Table of Contents

• Executive Summary
• Company Overview
• Project Goals
• Project Team
• Target Audiences
• Existing Website
• Scope of Work
• Functionality Requirements
• Site Map
• Proposal Requirements
• Competitive Set
• Timeline
• Budget Details
• Criteria for Selection

Executive Summary

This RFP is for design and development services for a new website for the Online Learning Consortium.

RFP Sent: October 18, 2021
Responses Due: November 5, 2021

Send any questions on the RFP to:
OLCRFP@onlinelearning-c.org

Send proposals to:
OLCRFP@onlinelearning-c.org

Budget for new website: $50,000

Goal for new website launch: March 25, 2022 (before OLC Innovate 2022 – virtual & onsite)

Company Overview

VISION & MISSION

Vision: Setting the global standard in online, blended, and digital learning.

Mission: Creating community and knowledge around quality online, blended, and digital learning while driving innovation.

ADVANCING QUALITY AND LEADERSHIP IN DIGITAL EDUCATION

The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) is a collaborative community of education leaders and innovators, dedicated to advancing quality digital teaching and learning experiences designed to reach and engage the modern learner – anyone, anywhere, anytime. OLC inspires innovation and quality through an extensive set of resources, including, best-practice publications, quality benchmarking, leading-edge instruction, community-driven conferences, practitioner-based and empirical research, and expert guidance. The growing OLC community includes faculty members, administrators, trainers, instructional designers, and other learning professionals, as well as educational institutions, professional societies, and corporate enterprises.

The Online Learning Consortium, Inc. is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization.

MEMBERSHIP VALUE

We are a nonprofit organization that focuses on support of the whole institutional strategy for online, blended, and digital learning through our professional development and leadership development offerings; research; consulting; and conferences and networking opportunities.

CORE VALUES / BRAND PILLARS

• Innovation: We challenge convention and strive to bring new ideas and practices to our community.
• Inclusivity: We are a collaborative community dedicated to helping anyone, anytime, anywhere.
• Scholarship: We are known for our knowledge, insight and amplifying work at a high level.
• Support: We empower our members. They are the hero in every story we tell.

Project Goals

The primary goal of the web design is to create an easy to navigate site that tells our story while driving engagement and sales (membership and services).

• Generate more leads
• Provide intuitive navigation
• Increase engagement with content
• Represent the personality of our team and community
• Reflect the value of membership
• Provide a platform for internal team to maintain and update as needed

Project Team

Erin Gavin, Consultant
Erin will serve as the point person for the selected vendor.

Jennifer Mathes, Chief Executive Officer
Jennifer will be kept informed throughout the project and approve key deliverables.

Angela Gunder, Chief Academic Officer
Angela will provide her input to Erin and Jennifer throughout the project.

Jenny Brown, Chief Financial Officer
Jenny will review the financial terms of the project and manage invoices/payments.

VP of Marketing
We are in the process of hiring this individual. After joining the team, this person will be responsible for responding to design questions and providing final approval on design.

Danielle Ezell, Digital Marketing Manager
Danielle will work closely with Erin and the VP of Marketing to ensure branding pulls through, functionality of WordPress templates, accessibility, SEO and more.

Robert Pope, Director of IT
Robert will work with Erin and serve as the technical point person.

Target audiences (sample personas here):

• Primary: Members looking for best practices in teaching online and blended learning (renewals)/potential members (community, professional & institutional new business), Administrators, Faculty and Support Staff (Senior/Leadership, Mid-Level, New/looking for best practices in program administration, quality, recruitment), Researchers (looking for places to publish their original research or find resources for their own research), Sponsors, Partners Click here for further breakdown of primary educator audience
• Secondary: Government, Media, Board, Employees, Volunteers, Students (here’s how to succeed as students)
• Tertiary: Support Staff, Other nonprofits/community groups

Existing Website Information

Quite frankly, our current website does not work.

• It is difficult to navigate with headings that are meaningless or irrelevant.
• We continually find old information that was left unlinked but still published.
• Branding is inconsistent due to changes not being kept up over the years as well as decentralized decision making.
• The site focuses more on discounts than member value.
• We have a significant amount of content but it is difficult to find and not maintained well.
• It does not represent us as a professional organization.

Scope of Work

We expect that the proposed scope of work will include:

• Project management
  • To be agreed upon with OLC team
• Content strategy
  • Recommendation for CMS design and structure
• Information design
  • Site structure, information architecture and navigation Wireframes

Note: There may be an opportunity to continue working with OLC to launch other aspects of the new brand (i.e., marketing collateral, graphics, etc.).

Functionality Requirements

Our new website will need:

• WCAG 2.1 accessibility minimum, prefer WCAG 3.0
• An easy-to-update WordPress installation
• Intuitive, accessible navigation
• Clean, accessible, and focused design leveraging OLC’s new branding
• All applicable content imported from current site
• Optimized with SEO best practices
• Clear path to conversion/lead generation
• Mobile responsive design
• A blog
• Social media integration (share buttons, follow buttons, etc.)
• Integration with Pardot (marketing/lead generation) and Fonteva (community login) platforms, both based in Salesforce

Site Map

• This is an initial draft meant to give a sense of the scope and size of the project.
• Potential site map: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XcKRWSdJ0d6vhibikCh_XAxuGXjjcBZwSezyl8A9qSw/edit?usp=sharing

Proposal Requirements

Please include the following in your proposal response:

• Company description (including contact information)
• Overview of how you will meet our project outcomes
• Explanation of your experience in WordPress
• Outline of your website design & development strategy
• Proposed website timeline from kickoff to launch
• Team & bios
  • Roles and responsibilities
• • Skill sets present
• • • E.g., designer, UX researcher, web developer
• Three recent design & development examples
• Minimum of three references
• Any key differentiators about your team and development approach
• Line-item pricing (including optional items)
• Terms & conditions

Competitive Set

The competitors listed here are not necessarily direct competitors in all areas but may compete with us in one or more areas. In addition, our members may be members of these organizations.

• https://upcea.edu/
• https://www.educause.edu/
• https://wcet.wiche.edu/ https://www.qualitymatters.org/
• https://usdla.org/

Timeline

• RFP Issue Date: October 18, 2021
• Responses Due: November 5, 2021
• Finalists Selected & Contacted: November 19, 2021
• Winner Selected & Contacted: December 17, 2021
• Project Kick-off: January 2, 2022
• Launch goal: March 25, 2022

Budget Details

As listed in the summary, our maximum budget for this project is $50,000. While we of course prefer the most cost-effective solution, all proposals that fall reasonably within this range will be considered and weighed based on their merits. Proposals that offer flexibility in billing for non-required elements added to the website after initial launch will also be considered. All invoices for this project must be billed before June 1, 2022.

Criteria for Selection

Criteria by which we select our firm:

• Portfolio and past projects
• Experience in higher education
• Experience creating a professional services website
• Experience building WordPress sites
• Preferred requirement: experience integrating cross-compatibility with a CRM including Fonteva, Pardot, Salesforce

Thank you for your interest in responding to this RFP with a proposal for our new website. We look forward to your response.

If you have any questions, please contact OLCRFP@onlinelearning-c.org.