Student Affairs.com Virtual Case Study Competition Iowa State University MacGarret D. Becker Lindsay M. Pace David J. Rogalski Christopher A. Stoppel ELLIE:

Student Affairs.com Virtual Case Study CompetitionStudent Affairs.com Virtual Case Study Competition

Iowa State UniversityIowa State UniversityMacGarret D. BeckerMacGarret D. Becker

Lindsay M. PaceLindsay M. Pace

David J. RogalskiDavid J. Rogalski

Christopher A. StoppelChristopher A. Stoppel

““ELLIE”: Ellingsburg's ELLIE”: Ellingsburg's LeadingLeading Learning & Learning &

Information Environment Information Environment

EEllingsburg llingsburg UUniversity : “ELLIE” Portalniversity : “ELLIE” PortalStudent Affairs.com Virtual Case Study

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Why a portal?

• A portal is an interactive and personalized access to a variety of resources and tools.

• Ellingsburg University’s current university website has been neglected and is poor in design, branding, and functionality. While implementing a portal will not replace the existing website, it will allow for the campus community to embrace the current advances in technology applicable at the university.

• A customized portal will allow Ellingsburg University students, staff, and faculty to communicate, deliver, and provide all members access to internally and externally stored information, people, and processes.

• Furthermore, implementing a portal at Ellingsburg University will allow a single gateway for students, staff, and faculty to remain connected to University news, events, and business processes from anywhere in the world, at anytime, in a secure and personalized manner.

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Why a portal? (continued)

• Although the effects of technology on student development have not been well documented to the present date, student development theory has shown that involvement on campus and interaction with others is imperative for student growth. The implementation of a portal at Ellingsburg University will enhance the needs of the student body by providing them with practical experience with cutting-edge technology relevant in all majors and fields. Technology, paired with traditional teaching methods, can serve to enhance student learning and growth for different learning styles.

• Not only will it provide students with the opportunity to gain practical experience, the portal will foster student involvement and interactions by connecting and encouraging relationships between students, faculty, staff, and organizations on campus.

• Astin (1984) stressed the role of student involvement in development. Astin’s approach focuses on factors that facilitate development and interactions. A portal provides technology that can facilitate this development by providing a list of campus activities, organizations, and events that will promote student involvement.

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Why a portal? (continued)

• Furthermore, the work of Rendón (1994) stressed the importance of validating our students to further their involvement with the campus community. The development of a student portal will develop technological confidence within students, making for a more engaged and active campus.

• In addition, Kearsley & Shneiderman’s (1995) Engagement Theory focused on students being engaged in a meaningful and connected activity through interactions with other individuals and through completion of their work and school duties. While this type of engagement could occur without the use of technology, Kearsley & Shneiderman believe that technology can facilitate engagement in ways which are difficult to achieve through more traditional means.

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Portal Concept Development Team

• Technology Director, Chair • Director of Residential Life• Office of Communications Representative• Faculty Senate President• Student Government Association President

The initial four individuals selected for the Portal Conceptual Development Team were chosen by the Ellingsburg University Technology Director. The Student Government Association President was added to this committee because of her close association and familiarization with students, student issues, and representation of her peers. To address the campus’ immediate needs for a portal, no other key constituents will be involved in the creation of a portal.

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Implementation Team

The planning and implementation team is responsible for collecting feedback from the broader campus community and developing the main components of the university portal. Because there are many stakeholders related to the creation of the portal, it is mandatory that Ellingsburg University include the following campus community members on the implementation team:

• Faculty representative from each college of the university• Director of Student Activities• Assistant Director of Admissions• Assistant Director of Residence Life• Representative from the Office of Multicultural Affairs• Registrar• Director of Human Resources• Assistant to the Vice President of Finance• Assistant Director of Institutional Research• Representative from the Student Government Association• Representative from the Graduate Student Government Association• Two students elected by the President of the Student Government Association

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Technology-Based Systems

The portal system developed for our university will adopt the following systems to effectively communicate information to our campus community:

• A universal interface allowing users to enter a single log-on to access the specific portal page based on university classification (i.e. student, faculty, staff).

• A comprehensive framework supporting academic, business, administrative, and community applications that can be customized and self-managed by the individual user.

• Ability to log-on to the portal 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with the exception of maintenance and support updates.

• The absence of outside marketing and sales programs unless sponsored by the university and/or implemented by the specific user.

• As the portal project is developed, access, safety, and security of data and information will be integral to the success of “ELLIE”. Unintended access, e-mail confidentiality, and inherently insecure Internet traffic are each threats to the security of any portal. Tools such as Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) for e-mail and standard cryptographic algorithms such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Triple Data Encryption Standard (DES) will be important for portal security.

