Community College Research
| Stats - 1 | Colorado | http://www.rrcc.cccoes.edu/ |
| Stats - 2 | Kansas | http://www.indy.cc.ks.us/ |
| Stats - 3 | Utah | http://www.uvsc.edu/ |
| Utah | http://www.dixie.edu/ | |
| Stats - 4 | Wyoming | http://www.lccc.cc.wy.us/ |
Here's is my criteria:
1. Cost 2. Organization 3. Online Registration 4. Course variety 5. Easy to Operate
This is the initial criteria that I'm using for the Community College search:
1. current catalog? 2. course descriptions? 3. disability services info? 4. cost? 5. faculty email links? 6. current schedule on-line? 7. register on-line? 8. clubs and organizations info?
I judged my sites on....
1.Their content; if the site had sufficient and easy to acsess information.
2.The layout for the site; if the layout was cool looking and fluent.
3.The navigation on the site; if they had easy acsess to everything at their college.
4.The Class Schedual; if the schedual even present and if so was it clear.
5.Registration Online; if the website offered online registration and was easy to use.
6.The library; if they had a library and was is easy to find books.
7.Book store; if the book store was easy to use.
8.Staff contacts; if the staff had links to their websites and or to their e-mail addresses
9.Pictures; if the website had pictures of several locations in and around the school or if it had sufficient amounts of pictures.
Best from Spreadsheet:http://www.cc.berkshire.org/ http://www.bhcc.mass.edu/newsite/ http://www.mbcc.mass.edu/ http://www.gcc.mass.edu/ http://www.necc.mass.edu/ Worst: http://www.masscc.org/ http://www.qcc.mass.edu/
My Criteria for selection:
first and for-most: the college must have my major (Agriculture)All the community colleges in North Carolina. I found many interesting things. One in particular, I found that community colleges up there tend to be the some price as HCC. In some cases, the colleges were cheaper.
I navigated 60 sites within 4 days. First, I would click on the address and then take a view of the web page. Most, surprisingly did not appeal to me. Some were hard to navigate, and many hard to look at. I tried to keep an open mind and stick to my criteria. Unfortunately, I changed some of it.
Top 5 Community Colleges: #1 Caldwell Community College #2 Gaston Community College #3 Vance-Granville Community College #4 Sandhills Community College #5 Western Piedmont
Caldwell was the top out of all the 60. It was very eye catching. The front cover of the web page was very enjoyable to look at. The site had easy navigation tools. FOr example, as the mouse skimmed down the page the contents would pop up.... I was definitely impressed with this web site.
Gaston was another great community college. It differs from Caldwell because the web page isn't as eye catching as Caldwells. The navigation was a breeze. The page may look boring but it has everything a future student or a present student would need.
Vance-Granville came in at number three. Though the web page may look over-crowed it has everything a student would need. Sandhills came in fourth, only because it needed a little more work. Finally, Western Piedmont came in fifth. Manily because on the web site it was a little difficult to find out about tutoring.
The bad apple of the bunch was Mayland Community College. To be honest, I have never had to click on some many icons to find one thing. Not only that, the cover was nothing put big purple print and no pictures. Extremely boring to look at. Needs a lot of work.
North Carolina Community Colleges Total Score Appearance Layout Staff Contacts College in general Easy to get around Admissions Advising/Tutoring Registration online Library online Tuition Financial Aid
http://www.alamance.cc.nc.us 50 4 5 4 6 7 9 7 3 2 3 0
http://www.abtech.edu 47 5 7 4 5 5 6 3 6 2 4 0
