Entering the world of content operations: Insights from the past year
As I mark nearly one year with the Prospective Student Web team, I’m excited to reflect on my experience as a Web Content Support Assistant, imparting some of my highlights and key learnings from the last 10 months.
Since joining the team in late August 2024, I’ve had a dynamic introduction to the world of web content operations. It’s taken some time to understand the ins and outs of our degree finder service, the main focus of most of my work, but I’m glad to say that the long (and ongoing!) journey has been more than rewarding. I’ve learned a great deal about user-friendly design, the many moving parts of a giant service, and how to juggle competing priorities, among many, many other things.
Despite having used a university course finding tool in the past, the structural, technical and strategic aspects behind such an apparatus were completely new to me. Fortunately, I could draw somewhat from my experience working in higher education, coming from Te Amaru Disability Services at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington in Aotearoa New Zealand. The various parallels between the two institutions, despite being on opposite ends of the world, helped me to assimilate in my first few weeks. Further, the student experience also remains familiar to me, having graduated in 2022, and I’ve found it valuable to lean into this perspective while working on what is, essentially, a student-focused service.
An overview of the past (almost) year
Over the last 10 months, I’ve partaken in three iterations of degree finder annual updates and was fully involved with the 2026 undergraduate degree finder, from the initial content review stage to its launch. This has enabled me to establish strong liaison relationships with editors across various schools, bringing a positive sense of partnership and continuity to my role.
One of the biggest parts of my job has been learning and growing proficient in navigating legacy and EdWeb2 systems. This is important as it’s how we make changes to the degree finder and relevant web pages! I’ve since trained school editors on how to use these content management systems, which has been a true test of my knowledge and mastery of the required technical skills.
I also regularly manage the shared inbox, handling daily queries. These range from routine requests to update apply links to stickier issues related to individual programmes.
Lately, I’ve been more involved in longer-term projects such as reviewing information about US loans and Edinburgh College of Art portfolios.
Highlights during my time
- Working in a collaborative and supportive team
- Introducing our new degree finder CMS
- Ensuring transparency and putting students’ needs first
- An insight into Gaelic translations
- Embracing connections in the CAM office
Working in a collaborative and supportive team
The biggest highlight over the last 10 months has been working in a close-knit, supportive and organised team. I had some worries about balancing multiple projects and a shared inbox with our different hybrid schedules, but our strong workflows, regular check-in calls, and efficient system for collaboration have made things surprisingly easy.
We independently assume responsibility for smaller tasks based on our capacity and skillset, tracking our progress so that we’re all in the loop. For larger projects, we use a combination of delegation and reporting. We’ve set up strong communication channels so that help is always available and my (many) questions are answered promptly without judgment. I think these measures are particularly valuable for new employees, like myself, as it can be daunting joining a department with so much institutional knowledge. I’m really grateful to be in a positive and encouraging environment that allows me to learn and genuinely feel excited to come back to work each day.
Introducing our new degree finder CMS
I used our old legacy system only briefly before we migrated to EdWeb2, but that experience has given me a lot of gratitude for our new and improved CMS (content management system). Our current degree finder is much more intuitive and offers a clean and modern design. There are many more content fields, so there’s added scope for content and everything has its place. Users can also directly edit their content, and our rich text view means we no longer need to apply markdown formatting. We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback for these changes, and I’ve enjoyed introducing colleagues to the CMS, especially since some have worked with the old system for years. This also means that I get to be at the receiving end of praise from school editors alike without having done the hard work of designing the new degree finder, which always feels great!
Read Jen’s blog about feedback on our new undergraduate degree finder
Ensuring transparency and putting students’ needs first
I’ve enjoyed learning about our processes and guidelines for updating content, in particular, how we edit degree finder programme pages after go-live. Our reverence for CMA compliance means we thoroughly review all major and minor in-cycle edits, making revision notes or notifying offer-holders and applicants as necessary. For instance, if a programme closes after it has been advertised, we intentionally keep its pages live in case users have bookmarked them for later. I really value this focus on transparency and care for prospective students. It highlights our mission for degree finder to serve as a comprehensive and reliable resource for students, recognising their needs and putting them first.
