After years of tweaking its website, Pierce College partnered with the district to overhaul and redesign it.
The website offers a variety of information, ranging from class schedules to financial aid assistance for students and faculty.
In the past, Pierce used to have its own Web Architect and Web Designer. Now, all web and IT positions at all nine LACCD colleges have been centralized under the District umbrella.
In addition, Pierce office chairs and department managers designate representatives in each office and department to update their pages. However, updating the website is costly, according to Pierce’s public relations manager Doreen Clay.
“There is not an unlimited number of licenses to access and update the website, as they are costly,” Clay wrote. “There are some technical challenges because our website is aging, so in those cases, the District IT Team updates sections of the web site.”
Despite these obstacles, student Madina Braish has found that the website is helpful at keeping students up to date on the college’s latest events and information.
“The website is always up to date with current events happening at Pierce and important details about the upcoming school year,” Braish said.
Although the website is updated continually, Pierce has begun researching and redesigning ways to change its appearance and layout.
Student Max Nathan has had some difficulty finding specific information on the website due to its current design.
“The website is easy to navigate, but could be better,” Nathan said. “There’s too many banners and I would make links more noticeable.”
In October of 2019, LACCD partnered with Sensis, a company that assists with performing full website redesigns for all nine LACCD colleges and the district website, according to Clay.
The project is run by the District Web Advisory Committee, composed of representatives from all LACCD Colleges, and a small team of employees who work at the District office. District Office employees Betsy Regalado and Albert Sarayan are accountable for the project’s completion.
According to Clay, the project progressed at a slower rate than expected due to COVID – 19. Since then, the project has moved through several stages of research and design. Phase 1 is complete and the website’s new design has been selected. Phase 2 is currently underway.
The District Web Advisory Committee, Sensis, and the District team meet monthly to discuss the status of the project and to make decisions.
Over the summer of 2021, the project team and committees did not meet but a project meeting to discuss status updates will be held this month.
No target completion date has been given for this project. Clay is eager to complete the project and launch a redesigned website.
“I have been championing a new website not because I am in charge of the website – I am not – but because it clearly needs to be done,” Clay wrote. “And I believe we will get there. It is just taking longer than we had hoped.”