Streamlining MyUB for Faculty
October 2005
Prepared by the
University at Buffalo
MyUB Team
What does MyUB consider to be faculty?
MyUB considers Faculty to be a 02 appointment.
In addition MyUB faculty resources are made available to users with an instructional or
academic role.
These users are identified as follows:
i) They have an active appointment record for any of the following appointment
types:
(1) 10: Practice Plan
(2) 11: Medical Resident/Fellow
(3) 12: GFT unsalaried
(4) 13: Emeritus
ii) Or if their Title
(1) begins with "DEAN"
(2) begins with "ASSOCIATE DEAN"
(3) begins with "ASSOC DEAN"
(4) contains "INSTRUCTOR"
(5) contains "PROFESSOR"
(6) contains "LECTURER"
(7) contains "PROF OF"
(8) contains "INSTR OF"
iii) Are currently teaching a course (i.e. their person number appears in a course
section record for the current semester).
How many MyUB Faculty accounts are there?
2,480 Faculty have MyUB accounts.
In addition faculty resources are available to more 7,013 users with an instructional or
academic role making a total of 9493 users who have accounts that utilize Faculty
MyUB.
In this report we are only reporting the data collected from faculty.
How often do Faculty use MyUB
Faculty actively use MyUB*
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50% of Faculty used MyUB in the past 14 days
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60% of Faculty used MyUB in the past month
80% of Faculty used MyUB in the past 6 months
83% of Faculty used MyUB in the past year
Assumptions:
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Aprox. 50-60% of Faculty can be considered active users.
Aprox. 30% Possibly use MyUB for web grading only.
* Data gathered from a 10/5/05 snapshot
Where faculty go
MyUB pages faculty utilization*
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MyUB Home ............ 91,674 clicks
WebMail .................. 26,759 clicks
MyPage ...................... 5,994 clicks
My Library ................. 5,478 clicks
UBLearns ................... 5,074 clicks
Computing.................. 3,022 clicks
UB InfoSource ........... 2,933 clicks
Business ........................ 838 clicks
Infolocator ..................... 774 clicks
UB News ....................... 705 clicks
Teaching ........................ 534 clicks
Research ........................ 522 clicks
For Advisors.................. 266 clicks
UB 2020 ........................ 250 clicks
Prof Development ......... 239 clicks
Sports & Recreation ...... 221 clicks
Events@UB .................. 149 clicks
About UB ...................... 114 clicks
UB Life ........................... 92 clicks
Arts & Culture................. 91 clicks
Governance ..................... 88 clicks
Help ................................. 80 clicks
Rules & Regs .................. 49 clicks
WNY ............................... 16 clicks
*Data reflects activity 1/1/05 through 5/30/05
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MyPage: Making MyUB your own way
57% of faculty are aware of MyPage. Data shows they at least looked at it.
8% of faculty have an active MyPage account.
The average number of channels subscribed to on a faculty MyPage is 10 channels.
MyUB channels faculty using MyPage value most
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Courses I Am Teaching
My Academic Toolbox
Today's Weather
Textbooks/Course Materials
Top Faculty Links
Academic Procedures
Find People
Faculty Advisor Tools
UB News
Buffalo News
My Profile
Library Services for Faculty & Staff
My Library Links
Important University Dates
My Tools
UBLearns Resources
Search UB
Find Departments
Events at UB Today
Campus News: Reporter
Bold = >50% subscribe to this channel
What faculty say
Feedback from Faculty Survey, Spring 2005
1238 surveys completed (13% of overall faculty accounts)
Faculty value MyUB
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Overall Grade
o 28% Excellent
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o 53% Good
o 15% Fair
o 4% Poor
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95% thought MyUB contained useful information
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87% thought finding information very easy or satisfactory
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54% reported using MyUB almost daily or several times/week
42% just once in awhile
What do MyUB Faculty users say they use MyUB for?
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74% Class lists
45% Library resources
30% To help students
28% Campus news and events
27% Research administration
27% Announcements/alerts
22% Course development resources
Faculty want to improve MyUB
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9 common areas of improvement were identified
4 areas of improvements have already been addressed
The one area that had the most “voice” was reducing the volume of information
and simplifying the MyUB interface
Areas Identified for
Improvement
Interface and Content
Customization and
Personalization
Examples
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Less Clutter/too much
information
 Simplify the navigation
(menus)
 More /control
 Links to departmental pages
(as relates to user)
 Minimize/maximize/remove
Actions Taken
 In Progress
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MyPage gives user
more control
Departmental links
being integrated
Evaluating easier
ways to add content
to MyPage
Increased ways to
identify users for
fine-graining
information
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Turning the MyUB top
header off
Access to URL
Being able to print the page
you are on
Improved Search
Ability to be a home page
(default)
24/7 access to services
and extended night hours
More integration
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Direct links to courses on
UBLearns
Direct links to course
schedules
MyBookbag
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UBLearns
Grades
Library resources
MyBookbag
Webmail
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Single sign on
Improved access to
directories (departmental,
people)
We are listening
Recommendations for interface simplification
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Remove or refocus underutilized pages
Raise visibility of key services
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delivery
Complete
Rolled out meta search
of many UB data
sources. Combines
output with .buffalo.edu
domain-wide search.
