The UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics Program Homepage
This is part one of a four-part series on my experience enrolled in the UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics Program. As i make my way through i will document my evaluations on a course by course basis.
UBC’s 100% online courses use the Moodle Course Management System for their delivery, therefore, all course content must be read by the student in order to fully grasp the material. There are also no more than 25 people per course and one online tutor.
Introduction to Web Analytics as its name implies is the first of four courses in the program. It is also the prerequisite for all the other courses. The reading is a lot, but necessary i think to successfully deliver a broad enough introduction to the field. A good majority of the reading material is actual case studies making it highly relatable for the student/practitioner. It can be a bit dry at times, but i guess that is to be expected given the analytic nature of the content. But, if you’re passionate about the web and curious about the study, then you’ll find it super interesting and continue to plough ahead.
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The UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics Program Homepage
This is part two of a four-part series on my experience enrolled in the UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics Program.
The second course in the program: Web Analytics for Site Optimization for me, was very exciting! Out of the introductory ranks and into something i could really dig my teeth into. With real case by case lesson plans what you cover in this course is very applicable to everyday practice, whether you’re an Information Architect (IA) or a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expert, there is something for everyone to take away here.
The course does an excellent job of combining solid user-centric design theory, common SEO practices and the recommended web analysis to measure these approaches. Some of the design theory is a bit hard to follow, but well worth it in the end as you do also need to apply that knowledge to at least one of the three assignments.
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The UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics Program Homepage
This is part three of a four-part series on my experience enrolled in the UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics Program.
The third course Measuring Marketing Campaigns Online begins with somewhat of a quick refresher roughly based on key concepts of the second course Web Analytics for Site Optimization – in case you never took that one and jumped straight onto the third. This “Online Marketing Fundamentals” refresher also includes the surprise free giveaway i first mentioned in the second course Web Analytics for Site Optimization. The required reading in this course is as like the second course; a lot, but is very rewarding for what you learn and hopefully take away with you is pretty invaluable, especially given the current state of the economy and the opportunities that can arise.
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The UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics Program Homepage
This is (the final) part four of a four-part series on my experience enrolled in the UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics Program.
The fourth and final course in the program: Creating and Managing the Analytical Business Culture is taught from a more of manager, web analytics point of view as it tries to tackle all facets of creating and managing a data-driven culture within an organization. It does a good job of covering the bases of such a task from: choosing a web analytics vendor; establishing the function that is web analytics; building a solid foundation throughout the organization; consistent performance monitoring and last, but not least, taking action on the results. That said, there seems to be an increase to the amount of reading required to cover off all these topics, especially compared to the three previous courses, so i recommend accounting for that going in.
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Windfall’s new logo after their re-branding efforts
My wife Leslie has been working with Windfall (formerly known as Windfall Clothing Service: award-winning, registered charity that receives donations of new clothing and distributes them to over 80 partner social service agencies in Toronto) for some time now. Last year i sent off my analysis based on the current state of their website. A year passed, a re-branding occurred and just like that i am now a key player in their website re-design process on a volunteer basis!!
Some of the website re-design requirements that have been suggested are as follows:
- ease of use in updating content – currently they use Dreamweaver and static HTML files
- ability to post images, video and various other media formats
- ability to multi-blog i.e., different user accounts with their own voice
- overall website design will be in-brand with the newly printed material
- greater tie between their peripheral micro-sites
- simplified user-centric Information Architecture (IA) / navigational system
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