TUI's home page: why still so amateurish??

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by sulla, May 25, 2002.

Loading...
  1. sulla

    sulla New Member

    TUI seems to have new good programs that are RA approved and accredited. They seem to be flexible with students and most students that I have spoken rate the school very highly.
    But just one thing: why is it that their online home page continues to look so mediocre?? Are they trying to tell us that this is their way of letting us know that they are non-profit?

    Don't get me wrong, I think Touro seems to be a good school so far (and one of the top virtual universities, as rated by USNews), and I am still considering it for my Ph.D. But with all the boasting of having the latest in distance learning technology, one would think they could come up with a more professional/attractive looking web page. Is there a good explanation for this? anyone know? Elli?

    thanks
     
  2. Tracy Gies

    Tracy Gies New Member

    I suppose that it could be a little more flashy, but I don't think I would call it amateurish. It is easy to use and provides a lot of information.

    Tracy <><
     
  3. Eli

    Eli New Member

    I agree the site is not flashy but I assure you that the course content and teaching methodology/technology is 100 times better then the site. In fact I did raise this issue to them and they are subcontracting this job to a professional web authoring company to do the re-engineering. As you know they are shifting to a new and much larger premises. According to TUI, they will look into the site issue following the shift (June 1st).

    PS: Do you have the USNews rating? Please provide URL.


    Thanks,

    Eli
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 25, 2002
  4. Homer

    Homer New Member

  5. Eli

    Eli New Member

  6. sulla

    sulla New Member

    Eli, I found Walden listed for the education graduate programs link. As for union, I have not found it yet.
     
  7. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    I believe Union doesn't offer Master's degrees.

    _____________
    John Bear, Ph.D. (Michigan State U)
    Co-author, Bears' Guide to the Best MBAs by Distance Learning
    Publisher's site: www.degree.net
     
  8. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Union is acquiring (or has already acquired) Vermont College, who at one time was part of Goddard College, then moved to Norwich University, where they were for years before moving to The Union Institute and University. Vermont College offers the master's degree by learning contract.
     
  9. Eli

    Eli New Member

    Best online Graduate degree programs

    Best online graduate degree programs

    U.S. News lists 152 online graduate degree programs in five disciplines. All programs have the stamp of approval of their regional accrediting boards, which set rigorous standards for higher education and qualify them for federal aid programs. Many have also obtained accreditation from their professional association.

    http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/elearning/directory/gradonline.htm
     
  10. There are a few things about Touro University International's website that are troublesome:

    -- They bill themselves as "The Leading Internet University"

    What's that mean? And who says? According to school websites, Rochester Institute of Technology "has distinguished itself as offering one of the premiere distance-learning programs in the nation" and American World University is "The Premier Global Institution of Higher Learning." (Does premier/premiere trump leading?)

    --For more detail, they say: "Touro University International differentiates itself from other universities and colleges currently offering courses and programs through the Internet by its commitment to quality and excellence in a fully accredited program and the use of "state-of-the-art" technology."

    Other schools aren't committed to quality? Other schools don't have accredited programs? Other schools don't have the latest tech?

    --The site has some functional problems. One example:

    Click on the accreditation button at the top, and you get a page with what look like three buttons, for Accreditation Details, Accreditation Standards, and Contact Middle States. Only the first and third work as buttons. Part of the reason for this is that they used image mapping when they could have used much simpler html tags for text links. The source on this page is really ugly.

    --There are inconsistencies in the way links work. Example:

    As you roll your mouse down the links on the left side (The University, Business Administration, etc.) sub-menus for each link pop up. You can click on the main link or roll over to a more specific topic on the sub-menu and click on that. Except for the last link, College of Education. For that one, you've got to click a specific link on the sub-menu. Want an overview? Too bad!

    -- There are many inconsistencies in organization and presentation of info for the various departments.

    --The site does look downright tacky in places. Garish colors, several different fonts used inconsistently... and those flashing lights on the home page right now -- ick.
     
  11. Steve King

    Steve King Member

    I am so glad to know that I am not the only TUI student who has concerns about the website's appearance. It's too bad, really. I think it's a great school and I've been thrilled with their MBA program but, I can't help but to be a little embarrassed by their website. I've found myself reluctant, at times, to show others the website. I'm trying to convince someone in my office, who is looking for a DL degree in Emergency Management, to check out TUI. At first he was excited about the program. Then he saw the website. Now I have to convince him that it's a "real" school offering a "real" degree.

    I have similar concerns about TUI's CourseNet (their internal coursework-submission website). I wrote TUI's technical support folks, Roy, and mentioned that the CourseNet site is a great improvement, very functional, and easy to use. The problem is the photos are just like the ones on TUI's main page. They're stock photos that seem so random and unrelated. It's just not aesthetically pleasing.

    Unfortunately, people who don't visit this website (degreeinfo.net) do not understand accreditation (regional versus "fake" self accreditation) sometimes. They look for a school name they've heard of or a website that appears professional. If it looks legitimate and has the word accredited on it somewhere they'll go for it.

