Cranberry: A Portal
Conception for Ellingsburg
University
Andy Sadouskas, Director of Residential Life
Jennifer Hamilton, V. P. Office of Communications
Charlie Roberts, Dean of Students
Jess Sweitzer, Faculty Senate President
Introduction
Members of the President’s executive staff,
thank you for having us today.
This presentation introduces our proposal
for a customized portal. The first twothirds is focused on answering the first
five of seven questions posed to us by the
new Technology Director.
Introduction (cont.)
This is followed by question number
six and an actual mock up of the
proposed portal, “Cranberry.” The
presentation concludes with a listing
of “good practice” sites and pertinent
literature/references in answer to
question number seven.
Why a customized portal and
not just use the university
web presence?
Customized Portal vs. Web Presence



At Ellingsburg University we are in the process of
revamping our current campus technology systems. As
part of this effort our committee has been charged with
developing a portal.
This decision was made based on a review of pertinent
literature that explains why institutions are choosing
portals over their current web presences.
The next few slides contain quotes from the literature
that support the decision to replace our current web
presence with a portal.
Customized Portal vs. Web Presence (cont.)


“Portals facilitate the discovery of people, organizations,
and content in a meaningful context. Portals are secure,
offering user authentication, credential mapping and
sensitive data encryption. Portals are personalized,
proactively providing customized desktops based on the
user’s role to the community” (Ethridge, Hadden &
Smith, 2000, p. 13).
“If you want to help students succeed, you must involve
them in active, personal, and meaningful learning that
appropriately supports their development within an
inclusive, collegial, and empowering educational
community” (Harr, 2002, p. 10).
Customized Portal vs. Web Presence (cont.)


“Our task, as student development educators, is to design our
systems and procedures in ways that challenge and empower
students to learn while providing the appropriate degree and
elements of support. In terms of information system design, this
would mean front-loading support with easy-to-use tools and
directly accessible resources while encouraging students to take an
active and self-responsible role in their own educational endeavors”
(Harr, 2002, p. 10).
“…we learn that on a typical day, 26 % of college students use
some type of instant messenger. These data suggest students are
active Internet users, computers are already integrated into their
lifestyle and communities, and they are already creating their own
virtual campuses” (Barratt & Potts, 2002).
Customized Portal vs. Web Presence (cont.)



“Put simply, an ins1titution’s portal is designed to make
an individual’s web experience more efficient and
thereby make the institution as a whole more productive
and responsive” (Looney & Lyman, 2000).
“At the most basic level, portals gather a variety of
useful information resources into a single, ‘one-stop’
Web page, helping the user to avoid being overwhelmed
by ‘infoglut’ or feeling lost on the Web” (Looney &
Lyman, 2000).
“Most simply put, a student portal is a personalized,
student-centric view of College Web resources” (Harr,
2002, p. 5).
Portal Customization

Portal users can change...




Font
Backgrounds
Color Scheme
Calendar Information
What portal channels do we
recommend and why?
Portal Channels






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Check grades
Drop/Add courses
Class schedules
Course registration
View/Print unofficial
transcripts
Check degree
requirements
Admissions
information






Check status of
admission application
Academic advisor
information
Current faculty office
hours
Student organization
information
Athletics information
View/Pay bill
Portal Channels (cont.)

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
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
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Residence hall room
selection
Review and
accept/deny financial
aid award package
Check e-mail
Library services
Directory services
Health and Wellness
services

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
Student code of
conduct/Judicial
information
Dining hall
information
Computer services
Payroll forms
Career services
Alumni/ae services
Portal Channels (cont.)






Customized calendar
Announcement board
Chat rooms
Course management
tools
Administrator-specific
functions
Disability services

Multicultural Affairs



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
LGBTQA student
services
African-American
student services
Latino/a student
services
Native American student
services
Asian-American student
services
International student
services
Portal Channels (cont.)

Human Resources





Job opportunities
Benefit package
Online job application
Automatic book ordering
system
Parking information



Purchase parking permits
online
Parking maps
Online parking ticket
payment

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

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
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Orientation registration
and information
Online campus tour
Campus map
Information Technology
online help services
Institutional Research
Campus safety
Academic support
services
Portal Channels (cont.)


The aforementioned portal channels were
chosen based on a review of the pertinent
literature, those included in “good
practice” sites, and personal
recommendations.
The following slides include quotes from
the literature that support our portal
channel choices.
Portal Channels (cont.)


“…enable campus organizations (for example, clubs or
interest groups, students or faculty government
associations, fraternities/sororities, etc.) to distribute
content, communicate and collaborate, and deliver
surveys to their membership through an online
environment similar to the course sites with which they
are already familiar” (Blackboard, Inc., 2004).
“When integrated with student information system, class
schedules, exams and other academic information can
be placed on the calendar” (Volchock, 2000).
Portal Channels (cont.)



