Staff Writer- August von Seth

Formed in early February this year, the Internal Web Working Group is a nine-member committee spanning various departments and roles on campus. According to its official charge effectuated on March 9th, key functions encompass the functioning of the MyGustavus platform, a breakout website that was launched in tandem with the new gustavus.edu page that went live in mid-August last year. They include determining its main purposes and audiences, resolving technical considerations, and offering long-term recommendations as to who should administer and update the site, which bears similarities to an intranet. Another stipulation asks the group to “solicit and evaluate feedback from campus constituencies (i.e., students, faculty, staff).”

Following discussions about the digital experience on campus, one of the two professors who are members of the Internal Web Working Group, Senior Continuing Assistant Physics Professor Dr. Darsa Donelan shared with The Gustavian Weekly a bullet point list of examples of faculty reportedly struggling with “the new site,” in reference to last year’s digital transition from the former college website. The “faculty-provided” list of 14 scenarios expressed frustration with various tasks such as fact- and person-finding, ordering course materials, and replacing work laptops.

“Most concerns are about how the system works and how easy it is to find information. Faculty often need quick access to details about advising, courses, policies, and campus processes. Even though this information is available, it is not always easy to find or presented in a consistent way,” Donelan wrote.

Donelan highlighted that the complaints are highly specific, having been compiled directly from faculty in conversation and other informal channels.

“The email was meant to collect common concerns in a clear and useful way. Rather than just saying ‘it is hard to find things,’ we wanted to point out specific tasks that show where the system does not support faculty workflows well,” Donelan wrote.

 In a February 10th post on the committee’s online forum, gustavus.edu/webproject, Gustavus Technology Services presented a phased approach to their work, in total numbering four and spanning over several months. Taken as a whole, they outline a shift from gathering feedback and cleaning up content to rebuilding the internal site and maintaining it through ongoing evaluation. Chairing the Internal Web Working Group is Senior Director of Service Operations at Gustavus Technology Services, Brianne Twaddle.

That same month, the committee rolled out a “campus search card” feature to MyGustavus, allowing users to access “both old and new website content.” The forum post, which dates February 11th, contains language that promises a more user-friendly experience when searching for online resources.

“The Marketing and Communications team owns the Gustavus website. That’s primarily all the resources you see at gustavus.edu. When you Google search something, gustavus.edu should come up. And that’s prospective‑student‑focused. It’s got a lot of that content there. What this group that Brianne and I are part of is trying to lift is more like a collection of internal tools and places to have content that current faculty, staff, and students can update and provide for just the internal audience,” Assistant Chief Technology Officer Paul Hanson said.

“I think it might help to understand that previously, or historically, gustavus.edu has been all‑encompassing. It’s been a resource for prospective students and internal community members alike, and that has now shifted. Now that gustavus.edu is owned and managed by the Marketing and Communications team, it is more strictly a tool for our prospective audience. And so our job as the internal web working group is to make sure that we have resources for the internal audience. There’s some gray area there, but it might help to understand that sort of shift to a split environment,” Twaddle said.

Twaddle emphasized that the groups she chairs lack responsibility for the external site, gustavus.edu.

“We really are not a group that focuses on gustavus.edu. So while some of those frustrations, like the ones listed here, might inform some of the work we’re trying to do with our internal ecosystem, if they’re looking to specifically improve or provide feedback on gustavus.edu, that is not our purview,” Twaddle said.

The eleventh point in Donelan’s e-mail reads “Find the instructions for how to set up and operate a Moodle grade book.”

“And the items that you have here highlighted—find instructions on how to set up and operate a Moodle gradebook—that should really be in Moodle, right? That resource should be on a faculty resources Moodle page, and I would be surprised that that isn’t actually there,” Hanson said.

In a written statement, Donelan rebutted that the problem is not the existence of required information, but rather the degree to which it is easily accessible.

“Some of these resources might already be in Moodle or somewhere else. The problem is not that the information does not exist, but that it is hard to find or access regularly. If faculty do not know where to look or cannot find something quickly, it is almost the same as not having access to it. This shows that the bigger issue is how things are organized and how easy they are to find, not just the content itself,” Donelan wrote.

They also dismiss the assertion that certain faculty concerns may be outside the scope of the Internal Web Working Group.

“It makes sense to separate responsibilities from an organizational view. But for users, faculty see these systems as connected. If something is hard to find, it does not feel like a problem with just one site. It just feels like the information is not available. So even if responsibilities are divided internally, the user experience should still feel seamless,” Donelan wrote.

At the same time, Twaddle does not preclude the possibility of following up on the complaints listed in the e-mail.

“These fourteen points—I think that they are valid in the sense that if finding this information doesn’t make sense at gustavus.edu, then it will be built into the internal web environment that we’re working to build here,” Twaddle said.

“I think this is a reasonable and helpful approach. The internal system (gac.edu) should support these tasks. Still, there is a gap that faculty are dealing with right now. Even small improvements in the short term could make a real difference. For the timeline, I would prefer steady, ongoing improvements instead of waiting for one big update,” Donelan wrote.

Personally, Donelan has struggled with finding relevant information within a reasonable amount of time across the external and internal sites.

“The dashboard has links, but it takes extra effort to navigate them when I need something right away. I usually end up finding what I need eventually,” Donelan wrote. “I believe these concerns can be solved, but it will probably take ongoing changes instead of just one fix. The important thing is to keep gathering feedback and make changes that focus on how faculty actually use the system. Even small changes to navigation, clarity, and organization could make a big difference soon.”

Twaddle later commented in writing on the list of concerns.

“My reflection on the attached list of feedback is that it highlights the need to create an internally focused, community centered space where resource access can be centralized in a searchable and accessible format. The internal web working group is working to make informed recommendations about the best way to support and connect our Gustavus community, harnessing the power of a strong internally focused digital ecosystem,” Twaddle wrote.

This week, the Internal Web Working Group convened to discuss the “internally-focused web ecosystem,” publicly announcing plans to decouple the two internet domains gustavus.edu and gac.edu, which today both lead users to the same, external website. Focused on the technical requirements for such a change, the expressed goal of the meeting was to “better ensure campus needs” while ensuring that it “continue[s] to function as the College’s primary public gateway for engaging external audiences.”

In a written statement, Chief Marketing Officer at the Marketing and Communication Department Lea Wong acknowledged that the target audience of the external website is prospective students, a deliberate move to “align with industry best practices”—a venture which she described as “successful.”

“Since launch, we have continued to optimize the website with new content and features. We see gustavus.edu as a living and breathing platform that will continue to evolve to best showcase the excellence of our community and demonstrate our value,” Wong wrote.

“Of course we support all employees being able to successfully navigate their jobs with campus resources. We are pleased that GTS is leading continued enhancements to MyGustavus and internal focused content. There is an advisory group, that includes faculty, that is helping to elevate the platform and add efficiencies. Together, we are confident that our new web and digital tools will better meet future needs for our campus community and beyond,” Wong wrote.

Those interested in following the work of the Internal Web Working Group are encouraged to monitor the feed at https://gustavus.edu/webproject for updates.