The Audience Toggle
One message. Two audiences. WAB found a smarter way to speak to students and parents, each in their own voice.
A key value at Western Academy of Beijing is student ownership of learning. So why not include students from the very beginning, when their family is choosing a school?
As a parent, I had just gone through the school search process myself. My wife was exploring new roles in international schools, and as part of that journey, we were considering schools where our kids would also enroll. One was entering high school, and the other was finishing middle school. So we involved them directly. We reviewed websites together, talked through pros and cons, and listened to their impressions.
What we found was telling. Many school websites were clearly written only for parents. Some had a student-facing video or two, but few spoke to students as active participants in the decision. And when sites leaned too heavily into polished campus perks without showing real student life, our kids tuned out. In the end, it was a family decision, but some very good schools may have been overlooked simply because their story didn’t connect with all of us.
That realization reminded me of something else: an earlier open house at WAB where I heard a school leader explain student agency to a prospective parent. It was the clearest, most jargon-free explanation I’d heard. With a parent standing directly in front of them, the principal instinctively adjusted their language. They clarified. They simplified. They watched for body language and responded when something didn’t land.
In that moment, I understood student agency more clearly than I had through any internal planning doc or policy description. And I knew: this was how school websites should sound.
The Workshop
To bring this clarity into the content process, I designed a workshop that mirrored real conversations. Each participant identified what a prospective parent or student needed to understand about their part of the school, then created two versions of that message, one for each audience.
They role-played these conversations with someone acting as a parent or student, who was coached to give nonverbal feedback when the message didn’t land. We recorded and transcribed each session. The material wasn’t final copy, but it shaped the direction, tone, and structure of the website content.
The goal wasn’t polished scripts. It was audience awareness.
Why This Mattered
One of WAB’s most deeply held values is student ownership of learning. That value shaped what happened in the classroom, in assessment models, and in advisory programs. But it hadn’t fully reached the website.
When we started working with Finalsite, we already knew that certain key pages needed a content toggle, a simple feature that would allow visitors to choose either a “Parent View” or a “Student View.” This wasn’t a gimmick. It was an extension of the school’s values.
It gave students voice, choice, and ownership—not just in learning, but in choosing the place where learning would happen.
Web Development: Finalsite.Page Content: Western Academy of Beijing.
Web Development: Finalsite.Page Content: Western Academy of Beijing.
Reflecting on the Toggle Feature.
Both students and parents appreciated seeing the other’s point of view. The toggle didn’t divide the experience. It deepened it.
It gave parents clarity without oversimplifying. It gave students a space of their own. And it reflected WAB’s values around voice, agency, and shared community.
What started as a small UX feature became a clear, visible signal of what the school stands for.
Agency starts with the first click.
If schools want students to take ownership of learning, they have to begin by speaking with them—clearly, respectfully, and directly.
And when that happens, everyone hears the story more clearly.
