Institutions Have a Presence on the World

¶ … institutions have a presence on the World Wide Web. The Owens Community College website provides a functional and well-structured source of information for students and faculty. Although its presentation may not be startlingly original, in terms of its ability to provide needed informational content, the website serves its purpose technically and in terms of the information it presents. The website for Owens Community College loads quickly, and its graphics, although somewhat generic, convey the fact that this is the website of an educational institution.

The images that flash before the viewer's eyes are of diverse but fairly generic-looking students. While not strikingly original, the brightly-colored images (juxtaposed against an Owen graphic) do accurately represent the various programs at Owen, such an Exercise Science, with pictorial representations. The website appears to be up-to-date, given that the most recent course catalogue is available online, and there is a contact page that lists the email of the school.

Images of the different programs flash alongside the computer screen, to show a more diverse range of images of people involved in the program. The page includes a list of links to the various components of the Owen website, such as admissions, academic information, and information for current vs. prospective students. There is also a login 'box' so students can access personal data.

Although the photographs of the different rotating majors and events as a 'banner' are somewhat distracting in that they force the viewer to focus mainly on specific majors or activities that might not be of interest to him or her, the information a likely user might need is still relatively easy to find.

There are no distracting sounds or videos the viewer is forced to listen to, the contents page or map of the website is clearly displayed, and it is relatively easy to get 'home' from any of the links. Critique The title of the page (Owens Community College) is reasonably indicative of the content, and straightforward in its presentation (for example, clicking 'Academics' leads a web surfer to a menu of academic majors and their descriptive home pages). There is a clear label that the website was copyrighted in 2011.

The presence of new information about admissions for the upcoming year, a current course catalogue, and data about current student classes and activities demonstrates that the website is kept up-to-date for use of the student and prospective student community. It is vitally important that an academic website posts current information, given that students are dependent upon it for the information that governs their daily lives.

The college also must disseminate information that is uniquely relevant to students, which they can only obtain officially from the college, such as the start of classes or application forms. This is not an academic document, however, so no bibliography is included and while the information appears objective, there is no apparent justification to convince the reader that it is in fact objective -- it is merely assumed.

There is a list of donors to the college and a disclaimer at the end of the page: "Without the state's support, tuition and fees would have to be more than twice the current rate of $136.36 per credit hour. The State of Ohio provides 52% of the college's revenue through two state subsidies: the State Share of Instruction and Access Challenge.

The rest of the college's revenue comes primarily from student tuition and fees." Reaction The information, such as the dates for application and semester dates, are the same as those which are found on the College Board and other relevant sites about the nation's colleges, suggesting the.