Investigating Google as
an option is in progress
by CIT
Under consideration by
MyUB Portal
Infrastructure Steering
Group
Extending service hours
is an active CIT project.
 MyBookbag is now
in MyUB as an
integrated service.
 UBLearns direct
course linking
capability is
reviewed with each
upgrade to
UBLearns
Single sign on
(shibboleth) with
UBLearns and MyUB is
in progress.
Directories are
integrated into the meta
search.
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o WebMail
o UBLearns
o Directories
o Search
Develop new interface that leverages a more simplified, task-oriented
environment
Recommendations for strategic content reduction
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Remove underutilized content
Reposition key content from underutilized pages
Insure that any content that is removed is still available through search
Cluster remaining content on task-oriented pages
A new paradigm for usage
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MyUB home functions as a information center
o UB News
o UB Events
o Announcements
Secondary pages function as task centers
Personalize MyPage with channels of choice
Use NTK channel to promote key events, news and opportunities
Search for content
Visualization of Phase I Simplification: Winter 2005
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Visualization of Phase II Simplification: Summer 2006
Recommendations for Page Restructuring
MyUB Home (91,674 clicks)
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Repositioned to as a news, events and information center
o Need To Know channels
 Campus Announcements
 Academic Announcements
 Other categories may be developed relevant to faculty
o UB News Top stories
o UB Events Today
o MyProfile (quick snapshot)
o My Opinion
All personalized channels (weblinks, email links, top faculty links) available on
MyPage
All other channels will be available via search and placed on appropriate taskbased pages
WebMail
(26,759 clicks)
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UBLearns
MyPage
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(5,074 clicks)
(5,994 clicks)
Promoted to tabs in the new MyUB Header
User has ability to set MyPage as their home page
My Library
Computing
Research
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Areas targeted for selective content growth
Remove underutilized content.
Include content developed specifically for faculty
Include content fine-grained to the users decanal area
Include web links channels users can personalize
Teaching
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(266 clicks)
Remove underutilized content.
Include content developed specifically for faculty advisors
Include content fine-grained to the users decanal area
UB News
Events@UB
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(838 clicks)
(250 clicks)
Launches relevant site in a new window
For Advisors
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(534 clicks)
Area targeted for selective content growth
Remove underutilized content.
One stop shop for all teaching resources
o My Courses
o Textbooks/Course materials
o Web Grading
o Admin tools (Blackboard course listing)
o Class Schedules
o ETC resources
Integrates highly utilized content on teaching from professional development page
Business
UB 2020
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(5,478 clicks)
(3,022 clicks)
(522 clicks)
(705 clicks)
(149 clicks)
Integrates only highly utilized content
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Utilizes RSS feeds from UB News, UB 2020, Buffalo News and New York Times
and UB Athletic News
Direct interface to UB Calendar
New Slide
About UB
UB Life
Arts & Culture
Governance
WNY
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Merges page s into Campus Living page
Integrates only highly utilized content
Sports & Recreation
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(114 clicks)
(92 clicks)
(91 clicks)
(88 clicks)
(16 clicks)
(221 clicks)
Remove underutilized content.
UB InfoSource (2,933 clicks)
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No Change
Infolocator
Rules & Regs
Help
Prof Development
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(774 clicks)
(49 clicks)
(80 clicks)
(239 clicks)
Kill pages
Integrate highly utilized content on appropriate task-based pages
Search, directories, help integrated into MyUB header
My Profile (New)
 Management tools for personal data
o email accounts
o contact info
o employee profile
Employees (New)
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Selective content relevant to being a UB employee
Integrates highly utilized content on employee benefits/unions from professional
development page
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Proposed Timetable
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Fall 2005: Develop recommendations
Improving MyUB
o Structure (Winter 2005)
o Content (Winter 2005)
o Interface (Summer 2006)
Summer 2005: New structure and interface [Show visualization]
Please direct any questions to myubfeedback@buffalo.edu or contact Rebecca Bernstein
(rebecca@buffalo.edu ) or Rob Wright (rwright@buffalo.edu).
11 | Streamlining MyUB for Faculty