    I think TUI deserves a website as good as their programs.

    Steve
     
  12. DaveHayden

    DaveHayden New Member

    TUI seems very student based and fast to make needed changes. It is likely they read this forum and may well read this thread. A question that could help them is what university web sites did you find most professional and were likely to encourage you to enroll? I found Tombstone Colleges and Troy S.U. professional but not perfect. I found COSC, TESC, EC maybe a half step behind those. TUI's did turn me off until I had heard more from their students.
     
  13. Eli

    Eli New Member

    Very true Dave. Through the years Touro always responded to students needs/remarks. The web site is on their agenda and will be addressed in due time.

    Eli
     
  14. StevenKing

    StevenKing Active Member

    Question about Touro website

    Eli,
    I got an email through Touro's internal mail indicating they were setting up a graduation web site....do you get this? Have you ever seen it come into existence yet?

    Kindly,
    Steven King
     
  15. Eli

    Eli New Member

    Re: Question about Touro website

    Yes Steven I also received the same. The president (Dr. Bernad Lander - Touro College NY) will attend the ceremony. The whole event will be broadcasted live on August 18th.

    This is the first time they hold a graduation ceremony at this scale. Let us not forget that the number of students jumped from 300 in 1999 to approx. 3000.

    Love to attend but I am committed to stay at the office during the month of August.

    Pretty well organized from what I noticed in the Graduation Ceremony's site.

    Eli
     
  16. Steve King

    Steve King Member

    Eli:
    I was told that the graduation website would be available at the end of May so, I've been expecting to see more information about it any day now. I've been toying with the idea of attending graduation but I wanted to see what the ceremony was going to be like. I live on the East Coast so, it wouldn't be a cheap trip to California.

    Dave:
    Touro was my first experience at DL so, my expectations for a university website have been based on the residential universities that I've previously attended -- George Mason University (www.gmu.edu) and George Washington University (www.gwu.edu). I think Touro College's website is much more professional looking that TUI's.

    By the way, I feel bad about all this TUI website bashing I'm doing. The technical support folks at TUI have been really, really wonderful. They helped me deal with my company's firewall and have always provided quick and effective support!

    Steve
     
  17. Eli

    Eli New Member

    Kristin,

    A website is a nice thing, but it is extraneous to the educational process. As an expert in this field I was expecting a more objective criticism then spending countless hours browsing the Touro site and taking notes of font variation and other trivial issues that you already know they are addressing on priority basis following the shift to a new location on June 1st.

    Yes, the web site was taxed due to TUIs exceptional growth. As a student (and I am sure that many TUI students agree) that the university spent great deal of effort enhancing the educational experience and technology involved which they feel it is most important to the student. They did a remarkable job in the past couple of years.

    You are entitled to your own opinion but I think you've taken a narrow path and limited yourself to trivialities discounting the big picture.

    I honestly fail to understand the purpose of your thread especially coming from you. Given the harsh attack without reason, and focus on something that is truly not a part of the educational process, it smells like you have an alternate agenda… care to share it with us?

    Thanks,
    Eli
     
  18. My "alternate agenda" is that I value useful, usable, and accessible information. Good schools should have good informational material.

    So many very bad entities refer to themselves as "premiere" or "leading" or "global" that I do have a bit of a kneejerk reaction to this sort of puffery. And puffery is what it is. I'm sure that Touro faculty and students are proud of the school with good reason -- but they don't provide reasons for anyone else to take them seriously.

    I didn't know that Touro was addressing issues such as font variation on a priority basis -- how would I have known this? I'm glad to hear it.

    Some useful resources for redesigning web pages to be more usable:
    • Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability -- recommends a tagline that summarizes what the site or company does. But rather than "leading Internet university" why not come up with a line that says something that emphasizes some specific attribute that sets it apart from other online programs? (And this could be linked to an "about Touro" page that provides more specific information for those who want it.)
    • Did Poor Usability Kill E-Commerce? -- "...improving a site's usability can substantially increase both sales and a site's odds of survival." I'd argue that improving a school site's usability can increase enrollment.

    I did not attack Touro's academics or service to students. I did make specific comments about website attributes that make it hard to use and easy to dismiss.

    I've seen many school websites improve tremendously over the past few years, and I look forward to improvements on Touro's site.
     
  19. simon

    simon New Member

     
  20. DaveHayden

    DaveHayden New Member



    Hmmm, when I read Eli's post I thought, as has been noted by another poster here, that suggesting Kristin has another agenda may be missing the point. The web site is TUI's front door to the world and having a substandard one does a disservice to TUI especially if it is as first rate as has been reported. Kristin's response to Eli was direct and to the point. So, once again I think it is a mistake to read more into a post than is actually there. I still believe that listing specifically what makes the current site less than wonderful or giving examples of great university web sites could help TUI solve the issue. I am confident that TUI will solve this as Eli suggests.
     

Share This Page