Your Higher Education Marketing Links of the Week… University of Virginia, Sacred Heart University: Coronavirus… 20 March 2020

2 Elements Stand Out on University of Virginia, Sacred Heart Coronavirus Pages

Every college and university has a special website page to keep everyone connected to the school updated on the impact of coronavirus on activities from classrooms to commencement.

In searching through about 20 of those sites, two elements at UVA and Sacred Heart stood out as important differences from other pages visited. My sample, of course, is small and there may well be similar content elsewhere. Add links to similar sites as a comment.

University of Virginia CoronavirusUniversity of Virginia

I’m guessing but I’d assume that a top task for many if not most people visiting a coronavirus page is to learn not only how many people might already be coronavirus confirmed but where that person worked on campus or, in one case, lived off campus. (Some schools visited mentioned the number of people infected. Or said that none were infected. Most did not note either status.)

On a large screen computer, UVA makes that information highly visible at the top of a cluster of links in the right column:

  • Confirmed Cases in Our Community (with a star to elevate it over the other links)
  • Academic Programs
  • Teaching Continuity
  • For Students
  • For Faculty and Staff

Important pathways at the top of the page also stand out as the page opens:

  • University Operations Status
  • Travel Guidance
  • Community Messages
  • Health Precautions
  • FAQ
  • Resources

On mobile the visibility of the “Confirmed Cases in Our Community” is even stronger. Those right column links on the large screen page are now front and center on the mobile page, displacing the standard “closely monitoring” introduction that opens most pages like this. That’s a good content placement decision.

Sacred Heart University CononavirusSacred Heart University

Sacred Heart includes an “Anti-Stigma Statement” as the page opens that I didn’t see anywhere else:

  • “Regrettably, in the wake of the coronavirus and its origins in China, there has been an increasing number of news reports regarding stereotyping, harassment and bullying directed at persons perceived to be of Chinese American or, more generally, Asian descent, including students. We know that we don’t have to worry about that at Sacred Heart, but we would be remiss if we did not remind you all that we do not tolerate any kind of ethnic harassment or bullying here.”

Kudos to Sacred Heart for speaking to a serious problem that makes the coronavirus impact even worse than it already is.

Follow the Links of the Week

For the University of Virginia, go to “Novel Coronavirus.” For Sacred Heart University, visit “Coronavirus.”

Recommend a future Link of the Week

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