Student User Journey Project

Improving the Student Web Experience at Portland State University

Portland State University partnered with higher education marketing and research agency SimpsonScarborough on a Student User Journey Project focused on improving how prospective and current students experience PSU’s web ecosystem.

The project examined the student journey from initial exploration through enrollment and graduation, with particular attention to how students find, understand and act on information across pdx.edu.

The research and strategy phase concluded in September 2026 with recommendations for creating a more focused, student-centered and sustainable PSU web experience.

Project Goals

The Student User Journey Project was designed to help PSU better understand how students experience our website today and identify opportunities to improve that experience.

The project focused on several key goals:

• Better understand the needs, expectations and behaviors of prospective and current students
• Identify barriers that make important information difficult to find, understand or act on
• Improve pathways for first-year, transfer and graduate students
• Strengthen the presentation and organization of academic program information
• Identify opportunities to simplify and consolidate PSU’s web content
• Develop recommendations for a more sustainable approach to web content ownership, standards and governance

What We Learned and Developed

The project combined student and stakeholder research with an extensive assessment of PSU’s current web ecosystem, including:

• Student focus groups and stakeholder interviews
• Website analytics and user behavior
• Peer and competitor research
• Review of navigation, content structure and student user flows
• Analysis of chatbot queries and other indicators of student information needs
• Assessment of PSU’s current content, governance and web publishing practices

Together, these findings informed a comprehensive web strategy and proposed future-state information architecture for pdx.edu.

The recommendations call for a more focused public website organized around the needs of prospective students, clearer and more consistent academic program information, simpler pathways to essential information, substantial consolidation of duplicative and outdated content, and stronger university-wide web governance.

A Collaborative Effort

The Student User Journey Project was led by University Marketing & Communications in partnership with SimpsonScarborough and included participation from students and representatives across Portland State.

The work incorporated perspectives from university leadership, Enrollment Management, The Graduate School, OIT, academic and student-support units, web content editors and other campus partners. Students provided direct feedback about their experiences finding and using information across PSU’s digital ecosystem.

This cross-university collaboration will continue to be important as PSU considers how to prioritize and implement the recommendations.

Key Strategy Directions

The final strategy provides a framework for creating a more focused, intuitive and sustainable web experience for PSU students and prospective students. Major recommendations include:

• Focus the public website more intentionally on prospective students. Make recruitment and exploration central to the organization and presentation of pdx.edu while maintaining clear pathways to essential information for current students and other audiences.
• Create clearer pathways for different student populations. Better support first-year, transfer and graduate students in finding information relevant to where they are in their journey.
• Strengthen academic program content. Make program pages more consistent, useful and compelling, with clearer information about academics, outcomes, requirements and next steps.
• Simplify the web experience. Reduce duplicative, outdated and low-value content and create clearer pathways to the information students need most.
• Establish clearer web governance. Define ownership, standards and decision-making across the university so that content remains accurate, consistent and sustainable over time.
• Design for continuous improvement. Use analytics, student feedback and ongoing assessment to understand whether the web experience is meeting user needs and where further improvements are needed.

These recommendations provide strategic direction rather than a final implementation plan. Decisions about specific changes will be made as PSU develops priorities, sequencing, resources and technical approaches for the next phase of work.

Project Timeline

Project Status

The Student User Journey Project completed its research and strategy phase in September 2026. SimpsonScarborough’s final recommendations draw on input from students, university leaders, web content editors and other stakeholders, along with website analytics, peer research, chatbot queries and an assessment of PSU’s current web ecosystem.

The resulting strategy establishes a vision and framework for improving the student web experience. It also makes clear that meaningful improvement will require more than a visual redesign. Content strategy, information architecture, governance, technology and ongoing management of the website will need to work together to create a more useful and sustainable digital experience.

With the strategy phase complete, PSU is beginning to consider how to translate the recommendations into an actionable roadmap. This includes identifying near-term opportunities, establishing priorities and sequencing, developing governance and content-management approaches, coordinating technical planning, assessing resource needs and determining the longer-term path toward redesign and content transformation.

Implementation decisions will be made through continued collaboration among University Marketing & Communications, OIT, Enrollment Management, the Graduate School and other university partners and will be shaped by institutional priorities, available resources and budget considerations.

As this work moves forward, this page will be updated with significant milestones and next steps.

Questions?

Questions about the project may be directed to Kurt Bedell in University Marketing & Communications.