Best Education Sites: The Schools that Rule the Web

BEST EDUCATION SITES THE SCHOOLS THAT RULE THE WEB How can the U.S. boost college students' grades? The Internet, of course. Recent studies prove it: increased engagement between educators and students via email and social media has a positive effect on learning. Best Education Sites' comprehensive data set shows that a college's web presence is more than just marketing-it's often an indicator of an institution's overall quality. Scroll through to see how your school measures up. THE INTERNET IS REVOLUTIONIZING EDUCATION College Students vs. the National Adult Average USE THE INTERNET HAVE HOME BROADBAND ACCESS USE WIRELESS INTERNET VIA LAPTOP OR PHONE USE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES NATIONAL ADULT AVERAGE 75% 66% 57% 60% COLLEGE STUDENTS 99% 95% 92% 86% TOP-RANKED SCHOOLS ARE THE CHAMPS OF THE WEB UNIVERSITY ALL OF AMERICA'S UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX RACUSE BEST UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UNIVER- SITIES, CULTORS SCIENTIA SCORONAL BERKELEY SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY IS THE MOST ACTIVE TWITTER USER NOT SURPRISINGLY, HAVE THE BEST WEB PRESENCE. ARE THE ONLY SCHOOLS WITH OVER 1,000,000 YOUTUBE VIEWS AND HAS MADE OVER 10,000 TWEETS ALLTOP 50 SCHOOLS FEATURED ON U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORTS ARE IN THE BEST OVERALL ALEXA RANK GOES TO THE WEBSITE OF THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SACRAMENTO BEST ED SITES STANFORD UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX AN ONLINE INSTITUTION, HAS AN ALARMING TOP 400 1296 CSS 198 IS THE MOST ACTIVE 1891 facebook WITH A RANK OF USER ERRORS WITH OVER 1600 PRINCETON & YALE WALL POSTS WERE TWO OF THE FIRST UNIVERSITIES TO REGISTER FOR EASILY TOPPING THE » TWITTER y 40 ERROR AVERAGE MAY 1,2007 FOR THE TOP 400 UNIVERSITIES BOTH JOINING ON SOCIAL MEDIA WARRIORS 711,688 MOST FACEBOOK LIKES 7.St RARVAND HARVARD UNIVERSITY 67,279s MOST TWITTER FOLLOWERS HARVARD HARVARD UNIVERSITY You RSITY OF Tube 5,046,491 ves MOST YOUTUBE CHANNEL VIEWS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY WHO WINS ON THE WEB? Harvard rules the Ivies while UC Berkeley races ahead of the Youtube pack. facebook You Tube twitter LIKES CHANNEL VIEWS FOLLOWERS ALEXA RANK HARVARD UNIVERSITY HARVARD UNIVERSITY HARVARD UNIVERSITY HARVARD UNIVERSITY 1635 IVY LEAGUE 711,688 892,585 67,279 WEST VIRGINIA SETON HALL MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY 12,328 RUTGERS UNIVERSITY 5857 BIG EAST UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY 148,161 361,615 UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI 147,557 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI 15,612 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 5790 ACC 166,433 LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY AUBURN UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 5402 SEC UNIVERSITY 466,301 187,404 17,443 BIG 10 OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 382,198 PENNSYLVANIA INDIANA UNIVERSITY PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY 3049 STATE UNIVERSITY 369,428 27,253 TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY 18,933 BIG 12 UNIVERSITY OF UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS 145,183 UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN 2861 TEXAS AT AUSTIN 327,260 STANFORD UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY 5,046,491 STANFORD UNIVERSITY STANFORD UNIVERSITY 1296 PAC 12 227,575 45,917 FACEBOOK LIKES VS. DOMAIN AUTHORITY If a school is likely to do well in search engines, they're probably popular on Facebook, too. 800,000 700,000 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 DOMAIN AUTHORITY EDUCATION SITES GO GRAY Surprisingly, yellow is used over 5X more often than red on education sites. ORANGE RED 3% 2% YELLOW BLACK 16% 20% GREEN BLUE 7% 15% PURPLE GRAY 4% 33% abc SANS SERIF FONTS DOMINATE The vast majority of schools go with clean and modern fonts like Arial, Verdana and Helvetica. CcD CONSOLE 1% SERIF 5% JjNkLIMn RRSSTTUU 0123456 SANS SERIF 94% WHOSE CODE IS CLEAN? Of the top 10 engineering schools, the one with the most W3C errors on its website may surprise you. 231 MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY #2 ERRORS #3 CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY STANFORD UNIVERSITY ERRORS ERRORS #4 #5 #6 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 33 ERRORS ERRORS ERRORS #7 #8 #9 #10 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN CORNELL UNIVERSITY 23 ERRORS ERRORS ERRORS ERRORS THE WEB CAN MAKE OR BREAK A SCHOOL While some schools have quickly adapted to the new landscape of online engagement, many others have been slower to respond. In a world in which virtually every student is online, the schools that separate themselves from the pack will be the ones who meet them there. BESTEDSITES.COM FACEBOOK LIKES