1. Online Interactive College Catalog and Student Handbook
Andy starts with introduction and Bob introduces himself
Ask who is in audience – who has some responsibility for managing you campus catalog content? How many of you are from campuses that are considering transitioning to online?
March 15, 2017
Andrew Freeman and Robert Reynolds

2. Online Interactive College Catalog and Student Handbook
The Original Charge
General Highlights
Leveraging Current Technology
Maximizing Efficiency
Lessons Learned
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3. The Original Charge
Provost Andrea Wade charged the Curriculum and Program Development Office to update the College Catalog for
Transitioned the responsibility from Marketing and Community Relations.
Provost Wade simultaneously charged Instructional Technologies to begin reviewing Catalog Management software packages that might be good solutions for MCC in the future.
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4. The Original Charge – PDF Format
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5. General Highlights
After a review of online catalog vendor solutions, specifically Acalog (ex. Broome Community College) and CourseLeaf (ex. Fashion Institute of Technology), it was determined that by leveraging MCC’s existing IBM Notes/Domino databases through an in-house solution we could achieve equivalent functionality.
We believe it not only meets our campus needs but also compares favorably with respect to appearance and usability.
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6. General Highlights – Solution Comparisons
Current PDFs
Acalog
CourseLeaf
IBM Notes/ Domino
Live Catalog Changes No
Yes
Print on demand by section
Integrated with Curriculum database
Possible
Easily updated by multiple editors
Adapt to mobile devices
Updatable Personnel Information
Unclear
Unrestricted to deadlines
Share information with Banner
Inconsistent
Cost *
$90,000+
$98,000 **
*Redundant and duplication of effort to manage two locations of the same information (Lotus databases and catalog PDF).
**Leverage annual subscription with Notes/Domino and the programming time used by staff devoted to Lotus.
+Dependent upon modules.
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7. General Highlights - continued
We provided easier navigation to content, including a search.
We link to other relevant content on the MCC web site.
The option of downloading the full catalog has been removed. However, an archived catalog will be created as a pdf version each academic year on September 1.
The last ten years of archived catalogs are available.
Some areas of the online catalog do provide a printer friendly option (ie. program descriptions).
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8. Demonstration
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9. Leveraging Technology
The number of actual print/pdf pages that were generated from existing database content for the College Catalog was 227 pages. The total College Catalog consisted of 277 pages. Only 50 pages of print/pdf content needed to be created in the IBM Notes/Domino databases to replicate the college catalog content to move entirely online.
Former pdf content was moved into the IBM Notes/Domino database to help organize content and make web-based information easier to navigate. This enables a more efficient workflow for updating content. Those responsible for content, section originators, have the option of accessing their own portion of the database or can send update requests to Curriculum and Program Development.
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10. Leveraging Technology - continued
The IBM databases also connect with other systems such as Curriculum Development Database, Assessment Database, MCC public web pages and Banner. It has been redundant, inefficient, and subject to discrepancies, to have the same catalog content residing in parallel systems.
MCC upgrades its IBM Notes/Domino servers and will again be upgrading this summer, along with upgrades that are planned for other systems.
The catalog web pages adapt to the device it is being viewed on, such as mobile phones, tablets and desktop screens - by using a responsive design.
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11. Maximizing Efficiency
Reduces the instances of updating the same information residing in two or more locations (reducing potential for inconsistent information).
This solution “pushes” changes to multiple places instantaneously. Benefits extend beyond catalog. Examples include department pages that list programs and/or courses on their web pages.
The catalog and student handbook can and are updated any time a request is made – not subject to curriculum deadlines or a catalog printing schedule.
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12. Maximizing Efficiency
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13. Maximizing Efficiency - continued
Faculty who have changes to their personal information can have it updated as soon as Human Resources receives and processes requested change, allowing new degrees, promotions and name changes to be updated as needed.
Moving forward. Currently, we load courses into Banner only once a year from a file that is generated from the Catalog database. We have the ability to import updates to Banner more often, such as curriculum changes. As updates to the catalog occur more frequently, our goal is to schedule imports on a more frequent timeline.
Andy – first bullet Bob second bullet
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14. Maximizing Efficiency – Banner Integration
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15. Take away information – Lessons Learned
Before seeking outside vendor solutions – investigate and brainstorm how an internal solution might be possible.
Remember your audience. The only minimal resistance we encountered was from very few faculty and staff that are more comfortable with paper. Students are the audience and online serves them better for a variety of reasons.
Transitioning from a deadline-based process to more frequent updates requires some campus culture adjustment.
Value of empowering your employees – taking educated risks can lead to better solutions.
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16. Questions? www.monroecc.edu/catalog
March 15, 2017
Andrew Freeman and Robert Reynolds