Prior to the start of the website re-development project, the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s (TCDSB) project team, along with the vendor, conducted engagement sessions with various stakeholder groups.
Goals
The main goals of the engagement sessions were to:
- Understand users’ likes and dislikes of the previous website.
- Understand users’ needs and general requirements for the new website.
Stakeholder Engagement
In addition to a public survey, engagement sessions were conducted virtually and in-person in the spring of 2022 with the following TCDSB stakeholder groups:
- Trustees
- System Leaders
- School Principals and Vice-Principals
- TCDSB Families
- TCDSB Staff
- Catholic Parent Involvement Committee (CPIC)
- Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic Education (OAPCE) - Toronto
- Advisory Committees
- Unions
- Catholic Student Leadership Impact Team (CSLIT)
Feedback
While there were some variations of feedback received from stakeholder groups, several themes emerged regarding the previous TCDSB website, including:
- Dated look and feel.
- Too much information. Outdated information.
- Chaotic. Cluttered. Unorganized.
- Confusing and overwhelming navigation menus.
- Too many clicks needed to reach destination.
- Lack of pictures.
- Not mobile friendly.
- Inaccurate and unreliable search function.
Launch of New Website
Guided by the knowledge from stakeholder engagement sessions, industry best practices and vendor experience and technical capabilities, the project team worked with the vendor to re-design and re-develop the entire website. The revamped website was subsequently launched in August 2022.
Website Feedback Survey
A survey was posted on the new website and shared with all TCDSB users to solicit feedback about the new website. The survey is open to the public and is available until November 1, 2022.
Feedback from the survey will help TCDSB make improvements, as we continue to fine-tune the website in the coming months.