Welcome to The Dirksen Congressional Center's Communicator - a web-based e-newsletter providing educators with news and ideas to improve the understanding of Congress -- http://www.webcommunicator.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Monthly Feature - New Suite Redesign
2. Monthly Theme - Why Did We Need To Change?
3. What's The Difference?
4. Featured Grant-funded Project
5. News and Views from The Center
6. Trivia -- Web Suite Wonders
7. Postscript Information

1. NEW SUITE REDESIGN -- If you visit our Web suite, you will notice that it looks very different from the last time you visited. We are excited to announce a complete redesign of The Dirksen Congressional Center's Web suite -- http://www.dirksencongressionalcenter.org. We have redesigned the Web suite to make it more accessible, easier to navigate, visually attractive, and updated.

After several months of intense work and testing, we believe we have created a great looking suite with lots of functionality and an enormous amount of resources for your classroom. If you're familiar with our "old" suite, don't panic! Over 90 percent of the old content remains, but we've replaced outdated or little-used information with brand new content.

Read more to learn about the technology driving this site.

2. WHY DID WE NEED TO CHANGE? -- Simple. We listened to you -- our users. You wanted a suite that's easy to use and full of fresh new content, so that's what we did. We wanted to take advantage of advances in evolving Web technology and make the suite more intuitive to use -- make it more user-friendly.

There were other equally important factors that triggered a redesign, too. These factors not only influence the success of our suite but also the success of The Center.

Below are three questions that helped us determine the need for a redesign.

• Does our suite deliver the right image…and the right experience?

  The image and user experience delivered by our suite are critical to its success. The bottom line is that we realize our suite cannot attract new visitors or engage and retain existing users if it doesn't project the right image and provide a great experience.

• Does our suite reflect where The Center is going…or where it's been?

  Can you think of the last time you received an out-of-date company brochure? They are so much work to produce and so expensive to print that many companies send them out until they run out. In a sense, our Web suite is our company brochure but it doesn't run out. We know that if we don't update and refresh our content often, the suite will become stale and lose its effectiveness. During the redesign, we took a close look at our suite to make sure its image, content, and features are helping teachers take their classroom in the direction they want to go -- not limiting their ability to do so.

• Does our suite ignore important visitors?

  Most Web sites address the visitors who know what they want and are ready to take action. However, we believe it is important to provide ways to engage visitors in earlier stages of the information-gathering and decision-making, otherwise we miss out on a future user.

Put simply, our new suite will appeal to three types of visitors:

1. I know what I want and I know where I need to go to find it.
2. I know approximately what I want and I'll make a decision once I find the right solution.
3. I need a resource but I don't really know what I want.

3. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

The Word Game - Tag lines, keywords, and links -- We have improved your ability to find what you want more quickly by using clear, concise tag lines and keywords in setting up each site. For example, visit The Dirksen Center -- http://www.dirksencenter.org. Notice the title of the site at the top of your screen, The Dirksen Center - Promoting a Better Understanding of Congress and Its Leaders. I'll spare you the technical details, but the behind-the-scenes programming will result in more accurate hits if you use a search engine.

Our link titles are more descriptive, too. For example, visit AboutGovernment -- http://www.aboutgovernment.org/usgov_contents.htm. Notice how the Executive Branch is broken down into sections - agencies, cabinets, first ladies, presidents, and vice-presidents. Here users can click on a specific link and know exactly the topic of the information that is offered taking them to targeted content.

Printable Version -- Web pages become harder and harder to read as they get more complex with images and links. Many of our resources are so long that it's easier to read them in print. So, we added a "Printable Version" on each of our pages in the redesigned suite.

For example, visit Congress in the Classroom® Online -- http://www.congressclass.org/assignments_contents.htm. Congress in the Classroom® Online is organized as a series of separate but related topical units. Each assignment consists of a summary, a statement of objectives to be served by completing the assignment, links to the resources necessary to do that, and an activity (or choice of activities) to apply the lesson. Brief descriptions of each assignment are available by clicking Printable Version.

