Website and Online Application Development Expertise for Education.
NetReach has a long history working within the Education sector. We've worked with diverse organizations including Educational Research Institutions, K-12, Secondary Schools and Universities, Continuing Education (CE) and Continuing Medical Education (CME) Providers, In-house Corporate Training Departments, Non-Profits and Scientific Institutions, and Education Marketing Agencies among others. We've developed online/web-based projects that include the following:
- School and University Websites.
- Courseware delivery platforms (including commerce, CE).
- Helpdesk system.
- Web 2.0 (blogs, forums, two-way communications, and content development).
- Collaboration and information dissemination websites.
- Social marketing.
- Section 508 accessibility.
- Corporate training platform.
- Conference proceedings.
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e-Commerce.
and more...
In Practice
The following projects (described below) are examples of our work.
- Drexel University School of Public Health Website — School of Public Health Site.
- Pathways to Public Health — Resource Clearinghouse / Public Health Career Marketing Site.
- Learning Through Listening — Teacher information, resources and tools.
- Germantown Academy Summer Camp Program — Educational Summer Camp Program, registration & scheduling.
- Pennsylvania Academy Of Fine Arts — School of Fine Arts.
- 21st Century Center for Reaserch & Development in Cognition & Science Instruction — U.S. Department of Education Funded Research Program, collaboration and dissemination.
- Case Western University — University Helpdesk.
- Berlitz Languages — Marketing website.
- Health Forum Online — Private provider of accredited CE credits in behavioral health.
Drexel University School of Public Health Website
This site is an exemplary example of NetReach's work in the realm of information dissemination and marketing. Drexel University's School of Public Health is a growing school that required advances in its navigation, site structure, and enhancements to the story of the school. Recent improvements enhance the delivery of information on work in the field and new research. The school also houses several centers and projects. NetReach developed complementary sites to complement the school's identity while showing a depth of content. The following are centers/projects at the school that use the toolset which is used on the school's site--and is administered by the staff of each entity:
View Drexel University School of Public Health Case Study
Pathways to Public Health
"Pathways to Public Health" was developed for the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) as a way for youth to learn more about public health education and public health careers. It includes a clearinghouse of resources, the ability for site visitors to submit resources for inclusion into the resource section of the site (after review and approval by ASPH staff), student profiles, and other helpful information for students, parents, teachers, and counselors.
Learning Through Listening
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D), a national non-profit organization founded in the 1940s, currently serves nearly 180,000 kindergarten through graduate level+ students with its one-of-a-kind collection of digitally recorded CD-based textbooks and novels.
NetReach worked with RFB&D staff to develop an assessment to determine the goals of the project. The findings, along with data that RFB&D had from the target audience, yielded a blueprint to develop the site that both functioned as a resource for teachers and also an easy-to-use tool for staff to implement and publish with.
The Section 508 compliant site called "Learning Through Listening," includes a rich database of classroom materials that are searchable. A custom curriculum builder allows for:
- Consistent formatting of all lesson plans; teachers can also submit plans for review.
- Downloadable related materials (blackline masters, Word and PDF documents, and audio assets).
- Printer-friendly pages and email-a-friend capability.
- Commenting on lesson plans.
- Display of NEW items that can be timed to stay new based on RFB&D requirements.
- Searches/display by subject and grade.
- Subscription to NEW lesson plans via a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed.
- Lesson plans and their related downloadables can be grouped by subject and grade level.
Registration for a free membership allows for access to additional resources on the site. An Application Programming Interface (API) was furnished that enables cmScribe’s user profile database to check the RFB&D Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system in real time for an existing school membership. This allows current users of RFB&D products to be recognized and eliminate double membership hassles. The site is highly interactive and allows the client to make their products available as well.
View RFB&D Case Study | Press Release
Germantown Academy Summer Camp Program
Germantown Academy (GA) is a coeducational college preparatory school founded in 1759 and located in Montgomery County, PA, a northwestern suburb of Philadelphia. GA's Summer Program was started as a Day Camp in 1969 to meet the needs of neighborhood children as well as current students. Since then, it has evolved into a unique, specialized summer program extending the school's offerings in academics, the arts, and athletics into the summer months, with over 70 camps and courses that cultivate each camper's passion to learn, play, and grow.
NetReach provided Germantown Academy with a fully content managed website that allows staff to edit and update their catalog of camp and course offerings, tracks course registrations, and allows campers to apply for the wait list when course capacity is reached. Campers and their families may register and pay for camp activities online through the integrated e-Commerce system.
Campers can view and manage their itineraries through a "My Account" that builds a customized view of each day's activities. The functionality included in "My Account" is extremely popular as it helps families manage busy schedules. Weekly and Daily camper calendars, ready for the fridge, are easily available. Other features include:
- Single family account allows viewing of all children's accounts.
- Shopping system allows courses selected for multiple children to be placed in the same cart and transaction.
- Account page sortable by child, course name, purchase date, or event date.
- Fully selectable lunch menu.
- Tracking of deposits per child and account due amounts.
