Allen Community College has always had an online website that allowed current and future students to look in the details of the school. Recently, the Allen website has been completely revamped and includes a more updated, more modern feel to it.

The upgraded website was launched March 27th, and includes features such as an automated ‘Reggie the Red Devil’ chat bot and a virtual map of the school. The website now features pictures from current staff members and students; new photos were taken all over the campus before the launching of the new website. The use of these updated pictures allow future prospective students to get a look into the true atmosphere and diversity of the campus.

Although the website is more modern and provides a multitude of helpful tabs and links, it can be hard to navigate due to the large quantity of information on the website. Additionally, the chatbot on the website was helpful when looking for answers to more general questions, but when asked about more specific questions, it only provided links to similar questions. For example, I asked the chatbot about athletics at Allen (I believe that many students come to Allen for athletics so I thought this would be a frequently asked question.) When I asked what athletic programs were at Allen, Reggie the Red Devil offered me guidance to academics or contacting the office.

Beyond my own use and analysis of the website, I reached out to current and prospective students to hear about their thoughts on the new website and their opinions differed largely from my own. One prospective student, Nicholas Kays, liked the website because everything was on one page.

“When I looked at other schools, some of their websites took me to several different pages,” Kays said.

When exploring the website, Kays found information that was very beneficial for him as a prospective student athlete. The only thing Kays found hard about navigating the website was trying to find the degrees that Allen offered.

“Overall, I think this is the best website I have seen from a college,” Kays said.

As for myself, I believe the new website upgrade has done its job of providing easier access to information for prospective students. The website is modern and clean looking and overall, gave a new sense of growth to Allen Community College as a whole.