Over a month after it launched a new version of MyECC on March 11, the El Camino College Information and Technology Services is still working on some hiccups for the web portal.

The old version, which launched in 2003, was challenging to navigate and had broken links, according to the data and feedback collected by the El Camino College Information and Technology Services from faculty and students.

The ITS began work on the new portal in 2023. The two people who contributed most are Loic Audusseau, the chief technology officer and Linabel Sajo, the applications development supervisor.

When Audusseau came to work for El Camino in 2020, he quickly noticed the old MyECC portal.

“When I arrived here to El Camino College, I was really surprised to see the web portal was still a system from 2003 and began voicing that it needed to be updated and changed,” Audusseau said.

Before making the new portal, Audusseau and Sajo wanted feedback and interaction from faculty and students.

Audusseau worked with the faculty and Sajo collected data from students. Before making the current version, everything wrong with the old one had to be considered.

“I spoke with student ambassadors, admissions, and counselors to hear what the biggest concerns and issues students were having with the old version of MyECC and those issues included broken links, difficulty navigating, it was not mobile device friendly, and the layout was outdated,” Sajo said.

At the same time as the project began in 2023, the software company Ellucian notified El Camino College that they would no longer support service on the old version of MyECC in 2024.

Ellucian, founded in 1968, is a software company that provides technological services to schools and colleges. El Camino is continuing to use Ellucian for the new web portal.

“It just so happened as we were remaking a new MyECC portal that we learned Ellucian was going to stop supporting it altogether in 2024,” Audusseau said.

After launching the new MyECC portal, the ITS provided training sessions to students and faculty.

For students, two Zoom sessions on March 5 and 6 were offered to walk them through the new portal step by step before its official launch.

Student reactions to the new portal have been mixed, with some students enjoying it and others experiencing issues.

One student who has had some issues is art major Jessica Villanueva, 25.

“I think the new MyECC could be better because I get error messages when trying to drop classes, yet it is easier to navigate now,” Villanueva said.

Students enjoying the new MyECC portal include Jahquist Williams, 22, a business marketing major, and Israel Uko, 19, a computer information systems major. Both students use the MyECC portal when studying and doing homework in the library.

“This new web portal is very compact, more simplified, and mobile-friendly to use on my phone,” Williams said.

For Uko, there is a noticeable difference between the old and new versions.

“The old version was outdated and boring and the new version is much more presentable and navigation is easier,” Uko said.

The ITS is aware of some of the issues with the new version of MyECC. They encourage everyone to report the problems to them so they can fix them.

“We are receiving feedback and we will implement changes as we go,” Audusseau said.

To report issues, students can contact the Information and Technology Services by emailing them at [email protected].