Developing an Interactive Business
Division Website
Today’s Plan:
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Creating urgency
Identifying needs
Creating mission-based actionable strategies
The web-based solution
Designing the functionality of the website
Developing organizational partnerships
Building and using the site
Integrating the site into existing web presence,
the curriculum, and the community.
Creating Urgency
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Nobody will ever be ready
There will never be enough time
Arbitrary deadlines are like the budget ceiling.
Solutions:
– Write a grant to fund it!
– Get outside involvement, any involvement
– This would make a great project for an advanced
web design course.
– Build alliances
– Set up a training session on it!
Unmet needs: the origin
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Isolation and lost learning opportunities
Student portfolio projects
Advisory Board exposure
Underutilized job/internship resources
Low participation in scholarship opportunities
Businesses interested in working together
What exactly can you learn to do at MPC?
Any of these items handled as a single item is
daunting. How can we put it all together?
The mission
Business & Technology Division Community
Interaction Model
“MPC Business Central”
Mission: To maximize student, faculty, and
community interaction. To enhance MPC
business and Technology graduates’ career
success. To uncover and capture opportunities
to provide value for the business community.
Goals from the Mission
• To integrate accounting, marketing, leadership,
management, law, business technology training and
other skills learned at MPC in coordinated project
based learning.
• To enable students to create a marketable capstone
accomplishment portfolio.
• To build an effective interaction forum to help build
relationships with members of the business community.
• To foster interaction among students, Faculty & Staff,
and business.
• To Create a visible, active example of MPC leadership
within the community as a highly desirable education
resource for students and businesses.
Core Strategy:
Project Integration
• Coordinate term projects between
business & technology classes which
begin and end at “hand off” points
between classes.
• Capture and present projects where
people can see and use them.
• Facilitate business interaction via
project involvement.
Project Integration Approach
Sequential “hand-off” project stages
– Groups complete one project stage. That
work is picked up by another group to build
the next stage.
– Example: First Industry financial analysis.
Next market research. Next Build budgets.
Finally, complete and present a business plan.
Business Technology skills and law consult as
needed.
Project Integration Approach Issues
Sequential “hand-off” project stages
– How do we execute the hand-off?
– Where can students & instructors store stages
& find the next assignment?
– How do we know what is required for the next
step?
Sequential “hand-off” project stages
• Other benefits to capture:
– Marketable capstone student projects
– Community interaction
– MPC learning experience showcase
– Exposure for students, the school, and a
mechanism to capture project suggestions
– Site traffic generation to further other goals
The Web Based Solution:
Project Integration
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Project concept generation
Project stage development
Recruiting student participation
Connecting project stages
Completed stage and project exposure
Other bonuses & potential
The development of Business Central
A walk through the site
Site walk through activities
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Submit a project concept
Review a project assignment sheet
View a completed project stage
View a completed project
Explore some other features
Email site suggestions!
Post an assignment
Building the Site
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Conceptual design on PowerPoint
Team building
Prototyping / beta testing
Implementing
Student involvement
Evolution
The Site
• In-house server
• Microsoft environment
• Direct editing
– SharePoint, FrontPage
• MS Office integrated
• Collaborative as far as we are willing to
trust
• Minimizes customization lowering our total
cost of ownership
Minimum Hardware
• You may already have all you need
• Or
• Server: P4, 2ghz with 36 gig mirrored
drives
– $3,000+
Minimum Software
Microsoft Environment
• Windows 2003 server $88 - $151 (w/SA)
• Includes Share Point services!
• We also used Front Page for more detailed formatting
• MS Select 6 Pricing
• California Education Consortiums & Foundations & all public
learning institutions may be eligible for this special $88
pricing
• www.collegebuys.org
• Student use (for allowing student uploads)
• External connector $637 - $1,100 (w/SA)
• Otherwise, there are options
• Linux based Microsoft emulators
This is the end, but the end is
just the beginning!
-T.S. Eliot
www.mpcfaculty.net/bustechdiv