We are the champions! Transforming web editors into Web Champions

Getting buy in—the elusive and ever-just-out-of-reach conundrum that higher-ed web teams deal with regularly. How do we get our university’s web editors to actively use Drupal… and like it? Trinity has developed a “Web Champion” training/transition model, where folks trained on Drupal are ‘champions’ for it as our CMS, thus becoming champions for our choices in IA, UX, and all those other acronyms.

Trinity’s model used to include training anyone and everyone who wanted access to the site. We use “training” loosely, here—faculty and staff (and even students!) would get a 1-hour crash course, chock full of tech jargon, and be turned out into the wild to wreak havoc on our web pages. Not intentionally, of course: but the entire system was so decentralized, we lacked the management and resources to keep our web editors in check.

With the implementation of Drupal and adoption of Drupal’s Organic Groups, permission settings allowed us to start over with a clean slate. We identified key personas within multiple departments and offices and invited their feedback to understand specific UX use cases.

We then used this feedback to develop a common training session, with each session tweaked specifically for its audience. Audiences were based on the types of content they most edit and their skill level or comfort with web tools in general.

Yet training didn’t stop with our initial 1-on-1 to 1-on-3 training sessions. At the end of each session, editors were give a badge for becoming Web Champions—a title that comes with both great power and great responsibility.

In addition, Web Champions earn “continuing education” credits in order to maintain their editing rights, both in Drupal and with tools that enhance web presences (such as photo editing, copywriting for the web, and analytics). All combined, Trinity’s Web Champions feel empowered to make and advise on decisions within their own university teams.

How do you find your champion? And how do you train them to champion the project to their colleagues and peers?