All UA statewide sites to transition from Roxen to OU Campus website platform

OIT is in the process of migrating all UA websites from Roxen to OU Campus. OU Campus is a web content management system that’s fast and easy to use, and is designed specifically for higher education. It’s currently used by hundreds of colleges and universities. The new system features a number of advanced layouts and features based on modern website design trends and the needs of university users. The new OU Campus templates meet required ADA compliance standards, as well as contain all disclaimers required by federal law.

The new platform features:

  • Easy-to-use editing tools
  • Advanced features for a variety of layout presentations
  • Customizable workflows for content updates and approvals
  • Built-in checkers for accessibility and web-code errors
  • Social media integration
  • Templates for news and events
  • Image and video-enabled carousels
  • Comprehensive customer training and support

All statewide sites must migrate to the new web platform. Transitioning to OU Campus and using the new templates will present UA websites as well organized and branded as is expected from a modern university. Research shows that consistent visual design is best practice because it leads users to feel familiar and comfortable with a website, making it user-friendly and helps them get to their desired destination.

Most of the Roxen content will be the same in OU Campus, however, there will be some content that will need to be modified or cleaned up in the new system, depending on the complexity and uniqueness of the site. OIT and Public Affairs will be available to assist site owners with this cleanup.

In preparation for the transition, take a look at the two training areas available to help users get started in OU Campus. The first is a training website that gives users most of the insights they will need when interacting with OU Campus. The second training area is in Blackboard Learn Organization named OU Campus Training Resources. There are also demo sites for both statewide and UAF. You can do the training at your own pace, but you’ll need to complete it before you can be granted editing permissions.

If you manage a Roxen website but haven’t yet heard from the Office of Information Technology about migrating your site, don’t worry, you’ll be hearing from them soon! Once the migration is started, your Roxen site will be made read-only. There are typically only a few days required for OIT to go through the site and ensure it is ready to review and edit. After that, OIT will contact the page owner. The current Roxen websites will remain live until the site owner validates the OU Campus version and approves it to go live.

For more information about the transition to OU Campus, visit OIT’s OU Campus project page, or contact the OIT Support Center at 450-8300 or helpdesk@alaska.edu.