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Online at Copper Mountain College: a Comparison of Five Colleges
Linda Deneher
Boise State University

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Abstract
With the steadily increasing availability of online curricula in California community
colleges, it is necessary for educational institutions such as Copper Mountain Community
College (CMC), to monitor the offerings of other schools in the state that are also
competing for the same student population. Features of the CMC Web site, in particular
those located on the home page, were compared with the identical features found at four
other community college campuses in California. These schools, Lake Tahoe Community
College, Lassen Community College, Lemoore Community College, and Woodland
Community College, were chosen randomly from all California community colleges with
a population of less than 5,000 students. Results of this evaluation found features unique
to CMC that have a negative impact. The first is that the word count of their home page,
including all menus and associated links, is 25 times higher than the total on the lowest
school observed, and three times higher than the total of the next closest school. The
second negative unique feature is that CMC is the only one of the five schools currently
unable to register students online or provide online access to grades. In order to provide
an attractive, easy-to-use Internet portal, barriers to engagement with the website should
be eliminated. Necessary changes include restructuring the content on the CMC
homepage so that essential information is not obscured. Adding online registration and
access to grades will make CMC more attractive to students considering pursuing their
education online.
Introduction
Copper Mountain Community College (CMC) is a junior college located in
Joshua Tree, California. CMC is the only school in the Copper Mountain College district.
The school offers degrees and certificates in Art, Automotive Technology, Business,
Communications, Computer Information Systems, Computer Science, Fire Technology,
Health Sciences, Liberal Arts, Mathematics, Sciences, Social Sciences, and Spanish.
Courses include those which are fully online, hybrid, or web-enhanced, and are
delivered through Blackboard with a link on the CMC Web site. In the spring term of the
2009 school year, enrollment at CMC was 2,233. During the 2008 – 2009 school year,
200 of those students took asynchronous courses taught using the Internet.
CMC’s Web site’s coverage of their online access to students through the portal
of their Web site’s home page is being evaluated in relation to four other California
community colleges. These four schools, Lake Tahoe, Lassen, Lemoore, and Woodland,
were randomly selected from the population of all California community colleges with a
student population less than 5,000. All five schools share the characteristic of serving a
small student population with a correspondingly small budget.
Tables present information taken from each school’s Web site regarding
accessibility to online courses as represented by ease of navigation through each school’s
site, the quality of the directions, the overall appearance, the ability to take applications,
register students, provide grades, and course schedules online. The evaluation discovered
that of the five colleges, CMC is the only one without online access for students to
registration and grades.

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Program Description
Online courses, like all courses offered at CMC, are available to anyone who is
over age 18 or has graduated from high school. The college runs on the semester system
with Fall, Spring, and Summer sessions comprising the school year. Courses may be
taken for credit in preparation for a degree or certificate, or may be non-credit courses
intended to advance personal growth. All students are required to apply online and
assessment is done online through Accuplacer. A face-to-face orientation is required for
all new students.
Access to online content takes place through students’ use of the CMC Web site.
The CMC Web site is maintained by their Marketing Department, and the changes that
will result from the findings of this evaluation are intended to increase functionality of
the Web site and enrollment in online courses.
Evaluation Method
The colleges selected for comparison with CMC are all similar sizes. Larger
community colleges have larger budgets, and are able to provide a higher level of
services than the smaller schools. Their Web sites are correspondingly more
sophisticated. The four California community colleges tabled below with CMC were
randomly selected from the population of all California community colleges with a
student population less than 5,000. Population statistics were located at the Web page for
the California Community College’s Chancellor’s Office, Divisions, Technical Research
and Information, Management Information Systems, Data Mart and Reports.
Table 1. Comparison of Student Population during the 2009 Spring Term
The websites to be compared with CMC shall be thoroughly examined by the
evaluator. Entry will be gained through each site’s home page and navigation will
proceed according to the way links are arranged and connected on each site. Data will be
collected through direct observation of each page, described in detail, and summarized in
a table allowing for the comparison of common features. They will be identified through
searches for information, text as well as links, regarding accessibility to the entire site
while noting the quality of the directions, and the overall appearance of each home page.
Information gathered will show whether or not they are able to accept online applications,
register students, provide grades for completed courses, and course schedules.

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Results of the Observation of Each Site
CMC:
Navigation: Several features of the site cause difficulties regarding navigation. The drop-
down menus close themselves if they are being changed at the same time a slide changes
in the slideshow. A link to Blackboard is located near the bottom of the home page. The
misalignment of several of the slide out links results in some selections being
inaccessible from these menus. Clicking the link for Students/What do I Need to Know
About an Online Class? redirects users to the home page.
Directions: Sparse. Getting copies of grades requires that students download and print a
form, fill it out, and fax it to CMC. The directions do not mention that the student needs
to first fill out the form.
Appearance: There is so much information contained on the home page that it is difficult
to locate essential information, such as accessing registration information and access to
grades. Items duplicated in other section of the site further distract attention from
essential information. There are inconsistent font colors in all sidebar menus.
Usability:
Online Application: Yes
Online Registration: No
Online Access to Grades: No
Online Schedules: Yes
Lake Tahoe
Navigation: there is a large slideshow containing photographs including areas off
campus, and this school is the only one to have non-campus locations featured. This
focus on the surrounding area may be an effective recruitment tool in promoting
attendance at Lake Tahoe.
Directions: the top navigation bar contains a prominent a link to Web Services for
submitting an online application, or chat with a counselor. The Web Services page has a

