Transcript StudentAffairs.com Virtual Case Study 2005 Ellingsburg Portal Cassandra Funk Amber Kosik Lisa Niescierenko Julie Sanzone “Universities have a complex set of relationships with a wide variety of constituents.

StudentAffairs.com
Virtual Case Study 2005
Ellingsburg Portal
Cassandra Funk
Amber Kosik
Lisa Niescierenko
Julie Sanzone
“Universities have a complex set of relationships with a wide variety of
constituents. The new internet based relationships offer a unique opportunity
to think more holistically about our customers and how we relate to
them…They want information and services that address their needs” (Katz &
Associates, 2002, p. 17).
Campus Web vs. Portal
Portals provide many benefits not available through the ordinary
campus home page. Examples of these are:
•Personalization
•“A portal is designed to recognize a visitor based on his or her
role, status, and personal preferences” (Jafari & Sheehan, 2003,
p. 9).
•All information and resources in one central location
•Students using the portal as opposed to the general campus
home page will be more likely to find and take advantage of
available resources. This will lead to more students
experiencing a more enhanced college life.
•Security/Confidentiality
•Requires users to log-in, preventing outside users from access
Considerations in Designing Portal
Q: Who is the target audience?
A: students, faculty, and staff
Q: What are the needs of our audience?
A: convenient access to resources, a centralized source of campus
information including news and activities, access to tools for academic
success
Q: What do we hope students, faculty, and staff gain by using the portal?
A: establishment of a long-term commitment to the university (Katz &
Associates, 2002), increased integration into the campus community,
greater awareness of current campus affairs
(Baumgardner, 1997)
Channels to Include
•Bursar and Registrar (Tiger Net)
•Provides students with access to their course schedule,
registration, student account, etc.
•Residential Life
•Addresses all aspects of the residential campus including dining
services, security, health services, judicial services, etc.
•Student Activities
•Encourages student involvement in educationally purposeful
activities
•Calendar
•Assists students in developing effective time management skills
•Academic Course Management (Blackboard)
•Encourages students to take an active role in their academic
pursuits
Channels Continued
•Search
•Offers a GoogleTM search of the University web site as well as
directory searches for students and faculty/staff.
•Library Services
•Provides students with access to their library account as well
as electronic resources and the library database
•News
•Keeps students informed on local and national issues
•Webmail
•My Preferences
•Allows students to add friends, classes, clubs, and weather
options to easily access.
•Weather
Planning Committee
•A representative from the following departments
•Bursar
•Registrar
•Student activities
•Residential life
•Library
•News source (campus newspaper)
•Disability Services (to approve ADA compliance) (Jafari &
Sheehan, 2003)
•Several students of varying classes, degrees of study, and cultural
backgrounds to serve as a focus group
Feedback
•Responses and ideas from people on the committee
•Monitor the hits that each area of the Portal receives to see what
students make use of most
•On-line surveys to random student populations to evaluate their
knowledge and use of the Portal. Items on survey would include:
•Ease of use, ease of customization, frequency of use, etc.
•Monthly evaluation from an IT standpoint addressing effectiveness of
the portal and the efficiency of maintaining/operating the portal (Jafari
& Sheehan, 2003)
Single Sign-on
When a student signs on to the Portal for increased
convenience they will have access to their account in
the following offices and departments:
•Registrar/Bursar (Tiger Net)
•Academic Course Management (Blackboard)
•Webmail
•Library
Portal Organization
•Separate homepages for students and faculty/staff
•Items receiving most hits on university web site
displayed most prominently
•Options to customize your personal home page
•Tabs at the top of the page addressing most prevalent
channels
Assumptions about Ellingsburg
In designing a sample Portal for Ellingsburg University,
we made several assumptions about the university
including:
•Bursar and Registrar accounts are available to
students and faculty on-line through a single server
called “Tiger Net”
•Academic Course Management is widely used in the
form of Blackboard
•Budget of portal implementation is not an issue
Portal
Home
Faculty/
Staff
Students
Student
Activities
Webmail
Res-Life
Tiger Net
Logout
Backboard
Search
Ellingsburg
University
1889
Welcome, Joe Student
Customize My Portal
Current Weather
18°F
Feels Like
3°F
Ellingsburg News:
My Calendar
2/17 Food services announces new meal options
February 2005
6
7
1
2
3
8
9
2/16 Women’s basketball clinches conference
4
5
10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
championship while men fall in over-time.
2/16 Chinese New Year celebration is a big hit!
2/15 Greek life already posting top service hours for the
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
year.
27 28
2/13 Faculty senate convenes on proposed revisions to
customize
the academic integrity policy
Ellingsburg Events
Today:
2/11 Over 100 students attend hiking trip with outdoor
recreation.
8:00pm Jerry Seinfeld –
Auditorium
Tomorrow:
12:00pm Hamlet – Theater
5:00pm Dinner on the Lawn
My
Preferences
My Friends
Add friends
My Clubs
6:00pm Choir Concert – Chapel
6:30pm Swim Meet –
Natatorium
Library Services
National News:
Add clubs
2/18 President Bush proposes education budget cuts
My Weather
2/17 Woman found alive weeks after avalanche
Add weather
2/15 Hockey officials meet to strike a bargain with players
My Classes
2/15 Celebrities go big to help tsunami victims
Add Classes
References
Baumgardner, G. D. (1997). Implementing the internet into higher
education. Cummings & Hathaway Publishers. East Rockaway,
NY.
Jafari, A. & Sheehan, M. (2003). Designing portals: opportunities and
challenges. Information Science Publishing. Hershey, PA.
Katz, R. N. & Associates. (2002). Web portals & higher education.
Jossey-Bass. San Francisco, CA.
Model Portals:
Pennsylvania State University Portal. (2005). https://portal.psu.edu/
Trinity University Portal. (2005). https://my.trinity.edu/portal/main.html
Good Practice Site:
Uportal by JASIG http://www.uportal.org/