Dive Brief:
- The California State University-East Bay Continuing Education program overhauled its user interface, taking influence from Steve Jobs while tackling four major projects at once to improve the student experience.
- According to eCampus News, the initiative started because a transition to PeopleSoft for registration to match all of the other CSU campuses made it difficult for Continuing Ed’s nontraditional students to find courses and register for them.
- A partnership with Story+Structure helped redesign the system, keeping the tech foundations with PeopleSoft as well as the payment gateway, but putting a user-friendly face on it with a familiar shopping cart experience.
Dive Insight:
Enrollment jumped 7% since the Continuing Education site redesign in January, creating increased revenue to cover the costs of the project itself. The project was deemed such a success other Cal State institutions are following suit. The idea of human-centered design is catching on in higher education, perhaps more slowly than in other industries. Institutions are designing more user-friendly websites, organizing content based on the needs of those searching for it, and stepping back to create platforms that consider the entire user experience.