• As colleges and universities expand their reliance upon electronic files, databases, and portals investments in information technology and digital security will be imperative. It is estimated that United States companies will spend 8-12% of their total IT budget on security by 2006, an increase from 4% in 2004 (Sharma, 2004). Threats to IT security are very real, as the University of Texas had a hacker illegally access to over 55,000 files and social security numbers and the Drexel University College of Medicine had over 5,000 patient records illegally accessed.

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Feedback

As the Portal Conceptual Development Team, we have chosen to use a phased approach to introduce the proposed portal to Ellingsburg University in several strategic steps in order to deliver immediate value, minimize risk, and to ensure success.

Every member of the implementation team will be surveyed and put into focus groups in order to receive initial feedback. In addition, a pilot portal will be posted on the website for all users to view and provide feedback. Creating a pilot Web portal can demonstrate to the larger university community the value and benefit of customized and integrated services. The portal will be regularly updated during this time period.

Three months after the pilot portal has been posted on the Web, the updated and modified proposed portal will go live for all students, faculty, and staff in the College of Education. The College of Education will serve as the testing audience for the proposed campus-wide portal for three months. Lastly, after high surveillance and feedback has been conducted with all users in the College of Education, the portal will be introduced and available to the entire campus in one year.

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Good Practices

In order to assist the Portal Conceptual Development Team, multiple university and college portal design projects were consulted. Several of the included campuses reflect smaller enrollments, high residential campus populations, diverse student bodies, and a commitment to liberal arts education like that of Ellingsburg University. However, it is also important to expand this focused window to view portals designed and in place by larger, more comprehensive and research-intensive universities provide for their students, staff, and faculty. Each of the portal projects consulted provides a unique perspective about portal research, development, and implementation.

The specific areas of inquiry focused on the branding, customization, and special features of the college or university's portal project. A short description of the portal is provided herein.

St. Ambrose University: https://beeline.sau.edu/ • Branding—“Beeline”, named after the University’s athletic team mascot• Customized views for students and faculty• Faculty view contains course management, advising, personnel information, and account management channels• Student view contains registration, academic profile, financial profile, and personal profile channels.

Macalester College: http://lester.macalester.edu/login.cfm • Branding—“LESTER: Your Link to Electronic Services, Technology and Educational Resources”• Provides basic functions of a campus portal, but could be further developed to represent campus infrastructure better.

https://beeline.sau.edu/



http://lester.macalester.edu/login.cfm

http://lester.macalester.edu/login.cfm

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Good Practices (continued)Gettysburg College: http://www.gettysburg.edu/it/cnav/index.html• Branding—CNAV:College NAVigation • Provides overview information, history, and customized views for applicants, accepted students, students, faculty, parents, and alumni.

Marquette University: http://www.marquette.edu/pages/home/its/help/cm/• Branding—CheckMarq• Provides customized views for students, instructors, and advisors

Grinnell College: https://pioneerweb.grinnell.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_35_1 • Branding—“MyGrinnell” available on Pioneerweb (named after College sports team)• Generic login, not specifically designed for individuals other than students

Denison University: http://my.denison.edu/• Branding—“myDENISON.”• Slogan: “It’s like a bookbag, but with a keyboard and a mouse. myDENISON holds all your digital stuff, like webmail, personal bookmarks, personal data like W2s or grades, and access to community forums…. you’ll even be able to vote on-line! Best of all, the zipper never gets stuck” [sic].• Highly customizable with multiple channels for users to choose.

University at Buffalo: http://www.buffalo.edu/aboutmyub/• Branding—“MyUB” • Customized views for undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, and faculty.• Recently renovated portal customization and channels.• Continuous feedback sought and integrated by Information Technology staff.• Allows visitors to sample “My UB”

University of Washington: http://myuw.washington.edu/• Branding—“MyUW” • Customized views for students, faculty/staff, teaching, and alumni.• Comprehensive channels that provide hundreds of links to campus, city, state, and national websites.• Allows visitors to sample “MyUW”

http://www.gettysburg.edu/it/cnav/index.html

http://www.gettysburg.edu/it/cnav/index.html

http://www.marquette.edu/pages/home/its/help/cm/



https://pioneerweb.grinnell.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_35_1

https://pioneerweb.grinnell.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_35_1

http://my.denison.edu/



http://www.buffalo.edu/aboutmyub/



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Portal Organization and Structure

“ELLIE” stands for Ellingsburg's Leading Learning & Information Environment. Branding the portal will present a welcoming feel to Ellingsburg University’s new portal system. This brand name will also be helpful in making referrals to the portal site.

“ELLIE’s” initial development will include portals for three groups (students, faculty, and staff). Each group has different functions and customization opportunities on it. Basic channels on all portals will include:

• profile changes.

• customization of bookmarks and calendars.

• access to university e-mail account and address book.

