful for our unit and will be helpful in guiding the further development and improvement of our web pages," said Amanda Cantu, director of communications for the Graduate School and International Education.

Now, the University of Arkansas has the opportunity to gain new and important insight directly from prospective students in the state of Arkansas.

"We are working to improve student success rates by working with local high schools so that we create a valuable user experience before they step foot on campus to when they receive their diploma," Bostick said.

Kelly Bostick is an alumnae from Arkansas Tech University where she received a B.A. in journalism in 2002 and an M.S. in college student personnel in 2008.

"We had a lot of excitement when we started conducting focus groups. So much so, that we are actually booked solid until the fall," Woodard said. "We would love to offer more, but, at the moment, we are able to offer one focus group a month."

The focus group reports include:

• Consultation to access web presence needs
• Insight from prospective students, current students including international and graduate, faculty and staff
• Executive Summary with recommendations
• Detailed Findings which includes a transcription with video time-stamps
• Results in 3-4 weeks

The focus groups are free to all University of Arkansas departments and offices. University Relations currently have focus groups for University of Arkansas websites scheduled well into 2018. If you would like to schedule a focus group for your website, send an email to webfirst@uark.edu.