Response: Georgia Southern University School of Nursing

1. Read topic: Check the websites for two or more departments in your college or university. Are the parts of the websites arranged in the same order? Are there good reasons for any differences you see? Does the structure of the site reflect the organizational structure ("who we are") or reasons why users come to the site (for example, to find courses required for majors)?
2: read my response: It is evident that from the websites located at georgiasouthern.edu, some of the parts are arranged in the same order but are only differentiated with the use of visual design effects. These differences can be depicted within two different departments with the primary reason for this aimed at capturing the reader's attention by the use of the visual design effects. These differences therefore enable the users to track the tools required within the search engine. The differences within each and every department clearly show each and every departments information, thus enabling the users to navigate through the site for information on the departments. The website through it logo also defines the organizations belief and considers the institutions mission and vision.
On the other hand, it is essential to consider that the structure of the site reflects the organizational structure since the website gives a presentation of the events within the institution, who and what the institution chooses to immortalize that speaks a greater deal about its values and beliefs. It is additionally necessary to consider the fact that the visual representation of this institution of learning through the use of logos also depicts the manner in which the website informs about the institutions organizational culture. This consequently determines the rationale behind people visiting the website to find some of the required information in regards to the courses they need to undertake. Visual representation within this site also adds texture to the site, a factor that attracts the users to dig more information from the site.
3: read both peer reviews and tell what you like/dislike,a free/disagree, about each post, keeping in mind my post and please keep them separate. One page per peer review.
Peer 1: I looked up the Georgia Southern University School of Nursing webpage and the Georgia Southern University Literature and Philosophy Department. Both of the webpages look very similar with a menu at the top and the home pages contain mission statements/purposes, and news events related to each department. They both contain courses, majors, minors, and faculty and staff lists. On the right hand side, they both contain links to applications to the specific schools, and contact information for each school. They are not identical and I ma not sure if this is because different people designed each webpage from a similar format, or if the differences are on purpose in order for each webpage to work best for each school.
The major differences are on the menu tabs. As I mentioned earlier, they both have courses, majors, minors, and faculty and staff lists. The nursing department also has tabs for study abroad, involvement, about the nursing school, which includes history, accreditation, philosophy, and mission statement. The Literature and Philosophy department has a tab for students, events, news, and a link to graduation applications and instructions. My thinking is that the Nursing and Literature and Philosophy departments were designed by two different people or teams of people from a similar format and that is the reason for them looking very similar, but being different. They were both designed for the purpose of conveying the necessary information to students and prospective students. They are easy to navigate and provide all the needed information that one would need for making a decision about joining the department, applying to the department, choosing courses, majors, and minors, and graduating from that certain department. The differences in the webpages comes from the different needs that each department has the different tools that they offer. They are both designed in a way that is consistent with the University.
Peer 2: I chose to take a look at Georgia Southern's Undergraduate site (http://admissions(dot)georgiasouthern(dot)edu/) and the Bursar's Office site (http://businesssrvs(dot)georgiasouthern(dot)edu/bursar/office-of-student-accounts/tuition-and-fees/). Both site seem to have the same basic structure. There are tabs toward the top that contain the original tabs for the main Georgia Southern webpage, below that is a picture that represents the school in some way. To the left side of the pictures is a box that contains the name of the department who's page you are on. The one different thing in this part was that the Admissions office also contained a box you can click to apply or check on the status of your application where the Bursars office had no additional information under their name. Under the pictures there are green tabs, on the Admissions page these tabs indicate they go to additional Admissions information. On the Bursar's page the tabs seem to go to other departments within the office. I think the difference with this is that the Admissions page covers it's own matters with the tabs as it is a single department, where as the Bursar's office covers many other departments and each one will have it's own unique tabs for it's own topics. The Bursar's page is specific for tuition and fees so there are blue links that go further into a breakdown of the fees. There are also links to specific term fees and such as you go further down the page. To the right of the page there are links to other departments, news, and contact information for the department. The Admissions page does not contain the individual links to narrow down it's topic, but it does have links to request more information. There are also places at the bottom of the page that have information on events, news, and contact information. The side of the Admissions page has helpful links for other departments and Admissions deadlines. I think that the pages differ due to the fact that one is a single department where the other is the larger entity of many departments and due to the nature of how many things the find immediately important to the user. You can clearly tell that the deadlines for Admission, applications, and status checks are most frequently sought from the Admissions page. You can see that the Bursar's office page was set up to give you the best information they can on tuition and fee rates for the terms available, but they also want to give you additional resources that you might need that relate to fees such as help from Accounts Receivable.