• university headlines and local weather.

• paying university bills and changing address information.

These channels, along with user-specific functions, provide all users with the capability to update personal information, access pertinent user information (class, committees), and communicate with all member of the university community. The “ELLIE” portal will enhance technology at Ellingsburg University while enabling everyone to control and customize their university information.

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Student “ELLIE”

In addition to the standard “ELLIE” functions, students will be able to:

• enter online class discussion boards

• review assignments.

• update financial aid, dining options, and other student information.

• make changes to class schedules and review grades.

• apply for student employment opportunities.

• access residence life room scheduling

The following slide presents what “ELLIE” might look like for students.

EEllingsburg llingsburg UUniversityniversity

Financial AidFinancial Aid

Residence HallsResidence Halls

New England’s Premier Liberal Arts University

ClassesClasses

English 101 – MWF 2:00 p.m.

Chemistry 184 – TR 9:30 a.m.

Math 121 – MWF 10:00 a.m.

Psychology 104 – MWF 9:00 a.m.

Bowling 100 – TR 1:30 p.m.

ContactContact

University BillUniversity Bill

DiningDining

Student InfoStudent Info

RegistrationRegistration

Tax InfoTax Info

Address ChangeAddress Change

GradesGrades

Job BoardJob Board

HeadlinesHeadlines

• Women’s Basketball wins on the road, 78-61

• University Chorus Concert Saturday, 7:00 p.m.

• Fall 2005 course registration begins Monday, March 14th

• Multicultural Leadership Summit 2005 registration ends Wednesday, March 2nd

ScholarshipsScholarships

E-MailE-Mail

CalendarCalendar

New Message

Inbox (7)

Address Book

February 2005

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6 7 8 9 10

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BookmarksBookmarks

Horoscopes

ESPN

CNN

Hotmail

Ellingsburg Daily Times

My Account | My Settings | Help | Logout

Friday, February 25, 2005Friday, February 25, 2005Jane Doe | Student, Junior

[email protected]

My ProfileMy Profile Welcome Welcome to ELLIE!to ELLIE!

Local WeatherLocal WeatherToday

Hi: 37° Low: 21°

Tomorrow

Hi: 34° Low: 22°

Sunday

Hi: 45° Low: 29°

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Faculty “ELLIE”

In addition to the standard “ELLIE” functions, faculty will be able to:

• develop online class discussion boards.

• access class rosters.

• post class assignments and examinations dates.

• input mid-term and final grades.

• update personal benefits, retirement accounts, insurance, and tax information.

• participate in online trainings and university forums.

• review FERPA.

• sign-up for university-sponsored child care options.

The following slide presents what “ELLIE” might look like for faculty.

Welcome Welcome to ELLIE!to ELLIE!

EEllingsburg llingsburg UUniversity niversity

RetirementRetirement

InsuranceInsurance


E-MailE-Mail

CalendarCalendar

New Message

Inbox (34)

Address Book

February 2005

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TrainingTraining


ContactContact

BenefitsBenefits

Child CareChild Care

Tax InfoTax Info


Human Human ResourcesResources

ForumsForums

Ronald Dobbs | Professor, Political Science

[email protected]

BookmarksBookmarks

USA Today

ACLU

APSAnet.org

CNN


FERPAFERPA

My ProfileMy ProfileMy Account | My Settings | Help |

Logout

Friday, February 25, 2005Friday, February 25, 2005

ClassesClasses

Political Science 184 – MWF 2:00 p.m.

Schedule | Roster | Grades

Political Science 332 – TR 9:30 p.m.Schedule | Roster | Grades

HeadlinesHeadlines



• Spring 2005 midterms due March 10th

• Department of Political Science monthly faculty meeting March 15th

• LAS Brown Bag March 17th


Hi: 37° Low: 21°

Tomorrow

Hi: 34° Low: 22°

Sunday

Hi: 45° Low: 29°

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Staff “ELLIE”

In addition to the standard “ELLIE” functions, staff will be able to:

• review student organization adviser roles.

• access committee involvement.

• update personal benefits, retirement accounts, insurance, and tax information.

• participate in online trainings and university forums

• review FERPA.

• sign-up for university-sponsored child care options.

The following slide presents what “ELLIE” might look like for staff.

Welcome Welcome to ELLIE!to ELLIE!

