ncstate – Technology in Academic & Student Affairs

Student Portal Live!

The first release of the new Student Information System (SIS) launched today at 8:00 a.m.

All features of this release are accessed through university portal, and there are aspects that impact faculty and staff as well as students. If you don’t have Faculty/Admin or Student access, you may not be able to see these features. I encourage you to find a student and ask them to let you watch over their shoulder while they click through. (But be sure to cover your eyes when they enter their password!

http://mypack.ncsu.edu/

Highlights include:

1. The launch of the new Student Portal. Any person who is enrolled as a student will see a For Students” tab once they log into the portal. Within this tab is a default view of a number of sections called pagelets. You will see Student Affairs departments, programs, activities and services throughout.

We spent a great deal of time talking to students and Division staff to develop the content and organization that you currently see. Obviously this will be an ever-changing website and we’ll continue to adjust as needed. If you have feedback, please send that to me.

2. Faculty and Staff/Administrative Access. You can now find these services through the portal.

3. Admissions information. While some information will still be available through RUMBA, most all Admissions information can now be found through the portal for those who have that access.

4. Student Information. The usual PackTracks info (class schedules, grades, personal information) and Student Financial info (Cashier’s Office info) are now accessed ONLY through the new portal.

For more detailed information, see:
http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/sis/communication/enews_0807.htm

FYI, there are several other major modules within the new SIS that will launch over the next 18-24 months, including Financial Aid, Housing, Records, Advising and more. I’ll continue to post updates.

More on Da Chen Blogs

I’ve been reading the various blogs related to Da Chen’s visit to our campus. Many students on campus (including at least FYC and ALS students, and likely others) are given a writing assignment based on Da Chen’s work. The blog titles chosen for many of these blogs are Da Chen specific. Here are some examples. (And, if you visit each you will see that the vast majority have only the one post.) My favorite is DaChenGoState; never miss an opportunity to show that school spirit!

This catches my attention because of my recent interest in the concept of teaching our students to be “net savvy” (as well as our staff and faculty). Will these students use these blogs for other purposes? Do they not understand how to set up a blog? Maybe they understand and are only blogging for this one course requirement and don’t intend to use the blog again.

I should note that are a number of other posts on blogs that have more traditional blog names (usually the name or unity of the student). But the number of Da Chen-specific blog titles really caught my eye and has me wondering just how much our first-year students understand blogging.