Online Survey Results

In summer 2001, the editors of this book conducted an online survey to gather opinions about what a portal is perceived to be in the context of higher education. Survey participants are listed in the Acknowledgments section of this book. The survey results were presented in a poster session at the EDUCAUSE 2001 conference and are summarized in Table 1 of the Introduction to this book. This appendix presents a more detailed analysis of the survey, including several items that were not included in the summary in the Introduction. The survey was made up of 18 statements to which respondents were asked to react, and six questions that respondents were asked to answer. Analysis of the survey results must be tempered by the fact that survey respondents were self-selecting. Most presumably had some interest in portals, and therefore likely had some familiarity with them. While survey respondents were in no sense hand-picked, they were at the same time not entirely randomly selected.

Values-Based Design of Learning Portals as New Academic Spaces

Many guidelines for portal design tend to focus on the technical aspects of a portal or a network. However, as we continue to define portals as gateways for learning, we need to consider issues related to the social and cultural context in which portals are used. In this chapter we examine learning portals from both the instructors’ and the learners’ perspectives by synthesizing existing research and proposing a framework for quality guidelines. The Collaborative of Online Higher Education Research (COHERE), consisting of eight large research-intensive universities in Canada involved in Internet-based learning, was created to enhance learning and teaching through technology and to move toward a stronger culture of professional collaboration and scholarship in our educational practices (Carey, 2000). Based on our experience with COHERE, we have developed tools for the formative and summative evaluations of learning portals generally. These tools include usability studies, questionnaires and focus groups.

The Next Generation of Internet Portals

Today’s portals bring together existing technologies in useful, innovative ways, but they don’t scratch the surface of what is possible. The constant build-up of information and resources on the World Wide Web demands a smarter more advanced portal technology that offers dynamic, personalized, customized, and intelligent services. This chapter discusses next-generation portals and the requirement that they come to know their users and understand their individual interests and preferences. It describes a new generation of portals that have a level of autonomy, making informed, logical decisions and performing useful tasks on behalf of their members. The chapter highlights the role of artificial intelligence in framing the next generation of portal technology and in developing their capabilities for learning about their users.

Campus Portal Strategies

This chapter is designed to assist campuses and their leaders in determining whether to pursue a portal project. For those universities that choose to create portals, a series of strategies and approaches are presented to guide and assist in the success of the effort. This material is provided from the perspective that campus portals can provide a new way to connect with students, faculty, alumni and the community. Strategies are presented to determine whether to undertake a portal project, and the campus readiness for this effort. Nine different approaches to campus portals are presented, together with suggestions on project organization. Project success factors are developed together with potential planning pitfalls for campus portal projects. Finally future approaches for portals are discussed with thoughts for portal acceptance on campus.

Developing a Portal Channel Strategy

This chapter provides a method for organizing a portal channel development strategy by identifying potential content, classifying it and then prioritizing it into distinct categories. Several effective ways of identifying content are discussed that include committees, focus groups and pilot projects. Representatives of the campus communities that will be using the portal are important to poll, ensuring they describe their actual needs versus what they think they need. External resources aggregated into the portal must be appropriate to the institution and reliable. Channels that streamline your institution’s business processes will be the most valuable parts of your portal; the bulk of your portal development work should be spent in creating them. Understanding your portal vendor’s programming interfaces to create custom, integrated applications is vital, as well as their philosophy in distributing new portal channels.

Portals

Whether 18 years old and raised on the Internet or an adult seeking the convenience of online service, today’s student expects personalizable, online self-service, along with high-touch access to help when self-service falters. Personalizable, online self-service is the promise of the campus portal, a promise that can be achieved and afforded if colleges and universities take seriously the challenge to transform and redesign the form and substance of their high-touch interactions with students and other stakeholders.

Begin with the End (User) in Mind

This chapter presents a case study of the campus portal planning process at San Diego State University. The authors describe the use of participative decision-making strategies that capture the voices of key stakeholders, identify their concerns and priorities, and facilitate a successful portal rollout. Data was collected from faculty, students and campus leaders through a series of focus groups, interviews and online surveys. Findings were examined in light of the literature on technology adoption and the authors’ familiarity with portal initiatives at other large public universities. Participants described their vision of the ideal portal solution in terms of features, user interface and functionality. While faculty and students expressed enthusiasm about a campus portal, they also had concerns regarding training, support, reliability, security and standards. The authors make recommendations for addressing user concerns such as providing direction and leadership, segmenting the rollout, communicating the benefits and providing organizational support.

Keeping Your Eyes on the Prize

This chapter describes eight potential educational uses of institutional portals (e.g., helping instruction become more spontaneous and adaptive; supporting learning communities; reducing cost of service delivery). It then describes a long-term program of data collection that can improve the educational effectiveness of portals, and control the costs and stresses of portal operation. Studies include: a. baseline data (how well are those goals being met without a portal?), b. debugging studies (what factors are tending to block portal effectiveness?), c. cost studies (what aspects of portal development, operation and use are so costly, time-consuming or stressful that they threaten system success?) and d. outcomes assessment (is portal use contributing to outcome improvement?). The non-profit Flashlight Program has developed a number of evaluation tool kits that can be helpful in doing studies of these kinds.

Educational Portal White Paper

This white paper conceptualizes and discusses the design and application of a super web portal for state or nationwide educational applications. The term “Educational Portal” refers to a web gateway environment that allows users with varied educational interests to access educational resources and information. The Educational Portal provides a collaborative environment where educators can find peers who share educational knowledge and creativity. It is also a “profile-based” web environment portal that can be totally personalized according to each user’s needs and interests, providing each user with specialized “MyPortal” functionality. Many educational institutions are currently in the process of offering Web-based portals to their instructors and students. This might include services like course portal, library portal and campus portal. However, each of these portals offers services available within the institution only to the members of that institution. For instance, each portal can offer authenticated student and faculty access to courses, library materials and Student Information Systems in an institution. But there is no direct sharing of knowledge or resources between and among the members of various educational institutions. It now appears necessary to offer a state or nationwide single front door portal gateway where any and all learners, regardless of institutional affiliation, can gain access to educational and training information. It will provide an opportunity for educators and trainers to share resources, and information and to collaborate on the development, evaluation and sharing of educational modules. For instance, the gateway will include a portal environment where a teacher can share the use of a personally developed e-Learning module with other teachers in the same field and class rank at other schools, or with students and others who wish to use it in their learning environment.

Building a Virtual Campus

For the higher education world, comprising three million faculty and administrators, 15 million students and 60 million alumni (Budzynski & Zabora, 2000), a Web presence is essential. But the means by which institutions “go online” can differ dramatically, including the implementation of brochure websites, development of online registration systems, offering Web-based course supplements and distance learning courses, putting administrative functions online, and giving students Web access to extracurricular resources and other networked information. When delivered together, these functions represent a comprehensive platform, while alone they create a fragmented Web presence. In this chapter, we will explore the trends leading up to the need for an institution-wide solution; how the eCollege CampusPortalSM can connect a campus’ administrative, academic and community aspects together through a seamless, single point of contact; the development process and technology that makes this possible; and the building of a virtual campus at Montana State University-Billings.