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As technology improves, educational sites are evolving from digital brochures to marketing tools and communication hubs that feel familiar enough to make the entire community feel welcome.

Back in the mid-1990s, connecting online was not easy. As a student, my classmates and I decided to build a website for our school and use it to share stories online and find old friends in the area to meet up for beers. We called it an “alumni directory” and were excited to see the posts pile up almost immediately. We had obviously touched on a real need.  

Today, of course, social networking tools are much more advanced than the alumni directory we built, but so too are the websites we all use to interact with the schools that play such a huge part in our lives. Nevertheless, alumni directories still exist in the systems we build for schools today. And that got me wondering: What are the features we’re using today that will still be around in another quarter-century? What does the future of digital communication for schools and districts hold?

Focusing on User Experience

Websites of the past were, essentially, digital brochures that people could click through on a computer screen. These days the concern is much more about the user experience and accessibility. Designers are not just asking, “Okay, what is going to look really cool?” but rather, “What is a visitor to this website going to need when they visit? What are they looking for?” Front-end developers are focused on ensuring the sites are accessible to all users and optimized for all the ways we access information online.

Schools also need to market themselves, though. This is not a position schools are used to being in, but today there is much more competition for students, be it from private schools, charter schools, online schools, or even other public schools as a result of greater school choice. Each student enrolled in a school has a direct effect on the school’s budget, so it’s in their interest—and can even be a matter of survival—that they increase enrollment. We all know that educational attainment is linked to professional success, so parents and family members are going to look for the best possible education they can provide their child. As they do that, the website is going to be the first thing they see.