An insight into Gaelic translations
During the final stages of updating the 2026 undergraduate degree finder, I helped my colleague, Cathy, in uploading Gaelic translations for Celtic MA programmes. Although I wasn’t involved in the translation process, I enjoyed contributing to making these pages more accessible and felt the connection of our work to its unique locale. Coming from Aotearoa New Zealand, where we are prioritising the integration of Te Reo Māori into our work more and more, I was reminded of the importance of honouring languages that form a country’s heritage and cultural identity.
Embracing connections in the CAM office
A big positive of working in the office is the opportunity to meet and collaborate with the many different people within CAM (Communications and Marketing). I might sit next to colleagues from our PSW (Prospective Student Web) content ops team one day and the Press team the next. It’s exciting to hear about the diverse projects happening within our department and to glean knowledge from such a talented pool of professionals. It’s also a great reminder of the sheer magnitude of the University and how our many teams work alongside each other to keep everything running smoothly. When working from home alone, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture, so having this collaborative space is a highlight.
What I’ve learned during my time in PSW – key takeaways
- Effective workflows and guidance
- Understanding and aligning content purpose
- Future-proofing content for your future self
- The importance of progress tracking for repetitive tasks
Effective workflows and guidance
My greatest takeaway from my experience in the PSW team has been the importance of having strong, established workflows and clear guidance on processes. Given the sheer size and complexity of the degree finder, there is a lot to learn, remember, and keep track of.
SharePoint has been a valuable tool for finding guidance on how to navigate the degree finder CMS and resolve common issues, encouraging me to find answers independently before seeking further help. Our log of changes to programmes, such as programme additions, deletions and changes to course information, has been particularly helpful when questions have come up about a programme’s history. As information is often subject to change, especially from year to year, these records keep us vigilant and consistent with how such revisions are documented and handled.
Understanding and aligning content purpose
Over the last 10 months, I’ve certainly learned to review content through both an editorial and operational lens, which means being more critical about the purpose of a piece of text. As mentioned earlier, our new degree finder has more content fields than before, designed to organise information so that key details don’t get lost. During our annual review process, in which we translate content from the previous year’s edition of degree finder, I’ve had to carefully evaluate where content should move by understanding its purpose, highlighting to me the importance of reading beyond just the key words.
For example, we can consider where we might include information about computer labs. 10 months ago, I would have immediately assumed it would fit under ‘Academic facilities’ as it technically is one. However, upon reading the information, we could realise that the text explains how labs contribute to the teaching of the programme, such as by facilitating practical or collaborative learning. In this case, the information is more relevant to the ‘Teaching’ section.
Being able to quickly interpret the intent behind certain information has been invaluable in organising content in a coherent and accessible way. It also means that prospective students can find important information about degrees where they expect it to be, saving time and reducing stress!
Future-proofing content for your future self
Future-proofing your content means avoiding the publication of time-sensitive information whenever possible. If something is likely to change, and especially if it’s outside of your control, it’s best to link to the teams responsible for that information instead. I thought it would be easy to return to these sites and update them for small changes while reviewing or editing content. However, the reality is that it’s often easy to lose track when busy with other tasks and addressing this early not only helps to reduce future work but ensures that information is always up to date.
The importance of progress tracking for repetitive tasks
The old legacy version of degree finder required us to complete many manual tasks, like copying and pasting. For instance, we translated each 2026 undergraduate programme from Content Workflow to the new CMS before launch, handling up to 50 blocks of content for 378 programmes. To make this task more enjoyable, I listened to podcasts or music and switched workstations for changes in scenery. However, what really boosted my motivation was seeing our progress visually tracked on our progress tracking board. Marking each programme as ‘complete’ and changing them from red to green added an unexpected gamification element and kept me motivated through what was a fairly repetitive task.
What’s next?
We’re currently focused on the 2026 postgraduate degree finder, which will go live later this year, and the 2027 undergraduate degree finder, which will follow suit. I’m thrilled to continue working in the team over the next few months and to keep building on my knowledge of content operations. In particular, I look forward to deepening my connections across the University and continuing our important work.