“Faculty
can send announcements to all students in a
particular class. Through e-mail commerce interfaces,
book lists for each class can be posted and links to the
campus bookstore or external bookstores can be
provided” (Volchock, 2000).
“…containing information and University
announcements; a student, faculty, and staff recognition
area; personalized calendar; popular news media
outlets; and a searchable directory” (Conway & Hubbard,
2003).
“…containing the University value statements, student
handbook, code of conduct, and judicial procedure”
(Conway & Hubbard, 2003).
Portal Channels (cont.)


“…simplifies course enrollment with sample class
schedules, class key-word searches, and access to
require class enrollment dates” (PeopleSoft, 2004).
“Technology needs to be developed in students affairs in
the same way it is developed in other areas of the
university community. Not only should the delivery of
financial aid applications, admissions applications,
housing and registration be done via the Internet, other
forms of support for students should be available
through this mechanism as well….One advantage of this
system is that it is accessible twenty-four hours a day,
seven days a week” (Blimling & Whitt, 1999, pp.187188).
Portal Channels (cont.)

“No two college portals are alike, although most
provide a core of common student services.
Students typically can register, drop or add
courses, look up their grades, and check on
what courses they need to complete their
degree requirements. Most colleges see Webbased e-mail systems and individual course
schedules as other “must have” portal services,
both for students, and faculty members. Beyond
offering those basic portal services, colleges can
distinguish themselves with extras” (Olsen,
2002, p. A32).
Recommendations for who
(what types of people)
should be appointed to
detailed planning and
implementation teams.
People


If this portal concept is accepted, we believe
that the people who are involved in further
planning teams, should be the same people that
are then involved in the implementation of the
portal. This works towards avoiding gaps in
information that can occur between planning
and implementation teams.
The following slide contains our
recommendations for areas that should have
representation on these planning and
implementation teams.
People (cont.)

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






Residence Life
Financial Aid
Registrar
Bursar
Judicial Affairs
Student Affairs/Services
Athletics
Communications and Public
Relations
Development
Institutional Research
Academic Support





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




Human Resources
Information Technology
Admissions
Library
Faculty
Chief Academic Officer
Chief Financial Officer
Students
Alumni/ae
Health and Wellness Services
Academic Deans
Career Services
People (cont.)


“Making a decision on a university-wide portal
system, and ensuring the coordinated
implementation of such a system, requires early
interdepartmental participation and ongoing
collaboration” (Frazee, 2001, p. 46).
“The development of a student portal will
require close collaboration of technical experts,
content experts, students, and administrative
leadership” (Harr, 2002).
People (cont.)

“…portals become more mainstream, student
affairs professionals need to be involved in the
institutional decisions regarding which platform
to adopt. The use of portals will change the way
student activities and residence life promote
their events, the manner in which campus
communication takes place, the interaction
between students and faculty/staff, and the
interaction between students themselves”
(Volchock, 2000).
People (cont.)


Gilbert (2000) recommends including the following
people/areas: Chief Academic Officers, Faculty, Students,
Student Affairs, Development, Library, Technology
Support, Disability Support Services, Alumni, Registrar,
Academic Department Chairs, and Assessment.
Eisler (2001) recommends the following people: Chief
academic officer, Dean or department chair, Faculty,
Academic support professionals, Chief information
officer, IT support professionals, Library, Student
Services, Students, Bookstore (p. 14).
How do we propose to get
feedback on what goes in
the portal and how it
should be organized?
Feedback


Student focus groups including student government,
residence hall sections, student organizations, and
student athletes.
Faculty and staff focus groups.

Note: Focus groups will be conducted during both planning and
trial implementation periods.

Campus wide surveys.

Meetings with campus Information Technology
professionals.
What technology-based
systems need to be able to
communicate using the
portal?
Technology-Based Systems

According to Eisler (2001), the following systems
are necessary portal components (p. 5):


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






Intranet
Student record system
Human resource system
Financial record system
Collaboration user tools
Electronic mail
Public information
Campus information
Library
Course management tools
Technology-Based Systems (cont.)


“A portal must, by definition, tie together existing
information systems” (Frazee, 2001, p. 47).
A single sign-on of user ID and password will be used,
along with a time-based security function.


“The single sign-on ultimately delivers more than just ease of use”
(Mickool, 2004).
“The need for privacy, security and ease of use must be balanced”
(Frazee, 2001).
Technology-Based Systems (cont.)

“In providing access to personal information,
access to personal university information,
campus portals encounter the same risks as
other elements of the campus network. Portals
face denial of service attacks, Web alteration,
fraud, and identity theft. They must also support
network-level security, encryption, and sessionmanagement, and authentication to safeguard
sensitive information and prevent unauthorized
access” (Eisler, 2003).
Technology-Based Systems (cont.)

