Developing an Interactive Business Division Website

Today’s Plan: Creating urgency Identifying needs Creating mission-based actionable strategies The web-based solution Designing the functionality of the website Developing organizational partnerships Building and using the site Integrating the site into existing web presence, the curriculum, and the community.

Creating Urgency Nobody will ever be ready There will never be enough time Arbitrary deadlines are like the budget ceiling. Solutions: –Write a grant to fund it! –Get outside involvement, any involvement –This would make a great project for an advanced web design course. –Build alliances –Set up a training session on it!

Unmet needs: the origin Isolation and lost learning opportunities Student portfolio projects Advisory Board exposure Underutilized job/internship resources Low participation in scholarship opportunities Businesses interested in working together What exactly can you learn to do at MPC? Any of these items handled as a single item is daunting. How can we put it all together?

The mission Business & Technology Division Community Interaction Model “MPC Business Central” Mission: To maximize student, faculty, and community interaction. To enhance MPC business and Technology graduates’ career success. To uncover and capture opportunities to provide value for the business community.

Goals from the Mission To integrate accounting, marketing, leadership, management, law, business technology training and other skills learned at MPC in coordinated project based learning. To enable students to create a marketable capstone accomplishment portfolio. To build an effective interaction forum to help build relationships with members of the business community. To foster interaction among students, Faculty & Staff, and business. To Create a visible, active example of MPC leadership within the community as a highly desirable education resource for students and businesses.

Coordinate term projects between business & technology classes which begin and end at “hand off” points between classes. Capture and present projects where people can see and use them. Facilitate business interaction via project involvement. Core Strategy: Project Integration

Project Integration Approach Sequential “hand-off” project stages –Groups complete one project stage. That work is picked up by another group to build the next stage. –Example: First Industry financial analysis. Next market research. Next Build budgets. Finally, complete and present a business plan. Business Technology skills and law consult as needed.

Project Integration Approach Issues Sequential “hand-off” project stages –How do we execute the hand-off? –Where can students & instructors store stages & find the next assignment? –How do we know what is required for the next step?

Sequential “hand-off” project stages Other benefits to capture: –Marketable capstone student projects –Community interaction –MPC learning experience showcase –Exposure for students, the school, and a mechanism to capture project suggestions –Site traffic generation to further other goals

The Web Based Solution: Project Integration Project concept generation Project stage development Recruiting student participation Connecting project stages Completed stage and project exposure Other bonuses & potential The development of Business Central A walk through the site

Site walk through activities Submit a project concept Review a project assignment sheet View a completed project stage View a completed project Explore some other features site suggestions! Post an assignment

Building the Site Conceptual design on PowerPointPowerPoint Team building Prototyping / beta testing Implementing Student involvement Evolution

The Site In-house server Microsoft environment Direct editing –SharePoint, FrontPage MS Office integrated Collaborative as far as we are willing to trust Minimizes customization lowering our total cost of ownership

Minimum Hardware You may already have all you need Or Server: P4, 2ghz with 36 gig mirrored drives –$3,000+

Minimum Software Microsoft Environment Windows 2003 server $88 - $151 (w/SA) Includes Share Point services! We also used Front Page for more detailed formatting MS Select 6 Pricing California Education Consortiums & Foundations & all public learning institutions may be eligible for this special $88 pricing Student use (for allowing student uploads) External connector $637 - $1,100 (w/SA) Otherwise, there are options Linux based Microsoft emulators

This is the end, but the end is just the beginning! -T.S. Eliot