The updated website

A word from Sarah Clough, Principal Consultant - Online Strategy and Development

An image of a rocket ship launching out of the screen of a laptop.

We’re excited to be launching our new website. It brings together the Authority’s work in a way that will help everyone find the information they need more quickly and easily.

A word from Sarah Clough, Principal Consultant - Online Strategy and Development

An image of a rocket ship launching out of the screen of a laptop.

We’re excited to be launching our new website. It brings together the Authority’s work in a way that will help everyone find the information they need more quickly and easily.

Thank you to everyone who replied to our survey. Your feedback has been invaluable in determining how to approach updating the website.

Three sites in one

The Authority website carries a lot of information and it divides into three sites. These are the main Authority website, the K–10 website and the Year 11 and 12 website.

We have had these three sites for a while. In the past, users could get to each of the sites from the main Authority home page. This was ok but not ideal. We found that it could be confusing for people to find their way forward and back between the sites.

What we have done with the new site is bring the three sites together. Each site can be reached via a tab at the top of the navigation bar. Jumping from one to the other by way of the tabs means people using the sites will be able to see where they are more easily. The tabs will always be visible, so users will always be able to ‘find their way back’ to any of the sites.

Things in common

Some materials, like the P–12 Activities Schedule and the Circulars relate to all years of schooling. You will find links to these materials are located on each of the sites.

In other cases, information might be of interest to people visiting the K–10 site and the senior secondary site. The OLNA is an example of this. It involves students in Years 10, 11 and 12. This means we have links to OLNA information on both the K–10 site and the senior secondary site.

Each site links to the extranet – the secure area for teachers to access materials and resources.

The main headings

The Authority site (purple) has been streamlined. The focus is on our administration and communications. The top level headings on this site are:

  • About Us
  • Publications
  • Policy (coming soon)
  • SIRS information
  • Events
  • Forms.

The K–10 site (blue) has always been quite contained. The main changes on this site are to the navigation. The top level headings on this site are:

  • Principles
  • Teaching
  • Assessing
  • Reporting
  • Resources.

The Years 11 and 12 site (grey) has been developed from the old WACE 15–16 site. It now also includes the information from the Senior Secondary tab from the old Authority main site. The top level headings on this site are:

  • The WACE
  • Syllabus and support materials
  • Assessment
  • Moderation
  • Certification
  • Vocational Education and Training
  • Resources.

All kinds of people

We have a vast number of users. There are around 30 000 teachers in Western Australia and there are over 400 000 students from Kindergarten through to Year 12. The Authority websites provide information to teachers, school leaders, parents and students (particularly students in Years 10–12).

Delivering information to so many users in distinct user groups can be a challenge.

We expect the clearer division into the three sites will be helpful. In addition to the sites we are launching today, we are looking forward to launching a website for parents later this year. The parent site will become the fourth tab at the top of the website.

Teachers, who are registered with TRBWA, are able to access resources in a secure area on our extranet. The extranet has been expanded to include materials for teachers from Pre-primary to Year 10 along with the materials for senior secondary teachers.

We are expanding our social media activities by introducing a new Facebook page that will provide general and administrative updates for teachers and school leaders.

Feedback

We would appreciate your feedback. Please let us know what you think by emailing LMShelp@scsa.wa.edu.au.

Keywords: Website navigation, extranet

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