EEllingsburg llingsburg UUniversity niversity

RetirementRetirement

InsuranceInsurance


E-MailE-Mail

CalendarCalendar

New Message

Inbox (17)

Address Book

February 2005

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Need To KnowNeed To Know

Student Organization Recognition Committee

Academic Standards Committee

University Committee of Women

VPSA Cabinet

Bowling Club AdvisorTrainingTraining


ContactContact

BenefitsBenefits

Child CareChild Care

Tax InfoTax Info


Human Human ResourcesResources

ForumsForums

Cynthia Ames | Vice President of Student Affairs

[email protected]

HeadlinesHeadlines



• Take Back The Night 2005 March 10th

• VPSA Directors retreat March 12th

• Residence Life Open Mic Night March 14th

BookmarksBookmarks

Student Affairs.com

ACUHO-I

NASPA

ACPA


FERPAFERPA

My ProfileMy ProfileMy Account | My Settings | Help |

Logout

Friday, February 25, 2005Friday, February 25, 2005


Hi: 37° Low: 21°

Tomorrow

Hi: 34° Low: 22°

Sunday

Hi: 45° Low: 29°

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Proposed TimelineStart Portal Conceptual Development Team submits Ellingsburg’s proposed portal structure and

content.

One Month All Implementation Team members will individually complete a survey specific to their role as a student, staff, or faculty in regards to the content, organization, information, and reactions of the proposed portal.Each constituent group (students, staff, and faculty) will participate in a focus group to discuss reactions, suggestions, and information on the proposed portal.

Two Months The Implementation Team will meet to provide feedback to the Vice President of Student Affairs, Vice President of Academic Affairs, the newly appointed Technology Director, and her team of staff.

Three Months All changes, suggestions, and feedback from the Implementation Team meeting will be updated to the portal.

Five Months The Ellingsburg University website will post a pilot portal (a mock portal, however, with limited accesses to information, processes and communication) on the website for users to view. A feedback form will be posted on this link for all users to communicate any difficulties, suggestions, and comments.

Modifications will be regularly made to the portal as a result of the user feedback from the pilot portal posted on the university website.

Eight Months Portal will go live for the College of Education.

Monitoring the portal’s use, effectiveness, and feedback will be the main objective during this time. A feedback and help channel will be posted on the portal so that all constituent groups within the College of Education can continue to provide further suggestions and feedback to the Technology Team.

One Year – Finish Portal goes live for all students, staff, and faculty to use. Feedback information, survey, and contact information will be posted on the portal.

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“ELLIE’s” Future

After the initial development and refinement of the campus portal, portals, and channels will be expanded. “ELLIE” could expand into the following areas:

• Alumni – Ellingsburg University alumni could continue to access “ELLIE” to keep their current information updated for the university. Different portal channels would allow alumni to make donations to the university and stay current on news at Ellingsburg.

• Prospective Students – Admissions could develop “ELLIE” portals for prospective students which would allow them to submit applications and accept admission to Ellingsburg.

•Accepted Students – Once admission is accepted, students can apply for scholarships, review financial aid, and sign-up for university housing.

•Athletics – Numerous student-athlete records must be kept by different sanctioning organizations. “ELLIE” could allow student-athlete counselors to maintain these records and develop reports.

• Endowment/Foundation – Prospective donors to Ellingsburg University could have a portal dedicated to their donation records, tax deduction information, and university monetary needs.

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Closing Remarks

Ellingsburg University embraces technology in all forms and facets to enhance the campus culture and learning environment experienced by students, faculty, and staff. The creation of a portal enables the university to fulfill its commitment to the university community by fostering collaboration, strengthening communication, and providing campus services all at the click of a button. Even as a predominately residential campus, “ELLIE” will serve as the first stop for all constituents to access specific information tailored toward their unique role on campus. Also, the creation of “ELLIE” will present the entire university as a technology leader, not follower, in higher education, thus building on our already existing image as New England’s Premier Liberal Arts University.

It is our sincere hope to present to the President’s Executive Staff our enthusiastic recommendation to implement the “ELLIE” portal at Ellingsburg University.

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References

• Barratt, W. (2000). E-Mail Confidentiality and Data Security. Retrieved Feb 10, 2005 from http://studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Summer_2000/email.html

• Evans, N., Forney, D. & Guido-DiBrito, F. (1998). Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

• Gleason, B., (2000). Boston College University-Wide Information Portal: Concepts and Recommended Course of Action. Retrieved February 18, 2005 from http://mis.eduel.edu/ja-sig/whitepaper.html

• Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved February 17, 2005 from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

• Sharma, D.C. (2004, Jun 7). IT security budgets expected to rise. Retrieved Feb 14, 2005 from http://news.com.com/IT+security+budgets+expected+to+rise/2100-1009_3-5227840.html

• Strange, C. C. & Banning, J. H. (1998). Educating by design: Creating campus learning environments that work. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Zazelenchuk, T. & Boling, E. (2003). Considering user satisfaction in designing web-based portals. Educause Quarterly, 1, 35 – 40.

Documents

Student Affairs.com Virtual Case Study Competition Iowa State University MacGarret D. Becker Lindsay M. Pace David J. Rogalski Christopher A. Stoppel ELLIE: