UNews - student portal

Portal project to improve online life at the U of L

trevor.kenney — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:37:55 +0000

The cross-campus team working on a new 'one-stop-shop' portal system to unify the university's online systems is seeking input from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community.

The group has been working with a service provider to install a common portal that brings a number of different online systems together.

The group is now looking to the U of L community -- staff, faculty and students -- to further explain what the portal system will be able to do, and also to ask for input on their particular needs.

The as-yet-unnamed portal system can be customized to reflect their needs as an employee or student.

In addition to general U of L information, the portal system will feature a 'single sign on' process, so that users don't have to re-login between systems such as Moodle, The Bridge, Banner, etc.

"Right now, the pressing need is to integrate a number of items that are of interest to students and which also would be generally of use to Faculty and staff," said Jamie Chinn, a Senior Business Systems Analyst and one of the project team leaders.

"These are what we would call 'everyday items' like access to The Bridge, Banner (the U of L's financial, student, alumni and employee management system) the Library, Moodle (an online courseware program), email, and other services people now make use of, such as frequently-used web links and tabs, a notice board-style page, and our news and information services."

Chinn said the purpose of the focus groups is to further help define what the students, staff and faculty need on the portal, and how they wish to receive information from the U of L, so those elements can be added over time.

"The input we get will really help us determine what content goes into the portal for initial and subsequent versions, based on the opinions of the people who will be using this system," Chinn said.

"We could build it and launch it, but there would be no sense of whether it is truly serving people's needs," Chinn said.

"Though we know people are busy, we hope they can take the time to participate in a focus group or our online surveying to help define what this system will look like. It will be designed for the people who will be using it, so it will be very helpful for us to learn from them."

Between January 29 – 31, focus groups and feedback sessions will take place to bring user groups up to speed on the project, ask for input into how they use the present systems, and how their online experience could be enhanced through the implementation of various portal systems.

Groups solicited for focus group input include all members of the U of L employee community, but student participation in a series of focus groups will be critical, Chinn said.

"If anyone knows students who they feel could contribute to this effort, we are encouraging them to contact us to participate."

Students will be contacted with details for their focus group once they have confirmed their interest.

Other mechanisms to provide input will be conducted in the future, and watch for additional information about this project in UWeekly and on the Notice board.

Background information is included, below.

BACKGROUND

There has been sufficient need for a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Portal for quite some time, particularly with regards to a student portal. Therefore the focus for the implementation of a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Portal will be primarily implementing and integrating the most commonly used services by various users.

For faculty, staff, and alumni, the current plan is to include these constituent groups for the launch of the portal, and provide an equivalent level of service to what they are currently experiencing.

Future enhancements for these groups will be made post launch once the portal contains a reasonable amount of functionality for the various users.

This approach will be validated and confirmed during the planning discussions with various stakeholders and other schools, as well as through consultation with the portal provider early in the project.

The concept of a portal is to centralize access to information and personalized services, and this requires integrating many systems via Single Sign-On and potentially some data integration as well.

Due to the number of complex systems on campus, it is not feasible to integrate them all for launch, nor know exactly what features are feasible to implement prior to launch.

A more precise listing will be confirmed once a test installation is conducted, more training on the platform is obtained, and the portal committees have reviewed and prioritized a list of potential features.

More details will follow in the near future.

Contact: jamie.chinn@uleth.ca

A clear focus on students

trevor.kenney — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:45:25 +0000

There's no doubt you've heard the buzz about a student portal or seen the campus-wide campaign about a U of L learning commons and study centre, while just recently the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ broke ground on another student residence.

If there are common threads to these initiatives, it's that they embody the student-centred ideal that is embedded within the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's Strategic Plan; an ideal that is articulated in part by the activities of the Recruitment & Retention Integrated Planning (RRIP) team.

In 2009, in response to a dramatic shortfall in student application numbers, a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ wide Strategic Enrolment Management (SEM) program was formed to create a competitive advantage in recruitment by collaborating and sharing resources across campus.

Members of the RRIP team, including (Back Row L to R) Steve Brodrick, Heather Mirau and Trevor Flexhaug. (Front Row L to R) Dan Kazakoff, Nicole Leusink, Alice Miller and Karen Clearwater.

"It was designed as a vehicle that would pull the faculties together to support and have a more structured approach to recruitment techniques," says Vice-President (Academic) and Provost Dr. Andy Hakin.

Recognizing that getting students in the door was only half the solution however, Hakin began thinking about how the institution could keep its new students. RRIP was subsequently created to compliment the work of SEM and to drive student retention initiatives.

"RRIP basically looks at how we need to support our students once SEM has done its work in bringing students to the U of L," says Hakin. "They ask the basic questions about the student experience, about how students get into the institution and what supports students use when they are here."

Karen Clearwater, the lead on the RRIP team, brought members of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community together from a number of different areas of the institution.

"We did not necessarily want all unit managers, we looked at those people that work directly with students on a day-to-day basis or that have been directly involved in providing services to students," says Clearwater.

The team includes faculty members, APO's and AUPE membership and all have been very dedicated to the RRIP project. The team started its work with focus groups and unit presentations, as well as an environmental scan.

"We collected information from as many sources as we could," says Clearwater.

From the information compiled, certain subject themes took on greater priority than others. It was at that point Subject Matter Teams (SMT) were established. Currently 85 faculty, staff and students are working toward the completion of priority projects. Student leaders on campus have played a critical role in these SMTs.

"The whole process has taken a lot of time and we are pleased to see the results coming forward with some great initiatives," says Clearwater.

Student retention rates have long been an issue for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, and the RRIP initiatives have been aimed directly at improving those numbers.

"The idea is that we have to change what we are doing in respect to the student experience, with the overall goal of reducing that attrition number," says Hakin. "But no success will be possible without maintaining the high quality of our academic programs."

Four major projects are currently in the works, all having been identified as priorities by RRIP. They include the establishment of a student portal, the move from paper to electronic applications for graduate studies, the establishment of a 24-hour study centre with a more robust tutoring and mentor service and the creation of an academic success centre which will house a number of student services. As well, the push for more student housing came through RRIP recommendations, something that will be realized with the construction of Aperture Park Phase 3.

"That was another major piece that came forward from that group," says Hakin. "They identified that we needed more residence spaces, and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
responded to that because we know that students who are supported in a student housing environment perform better and have a substantially improved retention rate."

Both SEM and RRIP are seen as ongoing initiatives.

"It's a continuous improvement vehicle," says Hakin. "It cannot be one or two projects and we're done, things need to keep improving in terms of how we support our students, how we interact with them and how we improve their academic experience at our ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

GET THE FACTS

· For more information on the RRIP project, check out the website www.uleth.ca/recruitment-retention

· The RRIP team was established in 2010

· In addition to team sponsors Andy Hakin and Nancy Walker and project manager Karen Clearwater, the 10-person team consists of co-ordinator Heather Mirau, Steve Brodrick, Trevor Flexhaug, Dan Kazakoff, Carma Leishman, Nicole Leusink, Heidi MacDonald, Alice Miller, Chris Roberts and Barbara Williams

This story first appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Legend. If you'd like to see the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - student portal

Portal project to improve online life at the U of L

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A clear focus on students

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