“...Unicode support that will enable customers to
maintain data and user interfaces in virtually any
language through a single database...Unicode
support will allow customers to use languages
with non-Western character sets such as Arabic,
Japanese, and Thai with their existing database.
With support for all international character sets,
higher education customers can now view and
maintain student, faculty and staff data in any
language, enabling a truly global
implementation” (PeopleSoft, 2004).
How are we planning to
organize the portal pages?
Ellingsburg University
Ellingsburg
University
Est. 1890
Connect to your Cranberry Portal!
1100 Rolling Hills, Botonia Maryland * telephone: 653-345-4545 * fax: 653-998-8695 * e-mail: Ellingsburg@eu.edu
sadouska
Future Students
“The single sign on ultimately delivers more than
just ease of use….A
final area that requires
Faculty/Staff
significant thought and research is session
Alumni appropriate time out
management and
sessions….This gives the user time to think and
Community
write thoughtful responses to e-mails. However,
Hamilton Hall, a home for many first year students
financial aid information remain displayed
on a
screen for more than a few minutes when there is
no activity. An integration framework
for
session
Cranberry
Campus
Portal, 2005
management” ( Mickool, 2004).
Students
Current Students
Cranberry Campus Portal
Ellingsburg
University
Welcome to Cranberry, Andy Sadouskas!
Est. 1890
Calendar function, which
will
automatically have your class
schedule,
student
organizational
Ellingsburg
News
and Events
meetings, campus events,
Skating tonight….
athletic events, and other items
Your laundry
is done
depending
on the campus groups
E-mail
you join!
You need to fill out your FASFA…
“For example, it is reported that
Calculus canceled…
students at Dartmouth College,
Cranberry Announcement Board
a campus of 8,000 students,
to receive
faculty, and staff, send allows
25,000students
emails daily” ( Strange &information about billing, when
laundry is done, campus
Banning,
2001, p. 188).their
Academic
Services
Campus
Services
events, professors, and various
other sources daily…all
depending on the interest of the
individuals.
Financial Services
Library Services
Cranberry
Services
Community
Involvement
Directory
Welcome to Cranberry, Andy Sadouskas!
Ellingsburg
University
Academic Services
Est. 1890
Academic Advisor
Check your grades
Course Offerings
Degree Audit
University Catalog
Courses Tools
Portal
Home
Campus
Services
Community
Services
Financial
Services
Class Schedule
Register for Classes
Transcripts
Library
Services
On-line
Directory
Cranberry
Services
Prospective Students
Cranberry Campus Portal
Welcome to Cranberry, Jess Swiezter!
Ellingsburg
University
Est. 1890
Ellingsburg News and Events
Ellingsburg is ranked in the top 10
liberal arts institutions according to
the U.S. News & World Report….
Senior Jennifer Hamilton has won
the a national chemistry award…
Received Admissions application
on January 12, 2005…
Waiting on transcripts…
Cranberry
Services
Admissions
Application
Campus Services
Community
Involvement
Financial Services
History & Tradition
Admissions Staff
Faculty/Administrators
Cranberry Campus Portal
Ellingsburg
University
Welcome to Cranberry, Dr. Dafina Stewart!
Est. 1890
Ellingsburg News and Events
New Chemistry Professor…
Fish and Fries, Caesar salad …
You need to fill out your I-9 form…
Cranberry
Services
Student Council meeting at 8 p.m…
Academic
Services
Campus Services
Community
Involvement
Human
Resources
Financial
Services
Library
Services
Administrator
Directory
Alumni/ae
Cranberry Campus Portal
Ellingsburg
University
Welcome to Cranberry, Charlie Roberts!
Est. 1890
Ellingsburg News and Events
Class 0f 1999 Five year reunion…
Dr. Bob Young has won the Nobel
Peace Prize…
Alumni/ae trip to the Ellingsburg Art
Museum with the president…
Cranberry
Services
Homecoming
Weekend
Alumni/ae Photo
Album
Alumni/ae
Magazine
Career Services
Make a Donation
Community
Involvement
Alumni/ae Directory
Prospective Employees
Cranberry Campus Portal
Welcome to Cranberry, Jennifer Hamilton!
Ellingsburg
University
Est. 1890
Ellingsburg News and Events
Class 0f 1999 Five year reunion…
Dr. Bob Young has won the Nobel
Peace Prize…
Alumni/ae trip to the Ellingsburg Art
Museum with the president…
Resident Director application
received on January 12, 2005…
Reviewing applications…
Cranberry
Services
Application
Job Opportunities
Campus Information
Benefits
Academics
Directory
Identify any pertinent
literature and give
examples of “good practice
sites” and different models
of campus portals.
“Good Practice” Sites