http://www.beaufort.cc.nc.us 59 7 6 4 6 7 5 2 9 3 3 7
http://www.bladen.cc.nc.us 51 3 3 3 7 6 9 5 9 4 2 0
http://www.blueridge.cc.nc.us 41 2 4 2 6 5 5 3 9 3 2 0
http://www.brunswick.cc.nc.us 13 2 1 2 3 2 1 2 0 0 0 0
http://www.caldwell.cc.nc.us 84 10 9 8 9 8 7 6 6 7 6 8
http://cfcc.net 30 2 1 3 4 3 2 3 4 1 2 5
http://www.carteret.cc.nc.us 27 4 3 2 4 2 1 1 2 1 2 5
http://www.cvcc.cc.nc.us 58 2 5 6 6 5 8 5 8 8 5 0
http://www.cccc.edu 16 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 3 1 0
http://www.cpcc.edu 36 1 1 2 3 1 6 2 8 2 5 5
http://www.clevelandcommunitycollege.edu 47 3 2 2 4 4 6 4 7 8 2 5
http://www.coastal.cc.nc.us 56 5 5 4 6 7 6 3 8 7 2 3
http://www.albemarle.cc.nc.us 53 4 3 8 5 5 7 7 6 3 3 2
http://www.craven.cc.nc.us 41 3 2 4 6 4 3 2 6 8 3 0
http://www.davidson.cc.nc.us 28 2 3 7 3 3 4 2 2 1 1 0
http://www.durhamtech.org 28 1 0 0 1 3 3 3 4 3 4 6
http://www.edgecombe.cc.nc.us 56 5 5 4 6 5 4 4 7 8 2 6
http://www.faytech.cc.nc.us 36 3 4 6 6 5 4 4 1 3 0 0
http://www.forsyth.tec.nc.us 52 2 3 6 7 5 5 5 8 2 4 5
http://www.gaston.cc.nc.us 83 4 7 8 8 9 8 5 9 8 9 8
http://www.technet.gtcc.cc.nc.us 19 1 2 3 4 2 2 2 1 1 1 0
http://www.hcc.cc.nc.us 51 6 6 6 6 4 4 5 3 2 9 0
http://www.haywood.cc.nc.us 58 4 4 8 6 7 8 5 2 8 2 4
http://www.isothermal.cc.nc.us 13 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
http://www.sprunt.com 26 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 8 5 0
http://www.johnstoncc.edu 26 1 2 2 1 1 1 3 4 3 4 4
http://www.lenoir.cc.nc.us 21 1 2 3 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 4
http://www.martin.cc.nc.us 16 1 1 2 3 2 4 2 0 1 0 0
http://www.mayland.cc.nc.us 7 1 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
http://www.mcdowelltech.cc.nc.us 35 2 3 8 2 2 8 2 3 2 1 2
http://www.mitchell.cc.nc.us 16 2 2 1 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 0
http://www.montgomery.cc.nc.us 34 4 4 5 2 3 3 3 0 8 2 0
http://www.nash.cc.nc.us 27 4 3 2 2 2 3 3 0 7 0 1
http://www.ncccs.cc.nc.us 8 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
http://www.pamlico.cc.nc.us 27 3 2 3 3 4 4 4 0 0 1 3
http://www.piedmont.cc.nc.us 22 3 2 1 4 2 7 1 0 0 0 2
http://www.pitt.cc.nc.us 17 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 1
http://www.randolph.cc.nc.us 18 2 2 1 3 3 2 3 0 0 2 0
http://www.richmond.cc.nc.us 30 3 2 4 3 2 6 3 0 5 0 2
http://www.roanoke.cc.nc.us 16 1 1 2 3 1 1 2 0 0 1 4
http://www.robeson.cc.nc.us 40 4 3 2 4 4 6 5 0 6 6 0
http://www.rcc.cc.nc.us 26 2 2 2 3 1 5 2 1 5 0 3
http://www.rccc.cc.nc.us 43 4 4 6 6 4 3 3 2 7 2 2
http://www.sampson.cc.nc.us 34 3 2 3 4 4 3 0 3 3 2 7
http://www.sandhills.cc.nc.us 26 3 2 3 2 2 6 0 0 5 1 2
http://www.southeastern.cc.nc.us 40 4 5 3 4 5 5 0 7 2 2 3
http://www.southwest.cc.nc.us 43 3 4 3 4 4 7 6 2 1 2 7
http://www.stanly.cc.nc.us 26 2 3 1 4 4 6 0 6 0 0 0
http://www.surry.edu 24 2 1 3 3 2 7 6 0 0 0 0
http://www.tccc.cc.nc.us 23 2 1 2 3 2 6 7 0 0 0 0
http://www.vgcc.cc.nc.us 73 5 4 6 6 7 7 8 8 7 8 7
http://www.wake.tec.nc.us 22 1 2 1 3 4 3 0 2 6 0 0
http://www.wayne.cc.nc.us 40 3 2 6 4 4 7 3 4 7 0 0
http://www.wp.cc.nc.us 60 6 6 8 7 7 6 5 8 7 0 0
http://www.wilkes.cc.nc.us 26 3 2 2 4 3 4 0 2 6 0 0
http://www.wilsontech.cc.nc.us 17 3 2 3 1 3 0 0 0 5 0 0
1. Columbus State Community College Received 55 points. 2. Lakeland Community College Received 51 points. 3. Cuyahoga Community College District Received 45 points. 4. Kennebec Valley Technical College Received 51 points. 5. Washington County Technical College Received 51 points.
The colleges were awarded points on a 1-5 point scale. It was the easiest way to range the colleges.
1 = Poor 2 = Fair 3 = Average 4 = Good 5 = Excellent
All in all, out of 50 colleges, I researched only 5 scored a 45 or better. The highest points were 55. Only one college received 55.
