MyEU

Ellingsburg University customized portal

Clara Lattof

Al Gentilini

Danielle DiRosa

Why a Customized Portal?

Increase the security of students’ accounts and personal information.

Provides students a greater sense of mattering to the university if they have their “own place” on the internet. This is especially true in the case of women, who were found to be less likely to have access to technology than men (Lewis, Coursol, & Kahn, 2001).

It is also more efficient for students, faculty, and staff to use because it is specific to each individual’s needs and interests.

Student, Faculty, and Staff Portals

We recommend that there be different portal channels for students, faculty, and staff members, so that each person would see his or her own customized information and account (based on selected personal preferences and relationship(s) to the institution).

Student Portals

Announcements Academic calendar Housing Student activities Account information Email Online class information Academic advising Major department Catalog Schedule search Registration

Announcements and Academic Calendar The announcements would be weekly, and

would include any pertinent information for all students or specific activities and events that would occur on campus that week.

The academic calendar would include holidays, school breaks, drop/add deadlines, payment deadlines, withdrawal deadlines, etc. Housing would display each students’ housing information including which hall they live in and the payment information.

Student Activities and Account Information Student activities would match up the

student’s schedule to selected activities of interest, including on-campus events and volunteer activities, among others.

Account information would allow students to view their bill for tuition, room and board online and pay their bill online.

Online Classes and Academic Advising Online class information would allow

students to view their schedules, syllabi, and class assignments online, and email would allow them to contact other students in their classes as well as their professors (in addition to their personal use of email).

Academic advising would include a link to the student’s academic advisor, including an online chat option.

Major Department and Catalog Students would also be linked to their major

department to be informed of important departmental announcements, deadlines, and information.

Each student would also have access to his or her catalog online, which would assist each student in registering for classes when they use they online schedule search and registration.

The Planning and Implementation Team(s) A varying mix of students, faculty, and staff

members Specifically, we would like to invite the

President of a multicultural organization, such as the Black Student Union or Latin American Students Association

A member of the IT department A student from the computer science

department A person from the Office of Orientation Professors who teach courses of different

levels and in different subject areas

Feedback about the Portal

First talking to the members of the committee about what they want and how they would utilize the portal.

We would also ask members of the committee to go back to their departments and get feedback about the use of the portal and its organization and bring it back to us.

Communicating Systems

We would like to use a single sign-on

The system should be able to communicate with email, student account information, and the National Student Loan Database.

Organization of the Portals

We would like to organize the portal by tabs with links, by the headings:

Announcements Academics Activities Student Resources

Announcements Tab

This tab would includeThe academic calendarWeekly eventsAny other key announcements

Academics Tab

This tab would includeClass informationCurrent class scheduleClass schedule search RegistrationAcademic advisingLinks to the major departmentCatalog

Activities Tab

This tab would includeThe students’ memberships in clubs

and organizationsVolunteer activitiesActivity calendars for campus events

Student Resources Tab

This tab would includeHousing informationAccount informationEmailLibraries

Current Literature

Lewis, J., Coursol, D., and Lutfa, K. (2001). College students@tech.edu: A study of comfort and the use of technology. Journal of College Student Development, 42(6), 625-631.

The study found that overall students are comfortable with technology, use it for academic and nonacademic purposes, and one particularly significant finding was that women are less likely to have access to technology than men.

Current Literature

Kuh, G. D. and Hu, S. (2001). The relationships between computer and information technology use, selected learning and personal development outcomes, and other college experiences. Journal of College Student Development, 42(3), 217-232.

This study found that computer and information technology (C&IT) are positively related to educational effort, and that students benefit most when C&IT are used frequently and in a variety of ways.

Best Practices:Indiana State University

http://myisu.indstate.edu/cp/home/loginf This site is easy to follow, especially since it lists the

resources and links you do not have to sign in to use. The myISU site has OIT helpdesk phone numbers on the homepage, so if a student, faculty, or staff member were to need help, they would immediately know who to call. There are group portals for student organizations (able to chat, set up meetings, etc.). There are target announcements so a user can submit an announcement to be sent to specific people (such as members of a class or organization). This portal also lists all the different services for students, employees, and faculty.

Best Practices:Washington State University

MyWSU is a portal system to be implemented.

“With a single sign-on and feature that everyone will use daily, MyWSU will increase communication and interaction throughout the WSU community.” http://www.wsu.edu/portal-project/benefits.html