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

Hey, Kristen. Check out Furman University in South Carolina:

Renowned for its superb faculty and beautiful campus, Furman is much more than one of the nation's top liberal arts and sciences colleges with an exceptional record of placing students in the finest graduate and professional schools.

'Renowned', 'superb', 'beautiful', 'much more', 'top', 'exceptional' and 'finest'! That's just the first *sentence* in its self-description! It goes on like that for a whole page. Of course Furman is actually a very good school, but I personally think that they could do with elegance that's a bit more understated.

And I'll tastefully refrain from pointing out that there is a university located near where Bear lives that modestly calls itself the best university in the world, then devotes a whole webpage to listing all the publications that have announced it 'best' and to all the Nobel and other prizes that it has sucked up.

There's some other university over in Europe that thinks that it is so utterly and fabulously cool that it simply hands out masters degrees to all of its bachelors graduates, without requiring any additional work. When questioned on a practice that would get any other school labled a "degree mill", they merely reply "It's our tradition". That explains that.

Touro clearly isn't in that league yet. But you can't learn to spit tobacco juice and scratch your crotch unless you spend your time in the minors.

 

Bill,

In addition to the schools you noted, there are a number of other DL institutions that declare their dominance in the world of distance learning and attempt to support their hyperbole by investing in very extravagant websites.

There is no question as to the relevance of this topic. The potential problem emanates from the fact that there are many posters who are unfamiliar with Touro or other DL educational institutions and who may inadvertently be misled by comments that reflect negatively on this school.

The accessibility and level of responsivenss of a DL school to feedback from its students regarding its website, curriculum or faculty is critical to its success. In this regard, Touro excells and stands out as one of the most responsive DL programs available.

 

Simon

The topic is TUI and its web page. Kristin is clearly knowledge both about distance learning and specificly internet web design. No one has said theat TUI is a substandard school but for those with limited information (ie TUI's website) it may appear to be.

I assumed Eli was less than happy about the critizism because of his close involvement with and employment by TUI. I am unsure why you seem so upset.

Again lets focus on the issue and not assume things that are not in the post and likely not the case.

 

I don't think that TUI's website is nearly as bad as it's being portrayed. Sure, it could be better, and there are some relatively minor design issues, but it's still very usable and much, much better than many other schools' DL sites. The most important information is easy to find, and that's more than I can say for some sites that superficially look great and consistently adhere to "proper" design guidelines, while burying crucial information so deeply that it takes enormous effort to find it, or just not including it at all. I could do without the tacky flashing colored bubbles at the top of the page, but I guess it accomplishes their apparent goal of making sure that everyone is aware of their upcoming move. Referring to themselves as "The Leading Internet University" is probably stretching it, but that sort of exaggeration is so commonly used in marketing that it seems odd to get ruffled over it.

 

Now Simon:

Since you guys abhor any form of criticism, I will sing my praise of TUI.
1.Touro is the best DL institution in the world!!!.
2. It has the best and most usable web site.
3. It is the Harvard of DL.
4. Kristin was totally wrong. She shouldn't have criticized TUI's website.
Are you happy now?

 

Touro I U web-site / new thread

Hello, everyone.

There appears to be some debate or contretemps about TUI's GUI.

I start the doctorate in business, in June.

I support Kristin's observations.. as my initial interest in Touro was almost derailed, because the site just 'looked bad'. As someone who works in post-secondary education already, I can assure you that our web-site's appearance and functionality is of primary concern.

It is because of the positive reports on this board, about TUI's customer service and the program itself, that I chose to over-look the unattractive web-site and do more digging into the guts rather than be deflected by the poor appearance.

It is reassuring, according to the posts, that TUI will soon be doing some re-hab work on their site - it is certainly needed.

For one thing, the cut and paste job of course details for the PhD Bus Admin, are poorly done. There are obvious pieces that have been re-written, so that you end up with the redundant details and mis-leading details. The following 'cut and paste' that I just did, has been there since I first looked at the site, almost six months ago. A simple line-edit would have found the errors:

_____________________
BUS 608 Research Issues in Business Communications (4 credits)

Students will explore the basic issues and applications in contemporary business communications with special emphasis on the role of communications in the contemporary organization. Then, under the direction of the professor, students will explore the current academic research in business communications.

ECM 602 Studies in E-Commerce Marketing (4 credits)

Students will explore the basic issues and application in e-commerce marketing with special emphasis of marketing in a global environment. Then, under the direction of the professor, students will explore the current academic research in e-commerce marketing.