1. Columbus State Community College : The appearance was so much different than any other college I was scoring. The site had a virtual tour and a map of the campus. It was easy to find links. The web site all the information I needed to register. They also had information about scholarships. All the numbers of teacher and staff also included their e-mail address.
2. Lakeland Community College: This site is kept up to date. Information about voting, and where to go to vote. A great library staff response to you within 24 hours. Information in this web site helps understand how to get register. Also, who to get in touch with for any more help. The appearance was fair.
3. Central Ohio Technical College: The web site was good. They tell you about their history and the new construction. The information it contain was neatly organized. Easy to register and who to ask question online or by telephone. They have information about grants and funding you could receive. Also where to locate staff or teachers class hours.
4. Kennebec Valley Technical College : The appearance was good. The information had a nice format. Every link had all sorts of great information. They have online learning programs to fit your schedule. The numbers for the teachers and staff were online and their hours.
5. Washington County Technical College: The appearance was good. Every time you moved you’re the cursors a picture would pop up. They had a Handbook online and a catalog to download. The library information was great. Numbers for staff and teachers were on line. Information for help was at your finger tips.
This links to two spreadsheets, which I filled up with all of the community colleges in the state of Texas. I listed them in alphabetical order and rated them. I rated them on a scale from one to ten, one being worst and ten being best. I rated them in five different categories including cost, screen setup, online registration, course variety, and navigation. The maximum possible score is fifty, but no site that I researched deserved such a score. In fact the only site I have ever visited that possibly could have been worthy would be John Taylor's remarkable web site which I visit eight times a day at the least.
Category Breakdown
Cost
Were classes expensive? Were classes inexpensive? Were there unnecessary extra charges? Did they offer discounts?Screen Setup
Did the title screen get my attention? Was the rest of the site colorful and fun? Were their annoying flashing messages? Were their unwanted pop-ups?Online Registration
Was online registration offered? Was online registration recommended? Was it easy to find? Did it seem easy to complete?Course Variety
Was a variety of course offered? Were the same courses offered at a variety of times? Were there a variety of instructors for each course? Did the course interest me?Navigation
Was the site easy to run through? Was the site thumbnail friendly? Did the site have any broken links? Was the site slow, or fast?
I don't know what else to say but Wow! This site had this blue stripe down the left side that nearly made me wet myself. The cost makes me want to move to Texas. The setup was as easy as one, two, and three. The variety was unbelievable. The navigation got a perfect ten in my book. This sites final score was a whopping 46!!
Cost 9 Screen Setup 9 Online registration 9 Course Variety 9 Navigation 7
This was about a tie, with the next one but still beat it out. The cost was in the budget. The screen setup was very informative and allowed multitasking. Online registration was in my face telling me to sign up. Navigation was great but not the best factor. Final score-43
Cost 9 Screen Setup 8 Online registration 10 Course Variety 9 Navigation 7
This site was definitely different. It seemed very up to date and modern. The cost was unbelievable for such a great looking college. Screen setup like I said was very artsy. The variety was leaning toward the art students but offered plenty of other courses. Navigation was great! Final score-43
Cost 6 Screen Setup 8 Online registration 10 Course variety 9 Navigation 7
This site really caught my eye with its vibrant purple colors throughout the site. It showed real pride with all of its school color everywhere within the site. The cost was decent but not as good as the other factors that contributed to its high score. The setup used big fonts so my fuzzy vision could make out every word. The online registration was so easy I almost signed myself up. The variety was almost scary, so much to choose from. This site was just fantastic. Final score- 40
Cost 8 Screen Setup 8 Online registration 8 Course variety 8 Navigation 7
This site was definitely one of the better sites I visited. The opening picture was breathtaking. The cost was reasonable. It really felt so familiar I thought I created the site myself. It offered tons of variety and flexibility. Final score- 39
Cost 3 Screen setup 3 Online registration 3 Course variety 4 Navigation 3
This was my least favorite site by far. First off I don't even like the name of the college. This college was also too expensive. The homepage is a bore. The online registration link was broken. I didn't get to see much variety either due to broken links. Final score-16
I judged my sites on....
1.Their content; if the site had sufficient and easy to acsess information.
2.The layout for the site; if the layout was cool looking and fluent.
3.The navigation on the site; if they had easy acsess to everything at their college.
4.The Class Schedual; if the schedual even present and if so was it clear.
5.Registration Online; if the website offered online registration and was easy to use.
6.The library; if they had a library and was is easy to find books.
7.Book store; if the book store was easy to use.
8.Staff contacts; if the staff had links to their websites and or to their e-mail addresses
9.Pictures; if the website had pictures of several locations in and around the school or if it had sufficient amounts of pictures.
Best from Spreadsheet: