On March 12 the world wide web will celebrate it’s 25th anniversary. NMC was asked to contribute to an article about the anniversary for the Traverse City Ticker. Here we share the background of the web at NMC.
Online course enrollment:
NMC offered its first online and hybrid courses in the fall of 1998. A total of 91 students enrolled in six courses:
- MUS 110: Music Appreciation
- BUS 261: Business Law I
- ENG 111: English Composition
- PHL 202: Contemporary Ethical Dilemmas
- PSY 250: Abnormal Psychology
- VCA 120: Intro to Computers & Art
By comparison, during the 2013-14 academic year, more than 70 classes are being offered online as well as in hybrid formats (50-75 percent online, the remainder on campuses.) Eight different online degree/certificate programs are available. Details on this can be found here.
Online enrollment in Fall 2013 was 1,725 (NOTE: that is not a headcount as the same student might be taking more than one course.)
The evolution of NMC’s website, www.nmc.edu
- Pre-web: Several NMC staff members were instrumental in “Traverse City Freenet” an early (pre web server) networked system available through NMC via dial-up connection. They also installed “Gopher” software, a text-based system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol) ) that appeared on the internet before web browsers became available
- Fall 1994: NMC got its first web server software and introduced the site. The earliest site was actually on elmo.nmc.edu, and it wasn’t until about 1997(?) that it was moved to the present url, www.nmc.edu.
- Fall 2001: WNMC radio began streaming its programming online at www.wnmc.org
- July 2009: nmc.edu is redesigned and a content management system is introduced.
- In 2013, www.nmc.edu got almost two million visits and 4.8 million page views
- Mobile users continue to grow. In 2012, 10 percent of users accessed the site via mobile device (7 percent via smartphones, 3 percent tablets.) In 2013 that rose to 13 percent (9 percent phones, 4 percent tablets.) So far in 2014, nearly 20 percent have accessed the site via a mobile device.
What are website users looking for?
- The top five search terms on the site over the past year were “employment,” “jobs,” “bookstore,” “calendar” and “email.”
- The top five search terms over the past month were “jobs,” “calendar,” “employment,” “academic calendar” and “spring break.”