- Three printable, refrigerator-ready calendar views show the complete six-week camp period, weekly breakdown, or daily itinerary with the camper's selected lunch.
- Tracking of camper's previous years.
- Camp instructors' functionality for tracking enrollment provides email lists for parent contact.
- Camp administrator tools to track course registrations, lunch choices, payments, amounts due, debits and credits, and waiting list management.
Pennsylvania Academy Of Fine Arts (PAFA)
NetReach was selected in a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) to update their website. The RFP called for a fully-content managed website using a newly developed set of graphical standards—including a redesigned logo, font usage and colors. Existing web-based functions needed to be maintained or enhanced. The site's architecture, navigation, and usability both for staff and site visitors needed to be upgraded.
Since the launch of the new website, both national and international students have submitted online applications to the school (there were none before). Application submissions have increased overall.
21st Century Center for Research & Development in Cognition & Science Instruction
Research for Better Schools (RBS) is a non-profit educational Research and Development (R&D) firm, and one of six principal organizations partnering to provide professional development services to school districts and teachers as part of a five-year national grant funded by the by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to further the goal of fostering science literacy in young people so they are able to compete in a 21st Century global economy. RBS approached NetReach to provide a web-based platform for communication and dissemination of information about the project as well as to provide a collaborative environment for the partners.
The turnaround timeframe of the project was literally and urgently ASAP. NetReach suggested that RBS might benefit from adopting one of our pre-designed "template" websites that could be deployed in minutes and updated with a client's particular colors and graphics in several days. The website is fully-content managed and includes numerous pre-built functions at an attractive price point. Several weeks later, we were asked to update the website's templates to include more robust left-side navigation that would support a deeper level of pages, as RBS added more content to the site.
21st Century Center for Research & Development in Cognition & Science Instruction
Case Western Reserve University Helpdesk
NetReach has been working under a teaming agreement with CDI IT Solutions to provide a complete package of web development and content management services to the CDI customer base.
CDI is charged with staffing and managing Case Western Reserve University's ITS helpdesk. They are using the Numara Footprints trouble ticket system to log and track online, call center, and in-person requests for Information Technology (IT) help from students, staff, and faculty. CDI and Case Western require additional ways to communicate helpdesk related information that the Footprints software does not support. There were several challenges:
- CDI requires one point of data entry and does not want to duplicate effort when finalizing an issue and developing a subsequent knowledgebase article in the Footprints database.
- Some departments have developed their own stand-alone information sites and wikis that are maintained by them.
- Case Western has a style guide for how graphical presentations, including on the web, should be presented.
NetReach was able to address these issues by designing a website that included a web service to import the Footprints knowledgebase articles and display them in a user-friendly and logically tagged way. This allowed CDI helpdesk staff to have a single point of entry. CDI staff is able to develop additional "static" content pages that are outside of the purview of the Footprints software, for example a Contact/Locations page or a directory of departmental information sites/wikis. The look and feel of the helpdesk website is in keeping with the University's styleguide and the presentation of information is more userfriendly then the trouble ticket system.
Berlitz Languages - Language Learning and Cultural Consulting
Berlitz is the world's premier provider of language learning and cross-cultural services with over 500 locations in 70 countries, including more than 55 locations in the United States.
Berlitz was satisfied with the appearance of its website. However, it had limitations with regards to content management. The website had poor navigation and flexibility, and it was difficult to add pages to the existing format. In addition, it was originally built completely in Flash, which prevented it from being indexed in search engines.
NetReach rebuilt the Berlitz website with a robust Content Management System (CMS). To better serve its audiences, NetReach worked with Berlitz to create specific web pages for Personal Interest, Corporations, Children’s Programs/Schools and Teachers, and Government/Military. NetReach suggested that Berlitz marketing pursue customer testimonials, which were added to the website to improve social proof to prospective customers. This allows Berlitz users to share their stories with the public through videos and written endorsements. NetReach also aided Berlitz in presenting Webinars on its website that could be easily archived for future access. In addition, NetReach reintegrated an existing interactive map to allow customers to find Berlitz locations based on a specific geographic area, and also improved the delivery of customer inquiries (both usability and number of requests) to Berlitz’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM), saving a management step in the process.
HealthForumOnline
HealthForumOnline (HFO) provides accredited online Continuing Education (CE) courses to psychologists, social workers, counselors, nurses, and other allied health professionals. The site provides a fast, cost-effective, and convenient resource enabling healthcare professionals to fulfill their ongoing continuing educational requirements.
NetReach provided HFO a completed, streamlined Learning Management System (LMS), including:
- Search course offerings by specific disease or broad category.
- Ability for students to save and review course materials/progress over multiple online sessions at their own pace.
- Students print their CE certificate directly from the site.
- Course presentation, content, and media is completely flexible -- including photos, audio, charts/graphs, text, and downloads.
- HFO can manage participants’ use of the site, including access to purchased courses, scoring of test material, gathering course evaluations, and delivering certificates automatically.
- Integrated e-Commerce allows HFO to accept and manage course payment.