BUS 608 Research in Business Communications (4 credits)

Students will explore the basic issues and applications in business communication. Then, under the direction of the professor, students will explore the current academic research in e-commerce management.
___________________

Now, don't start attacking me about this. But it is poor presentation to repeat the BUS 608 details, two listings down, and then have them conflict! I recall other mistakes, but am not going to cut them out for you.

Now.. .the positive part. I enrolled a few months back, and decided to over-look the site, as TUI was growing so quickly. In other words, 'the benefit of a doubt' approach.

BUT... they almost lost a student because of this poor attention to detail. Yes, terrific sites can be used to mask poor programs, but a web-site replaces many glossy brochures, these days. I don't even have a colour brochure of TUI. So, a critique of the site is not a minor issue, when marketing is a critical portal to success.

With thanks

Michael, in Vancouver, Canada

 

I haven't commented on Kristen's remarks up until now, mainly because I can't undertand them. When she talks tech about webdesign, it's like our theologians writing in Koine Greek. Pure gibberish!

Nevertheless, I think she's right. The TUI website is lame. Sorry, but it *is*.

While I don't have a clue about designing webpages, I know what I like. My taste is simply impeccable, mainly because if anyone disagrees with me, that proves that they have no taste.

One thing I hate are *arty animated intros*:

http://ryokan.edu

That made me fall off my chair!

What happened to the plain old Joe Friday "Nothing but the facts, Ma'am" pages? Now you have to hunt for "site-maps" that are better hidden than CIA files. Things didn't used to be this way...

If you are gonna have lots of graphics, at least make them look good:

http://www.aucm.org

A page this classy makes me sure that their Ph.D.s in Ayurvedic Medicine are top notch!

 

Touro's Website

A couple of months ago when I started looking for a DL MBA Program I looked at Touro's homepage. It did not appear to be a "real" school, (I now know the correct term is Degree Mill) based on my initial reaction I did not go any further.

It was not until joining degree info, that I found out more information about Touro and decided to take another look. Up until that point I had decided to enroll in the DL MBA program at Amberton.

All this to say, yes the homepage is unattrative, but that is only part of the big picture. Touro seems to have a great program. It is just a matter of taking a second look.

 

Re: Question about Touro website

The following website has lots of information regarding graduating from Touro.

http://graduate.tourou.edu/2002/index.htm

 

Thanks Kristin, Bill, Michael, Ike and 9Chris. Until your posts I was convinced that I had no grasp of reality and was only bring up issues that "everyone" had decided didn't exist. It is clear that one poster needs to turn their focus inward and avoid labeling the perceptions of others. Obviously the solution for me is to never address that person's posts directly since they are unable to handle basic communication. Again thanks for your posts.

 

Dave,

My prayers have been answered. I was hoping that you would cease responding to my posts because quite frankly I have found your feedback to be intrusive, tangential and incongruent with the subjects being discussed.

Thank you,

Simon

 

I seem to have joined a group of the best and brightest posters here including Kristin, Tom and others. I would like to thank all the people who made this moment possible

 

I wish whoever wrote that would write my performance reviews!

"SSG Gies is the most superb soldier in the entire Army; he is so much more than a professional and is one of the top NCOs in the known universe..."


Oh, I wondered why every Touro sylabus included at least a few hours of crotch scratching and tobacco spitting

Tracy<><

 

Response: Oh brother, is this what is meant by sychophancy!

 

Kristin Evenson wrote:

Hirst 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?)

Response:
Well, for one they are the only 100% non-residential RA school in the country. So I think its fair to say that they seem to be the leading DL university as far as non-residential RA school goes.
Just my thought.

-Alejandro

 

Michaelmail wrote:

I support Kristin's observations.. as my initial interest in Touro was almost derailed, because the site just 'looked bad'. As someone who works in post-secondary education already, I can assure you that our web-site's appearance and functionality is of primary concern.

My response:
As a possible future TUI student, I agree with you.

But another thing that bothered me about TUI: if Touro College has a decent web-site and so does Touro University College of Osteopathy (tucom.edu), then why not TUI?
A web-site sould represent a school's professionalism and quality education. Althouth TUI's website is useful, it continues to look bland.

Either way I'm glad that TUI has responded to our demands, and I'm glad to hear that there continues to be good word-of-mouth regarding the quality of their programs.
I mean, check out their new graduation website!
-Alejandro

 

So I readily admit that I haven't been to their website in a long time. I'm quite ambivalent about them as a school. (Note the lack of an agenda!).

While I'm sure the school provides a quality education (as vouched for by the various students that have wandered through here), the website is rather amateurish. I could see why someone would pass the school by based solely on the website.

It's good to hear that they will be creating a new website soon. They need it.


Tom Nixon