PAWS – Louisiana State University
(Ethridge, Hadden, & Smith, 2000)

Campus Pipeline – Santa Barbara City
College (Serban & Fleming, 2002; Pickett & Hamre,
2002)

Artemis – Florida Community College at
Jacksonville (Harr, 2002)
“Good Practice” Sites

INSITE – Indiana University


One1Stop - Brigham Young University


More information
More information
Other examples of university portals can
be found at:

http://www.wcet.info/projects/laap/resources/collab_sites.asp#portals
Different Models

The following are some organizations that
provide portal design services:

PeopleSoft


Campus Pipeline


More information
Blackboard


More information
More information
uPortal

More information
Works Consulted
Barratt, W. (2003). Information technology in student
affairs. In S. R. Komives, & D. B. Woodard Jr., (Eds.),
Student services: A handbook for the profession
(pp.379-396). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Barratt, W. & Potts, C. (2002). Where is the virtual campus
union? Student Affairs Online, 3 (4), from
http://studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Fall_2002/virtualcamp
usunion.htm
Blackboard, Inc. (2004). Blackboard community system.
Retrieved February 17, 2005, from
http://www.blackboard.com/docs/AS/Bb_Community_Sy
stem_Brochure.pdf
Works Consulted (cont.)
Conway, J., & Hubbard, B. (2003, July 26). From brick to
bytes: Building an online activities environment. Student
Affairs Online, 4 (3). Retrieved February 13, 2005, from
http://studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Summer_2003/Bricksto-Bytes.htm
Eisler, D. L. (2001). Campus portals: Supportive
mechanisms for university communication, collaboration,
and organizational charts. Journal of Computing in
Higher Education, 13(1), 3-24.
Eisler, D. L. (2001). Selecting and implementing campus
portals. Syllabus, 14, 22-25.
Works Consulted (cont.)
Eisler, D. L. (2003, May 1). Campus portal security: Access,
risks, and rewards. Syllabus. Retrieved February 15,
2005, from http://campustechnology.com/print.asp?ID=7625
Ethridge, R. R, Hadden, C. M & Smith, M. P. (2000).
Building a personalized education portal: Get a behindthe-scenes look at LSU’s award-winning system.
Educause Quarterly, 23(3), 12-29.
Frazee, J. P. (2001). Charting a smooth course for portal
development. Educause Quarterly, 24(3), 42-48.
Works Consulted (cont.)
Gilbert, S. W. (2000, August 17). Portal decisions demand
collaboration – can portals support it? TLT Group.
Retrieved February 15, 2005, from
http://www.tltgroup.org/gilbert/SyllabusCol2.htm
Harr, G. L. (2002). Connections: A comprehensive student
portal. Jacksonville, FL: Florida Community College at
Jacksonville. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
ED474411)
Johnson, K. (2001). A river runs through it: Considerations
and issues when evaluating student portals. Student
Affairs Online, 2 (1), from
http://studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Winter_2001/river2.ht
m
Works Consulted (cont.)
Looney, M., & Lyman, P. (2000). Portals in higher
education. Educase. Retrieved February 15, 2005, from
http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm00/articles004/loo
ney.pdf#search='portals%20in%20higher%20education
%20looney%20and%20lyman
Mickool, R. (2004, April 1). The challenge of single signon. Syllabus. Retrieved February 15, 2005, from
http://www.campus-technology.com/print.asp?ID=9194
Olsen, F. (2002, August 9). The power of portals. The
Chronicle of Higher Education, pp. A32-A33.
Works Consulted (cont.)
PeopleSoft. (2004). PeopleSoft announces Campus
Solutions 8.9. Retrieved February 15, 2005, from
http://www.peoplesoft.com/corp/en/news_events/news/
database/press_release.jsp?doc=4E3F54EBD56B669488
256F3400564F12
Pickett, R. A. & Hamre, W. B. (2002). Building portals for
higher education. New Directions for Institutional
Research, 13, 37-55.
Serban, A. M. & Fleming, S. (2002). Evaluation of Campus
Pipeline, Spring 2002. Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara
City College. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
ED476335)
Works Consulted (cont.)
SunGard Data Systems. (2004). SCT Luminis product family
packed offerings. Retrieved February 15, 2005, from
http://www.sctcorp.com/Education/products/p_l_index.h
tml#
Timecruiser Computing Corp. (2005). CampusCruiser: A
complete web-based higher education enterprise portal.
Retrieved February 15, 2005, from
http://www.campuscruiser.com/cc_what_over.html
Volchok, D. J. (2000). Student affairs and technology: An
introduction to the integration of dot.coms and student
affairs. Student Affairs Online, 1 (3), from
http://studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Summer_2000/portals
.htm
Members of the President’s
executive staff, thank you for
reviewing our portal proposal. We
look forward to your decision.