Kalamazoo College

Center for International Programs

http://www.kzoo.edu/cip/

The Center for International Programs site for Kalamazoo college is well put together, easy to navigate and informational. This site contains the necessary information that a student needs to know to travel abroad through Kalamazoo College. The site has global navigation links at it’s top that connects to other programs, offices, etc. within the college. A side navigation bar controls the information contained on the Center for International Programs site itself. The site has a database for its programs that students can search by Country, language of Instruction, Language of Country or length of term.

What this site lacks is any information about what it’s like to travel abroad. There are no links that offer exchange rates, housing information, work information or any type of information that isn’t specific to the costs, times and locations of Kalamazoos programs.

Similarities and Differences

• Our site will also contain basic program information: times, dates, meetings, what programs are avaiable, cost, etc...

• Our site will contain information regarding travel conditions, currency information, housing information, employment opportunities

• Like this site a database for programs would be essential to this type of site

• Our site will contain information and opinions from students who have previously utlized some of the offered programs

MichelleHawkins

Global Learning Semesters

http://www.globalsemesters.com/program/BusSemLondon/semlondon1.html

This site is set up to give students interested in study abroad programs an overview of the programs that are available through Global Learning Semesters. Unlike other sites a student doesn’t need to be part of a college or certain program to participate. This site offers not only specific information about their programs, but also offers information on things like Curriculum and Faculty, Housing, Itineraries, safety, descriptions and highlights, etc. Through this site any student can find information about traveling abroad. Though this site doesn’t contain things like links to currency exchange, the information that is offered is abundant and easy to find.

What sets our site apart

• We plan to offer weather and exchange information about countries that programs are offered through, through links

• This site is a good example of the type of site we would like to build. It offers many of the same types of infomation that we have proposed will be offered by our site.

• Our site will offer links to other sites that contain information about travel abroad programs

MichelleHawkins

New York University

Study Abroad Programs

http://www.nyu.edu/studyabroad/

• Global Navigation at top of page remains constant with contents of Home, Application, Calandar, Financial Aid, FAQs, and contact info.
• Main Page header contains roll-over pop ups for each individual country offered. Each pop up contains identical information links for each labeled: Academics, Student Life, City of (insert city here), Estimated Expenses, How to Apply, Admitted Students, Preparing for Life Abroad, Returning Students, and Parents.
• Left Column is list of upcoming important dates and events, with links to articles that appear in pop-up windows with more description.
• Program Search available with criteria set by you under: student status, program level, program and location.
• As you enter a specific area, say study in Paris, the navigation for destinations moves from the top header to the left sidebar, with cascading subjects under the destination you choose.
• More pages available include a general About page, school specific programs, summer programs and exchange programs. Each contains a short blurb with a link to another website, usually sponsored through another school connected to NYU.
• Included under some of the areas (i.e. City of and Preparing for Life Abroad) there is info such as climate, customs, tips and tricks to making the most of your experience, and links to outside sources for more information (such as a link to a search engine for info on a specific city)

Overall the site is easy to navigate and very informative. The information not provided directly on the site is easily accessible through provided links. In this case, where they do provide links is deeper in, where if a student were to get that far into the site one would assume that they're willing to do some work for the information they want. Note:From personal experience, when you get caught up in finding information about a specific program, one can really get on a high and want to find every little thing they can (I've done this frequently recently researching for my upcoming Eurospring trip). This site gives you what you're looking for and also provides links to keep your search going deeper.

Our Site:

• One thing this site lacks is the personal stories from other students. Granted, they speak of opportunities people who have been on trips will have to share with others who have had similar experiences and with the outward community, and outsider (such as myself or a prospective NYU student) has seemingly no way to hear about actual student experiences. That's one big goal of our site, to provide prospective students with first-hand accounts of what it's like, from many angles.

• They estimate expenses in US dollars, but when you get over there, what will it actually amount to in the foreign currency, and what's the cost comparison to here? We want to include that as well.

• I like the idea of a general Tips and Tricks page to help students along with the personal stories we originally planned on.

• NYUs programs seem to be strictly semester or summer long study programs, whereas ours are shorter and include more structured touring. Perhaps a detailed itinerary (or examples of past ones) would be helpful.

JessicaSpeer

California State University San Marcos

University Global Affairs

http://www.csusm.edu/UGA/studyabroad.htm

One of the most useful things is that there was a very fast "Back" button on the top navigation. It was present on the top of every page that the top global navigation led to. Another highly useful link in the to navigation was very straightforward, simply labeled "Exchange Programs". I takes you to a bulleted list of all the countries with study programs. Beneath each country header on the list are links to informational pages about participating universities from those countries. Some tell whether it is a general classes, business or summer program option in Parenthesis after the links.

When you click on one of these university links it takes you to a content page with a map, pictures, content about the university's city, the area's culture, a bulleted list of program features, a bulleted list of expenses with the exact prices already calculated and converted to US currency for everything, and a bulleted list of how to apply with contacts and due dates, as well as a bulleted list of eligibility factors.

It is overall a very useful and functionally designed site. The side bar is equally valuable. Besides a practical side bar and top navigation, the main page has a yellow highlighted table of current news, meetings and deadlines.

• There were what appeared to be two strips of picture links in the content area of the body of the home page. They, however, were just pictures and not links. I think it would be more engaging if we had pictures on our home page which "were" links like in module 11.

• There was an "International Admissions" link on the sidebar. It led to a page where you could click links to read content in other languages. We wouldn't have parts of our site wrote in different languages probably. Besides, I don't know how people needing other languages will even find that link when the link is in English.

• Also, there was a link called travel resources on the sidebar which had links to things which we would want to include

1. a travel health concern site
2. a US Department of State site which includes basic travel info, travel warnings, visa/passport services and travel publications
3. a table that shows current times for about 100 different cities word-wide
4. telephone cords
5. an airport guide

MollyVotava

University of Maine

Office of International Programs

http://www.umaine.edu/international/studyabroad.htm

This site was very visually appealing with an exiting tone which is first set by the picture strip above the top navigation. It is a mural style picture of various locations and local people from them. It is very festive, and in the spirit of the highly diverse opportunities international travel can provided.

Beneath the initial promotional statement, inspirational quote and personalized pictures are links including,

1. about
2. questions and answers
3. deadlines
4. eligibility
5. how to get started

These just lead to find further down on the main page if you scroll. The set of links below these, however, lead to sub pages where the real informational sustenance is found. There are links for cost, financial aid, meeting times. The best point is a page with the estimated cost of a passport, and a link to where you can apply for a passport.

• We could very well include that passport link in our page. It leads to part of the U S Department of State site.

• We would definitely want large pictures with links like this site's home page has. Also, this site offers a personalization of the photographs that would add to our original idea. Beneath each location photo it has a link that says, for example, "name" in "location", and then when you click the link it leads you to a whole page of photos featuring that person in that location.

• One distinction we might want, though, is to have the pictures themselves actually be links, and perhaps mouse-overs.

• One major distinction between this site and ours is that Ours will only focus on Students traveling to other countries from Our school, whereas this site focuses on both students going out to other countries and international students coming into the featured institution. It had, for example, links to English as a Second Language Programs. We wouldn't do that. We will just be focusing on outgoing students for this project.

MollyVotava