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concise table with links to online services, but has spacing errors in its text. The
application instructions page uses red text, red background in a cautionary box, both bold
and underlining making for an unfriendly feel to the page.
Appearance: there is no consistent palette of colors used in text or backgrounds. The
slideshow runs too fast to be seen easily, and is a distraction at that speed.
Usability:
Online Application: Yes
Online Registration: Yes
Online Access to Grades: Yes
Online Schedules: yes, also searchable. They can be mailed, if requested.
Lassen
Navigation: this site has the most functional navigation. One large, prominent link gives
access to WebAdvisor for schedules, searching and registration, and grades.
Directions: enrolment process is a PDF download and the instructions are unhelpful.
Appearance: this site is attractive. The slideshow is on the right side of the screen and is
less distracting than the one at CMC
Usability:
Online Application: Yes
Online Registration: Yes
Online Access to Grades: Yes
Online Schedules: Yes

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Lemoore:
Navigation: dropdown menus at the top are easy to utilize; but the 55 links on the home
page makes rapid navigation difficult for the novice user. This site has the only stoppable
slideshow.
Directions: the online enrollment page has a sidebar menu showing all the steps at once,
which is very convenient for first time users.
Appearance: the large number of links on the home page distracts from essential
information.
Usability:
Online Application: Yes
Online Registration: Yes
Online Access to Grades: Yes
Online Schedules: Yes

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Woodland:
Navigation: a dropdown menu is available that contains a link with the text “Apply now!”
Directions: there are application and online orientation links on the home page. A link for
website suggestions makes the site feel approachable.
Appearance: this page is attractive; there are two unchanging photographs of the campus
with flowers.
Usability:
Online Application: Yes
Online Registration: Yes
Online Access to Grades: Yes
Online Schedules: Yes
Discussion
The purpose of this evaluation is to guide the choices and direction of Copper
Mountain as it improves its Web site and its ability to provide services to its students that
are similar in nature and quality with other small, California community colleges. The
following similarities and differences in services were found when comparing CMC to
Lake Tahoe, Lassen, Lemoore, and Woodland Community College.
As seen in the table below, CMC is the only school observed which is not
currently registering students online or providing access to the grades. CMC does not
mail grades to students. To get access to grades without going to the campus, students
must go online and locate the PDF of the correct form. Then they need to print, complete,
and sign it, and fax it to the school. The other four schools have registration and grades
provided by third-party providers.

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Apply Register Grades Schedules
Copper Mountain Yes No No Yes
Lake Tahoe Yes Yes Yes Yes
Lassen Yes Yes Yes Yes
Lemoore Yes Yes Yes Yes
Woodland Yes Yes Yes Yes
Several things hamper usability on the site. The amount of information contained
on the CMC home page is excessive and much of it is superfluous. It is difficult to locate
essential information. None one of the other schools evaluated had as much text on their
home page as CMC. The word count for the home page, consisting of the home pages’
text plus all the text contained in home page menus, for CMC is 5,347, compared to
Lassen at 1,613, Lemoore with 439, Woodland’s 392 and Lake Tahoe with a sparse 188.
The large amount on information contained on the CMC home page stands out
significantly in the chart below, and may indicate that a change in the home page could
benefit by the removal of duplicated and non-essential items. In the following images of
the home pages, it can be seen that the level of visual organization is less apparent at
CMC than the others.
Other findings include that navigation CMC requires more steps to use compared
to all other schools. The home page has a navigation bar at the top of the page with drop
down menus which all close by themselves when the image in the slideshow changes.
The side menus have slide out links that are difficult to keep open which also hinders
navigation. Directions on the CMC site require more steps to access that other schools,
again hampered by the drop down and slide out menus that close themselves. The
appearance of the menus, in particular those on the left side the pages, is inconsistent.
Font colors within this menu are inconsistent and appear to be unrelated to the content of
each colored selection. The link to the schedule is particularly well done. It is centrally
located, marked, and the image is of good quality.
Recommendations include the following: get registration and grades online,
reduce the amount of text on the home page, repair the navigation links, make the
schedule searchable, and reduce the size and number of images in the slideshow. Since
use of the home page is limited by the closing of the navigation links when the images

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change in the slideshow, this must be fixed. The large size of the slideshow window
forces users to scroll down each page for essential information, further limiting use of the
CMC home page. The graphics themselves are commendable, and the site would benefit
by use elsewhere.
Timeline of Evaluator Responsibilities
The evaluator shall perform the following during Week One:
 in a random manner, locate four California community colleges with a student
population size similar to CMC
 examine the home page of each site
 determine significant features of the sites and their home pages
The evaluator shall perform the following during Week Two:
 compare features of each site and determine significant characteristics
 compare significant characteristics noting outstanding features
 report all finding and results in written form on or before the specified due
date of December 8, 2009
Project Cost
Evaluator’s salary: four days at $500.00 per day/$2,000.00
Computer access: four days at $100.00 per day/$400.00
Printing: $49.95
Subtotal: $2,449.95
California sales tax: 8.25% of $2,449.95/ $296.93
Total: $2,746,88
Payable in full is required upon receipt of the final report. All sales are final. No refunds.

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References
Copper Mountain Community College. www.cmccd.edu
Lake Tahoe Community College. www.ltcc.ed
Lassen Community College. www.lassencollege.edu
Lemoore Community College. www.westhillscollege.com/lemoore/index.php
Woodland Community College. www.yccd.edu/woodland
California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.
https://misweb.cccco.edu/mis/onlinestat/studdemo_coll_cube.cfm