When Harvard moved to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, it launched three important new teaching and learning websites in just two days using OpenScholar. 

Teach Remotely

Learn Remotely

Work Remotely

As soon as we heard this, we wanted to learn more about the people and process that pulled it off.

I spoke with Dustin Tingley, Harvard's Deputy Vice Provost for Advances in Learning and Professor of Government to hear how he brought remote teams and content together for the fast launch. 

He shares how the Vice Provost’s office, faculty, marketing, and IT collaborated to:

• Create a site building strategy
• Structure + prioritize content 
• Launch the new sites
• Collect feedback
• Measure success

Whether you're working on your next paper, interviewing, recruiting, or raising funding, an up-to-date website will help you get there. 

Faculty Pages versus Faculty Websites

First let’s identify what you have to work with. 

Most university faculty have a page within their institution’s website. These pages typically contain basic information including a headshot, short bio, department and contact information.

Faculty pages can be hard to update if you don’t control your page directly. To make changes, you may have to update the faculty directory that powers the page, or submit a change request form or IT ticket. It can be a long process. 

The university also usually controls the design of the faculty page and the url that you get. This is to provide a consistent web and brand experience for visitors.

But there is a silver lining. There is usually a spot on your faculty page where you can link to a website that you control. 

You’ll need two things to make that website great