What is different about the printable versions?

• Our printable versions include black text on a white background. Most people use black & white printers, and colored backgrounds can use up a lot of ink.
• Most Web pages are written in a sans-serif font because it is easier to read online. We created our printable versions using a serif font which is easier to read when printing.
• Our Web sites are written using a small font size, but we increased the font size to 12pt text for printing.
• We removed non-essential images, limiting images to those that are required for the resource and the site's logo banner across the top of the printable page.
• What makes a Web page difficult to print is side-navigation. In our printable versions, we removed the side-navigation to allow the text more room across the screen, making it easier to read when printing. You can still get to the other sites in our suite by clicking the links just below the logo banner across the top of each printable page.
• We have removed all JavaScript on our printable versions because it doesn't print well or at all.
• All of our printable versions open in a separate browser window. This way our users can get back to the exact page online if they need to follow a link or get more information. Users can also print out resources and photocopy them for use in class.

Good Navigation -- Good navigation is the most critical aspect of our redesigned Web suite. If our suite doesn't have a sensible scheme, it will confuse our users and chase them away no matter how good our suite looks, or how much useful information it offers. Our redesigned Web suite offers a simple, logical, understandable navigation scheme carried out consistently on each site.

We applied these basic rules to our navigation and made them clear on all of our sites:

• Tell visitors exactly what is available.
• Help them get to the parts they want quickly.
• Make it easy for our users to request additional information.

For example, visit CongressLink -- http://www.congresslink.org. Here you will see that this site is divided into three major sections: (1) Congress: The 108th provides up-to-date information about the current Congress: the senators and representatives (and how to contact them), their leaders, the congressional schedule, pending legislation, campaigns and elections, and more; (2) Congress: The Basics includes historical and contemporary information about Congress as an institution, the lawmaking process, the nature of leadership in Congress, and the characteristics and duties of Congress members. (This section includes several related essays by scholar); and (3) Congress: Teaching It provides resources to help teach about Congress, including lesson plans, WebQuests, links to related Web sites, Bloom's taxonomy, and a glossary and historical notes linked to other site features.

4. FEATURED GRANT-FUNDED PROJECT

** Special Project Grants **

The Dirksen Center has made two Special Project Grants. Learn more about these projects at: http://www.dirksencenter.org/grants_specialprojects.htm.

In November 2004, The Center will announce a new grants program designed to improve the public's understanding of Congress. Stay tuned!

5. NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE CENTER

** Congress in the Classroom Online Enrollment Options Expanded **

Teachers have two enrollment options for the Congress in the Classroom® Online course.

• The certified option requires you to register, submit a plan of work, and complete eight assignments. Once you complete them by producing the corresponding work products, The Center will issue you a "Certificate of Completion" listing all the assignments you selected. Teachers who seek professional development credits may prefer this option.
  
  
• The open enrollment option allows you access to all features of the site but does not require you to register (registration is optional and encouraged), submit a plan of work, or produce the work products specified in each assignment. The open enrollment option will appeal to those who want to pick and choose from the assignments but who do not have the time to take the certified course.

For more course information, visit: http://congressclass.org/courseinformation_contents.htm.

6. WEB SUITE WONDERS

1. What 7 benefits does The Dirksen Center gain from a good Web site design?

Okay, we know this is a tough one, so we will give you the answer this month.

Answer:

1. Enhanced visibility and image of The Center.
2. Targeted communication with key audiences.
3. Opportunities to build Center support.
4. Opportunities to help foster public trust in the U.S. Congress.
5. Opportunities to help teachers increase their students' knowledge and understanding of the U.S. Congress.
6. New ways for The Center to receive ongoing and useful insights into what its most engaged users care about.
7. Knowledge about Congress which could encourage the public to become more engaged participants in democracy.

Answers to the June issue of Fun, Facts, and Trivia link here: http://www.webcommunicator.org/funfactstrivia0604ans.htm.

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