Boring.
Boring is the word to describe the current EC portal for students to keep up to date on all the happenings at EC.
One may suggest that students don’t need much from an EC student portal, as long as students are able to check theirgrades, transcripts, add and drop classes and view the annoying spam e-mail that is sent from various programs on campus. But look at the bigger picture. If that is all students wanted out of their EC online accounts, than the information could just be passed along to Yahoo or Google mail accounts.
While most may enjoy the dead white space with the scrolling calendar of events, it seems that an EC online account should be more than just an e-mail-like account.
Students should be able to see class schedules,bmaybe see what was done in class that day, or even communicate instant messenger status with other students in certain classes on assignments.
Well, EC may have just heard student’s prayers as it begins to implement the new Beta version of the EC web portal.
With the Beta portal, students will be able to access library databases, check the weather around EC (for those fashionable students around campus), create personal links, and this can all be done from the homepage so students won’t have to click anywhere else for it. Also, the Beta portal will allow students to utilize a new powerful search tool to find documents easier.
What more could a student want out a school Web site? Can students seriously believe that our current Web site is up to par and is doing what we expect of it? Maybe the EC student body needs to consider what more the Beta version of the MyECC portal can do instead of focusing on the idea or the old adage that “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Sure the argument can be made that money we are using on the portal can go in to other endeavors, such as improvements around campus, more seating in buildings, or fixing the bathrooms, but in such a highly technological world where the World Wide Web is king, it is time for EC to catch up and be at the forefront of this innovation.
The students on campus should embrace Beta as the new and best way to do their EC student things. Think of it as upgrading from the old generation iPod. Also, since EC has embraced the Twitter craze as well, it goes to show that as millions are joining Twitter, EC is heading in the right direction: toward the future, and the future includes improving students’ well-being, one click of the mouse at a time.
-See related article on Page 1
