School Web Sites within the Educational Marketplace: A Case Study Investigating the Parents as Engaged Consumer-Users

Schools -- like their corporate counterparts -- recognize the many advantages that the Internet affords. Today's schools vie for students, and thus use the web to market their services and showcase their management team (administrators, teachers, staff) and academic accomplishments. In a sense, then, web sites are the public face of education; those that are well-designed and multi-featured can enhance a district's public image and create the perception of excellence and competence. This case study explores how one suburban, K-8 school district approaches web site development, specifically, the process by which decisions about design, development, and maintenance are made (and by whom); the ways in which they engage those who explore them--with a particular focus on parents; and, how well the sites adhere to generally recognized design attributes. Data were gathered through interviews with school administrators, document review, web site analysis, parent surveys, and parent focus groups. Results offer information to policymakers, administrators, and site designers regarding principles of web design unique to parents as educational consumers. Principles emerging from the case study can lead to additional research not only in the field of education, but, also, in the fields of web design and marketing.

Name thesis:degree_name

EdD Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation: Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Year dc:date.available

2008

Author dc:creator

• Beeman, Claudia Jane, EdD

• case study
• educational marketplace
• engaged consumer-users
• K-8 school district
• parents & parenting
• school administrators
• school websites
• website development
• Leadership Studies

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digital.sandiego.edu/dissertations/889

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.sandiego.edu:dissertations-1894