In the near future, freshman Lawrence Orr will wake up in the morning, flip open his laptop, log in and have the University at his fingertips.
When My UNC, a new student portal, goes live sometime in the next year, Orr will be able to go to one Web site and get the latest campus news, weather reports, movie listings and dining hall menus.
Orr will also have access to bulletins from his major and even a live Web cam that will allow him to catch a glimpse of the Pit.
“It would be more convenient than having to skip from place to place,” Orr said. “It really shows how much technology moves today.”
The University currently has a number of different portals — sites with individualized Web content — including Student Central and Blackboard, an educational site. But there is no Web site that brings an array of features together with daily content like entertainment options and stock reports.
“Student Central is limited just to administrative information,” said Lori Casile, assistant to the vice chancellor for Information Technology Services. “It doesn’t include all the information like My Yahoo!”
So when the Registrar’s Office was collecting feedback last year to redesign Student Central, administrators from a number of UNC departments decided to collaborate and create My UNC, a one-stop site for almost all University-related needs.
The development of My UNC started last December with the formation of a portal steering committee. In February, the committee started collecting feedback from student focus groups about what they would like to see on the site.
“They were saying, `I go to Student Central when I register, but not on a day-to-day basis,’” Casile said. “They want to know what movies are playing and daily features.”
My UNC, which is still in the design phase, will likely have a tab system with such titles as “My Academics,” “My Housing” and “My Finances.”
In addition to the tabs, the user will eventually be able to customize the windows that drop into the main page.
But Casile warned that when My UNC goes live, it will be relatively standard and static. “In early versions there will be very limited customization,” she said. “A lot of that will improve over time.”
Casile said she hopes testing on the site will begin this semester, when a limited number of students will be instructed to visit the site every day and provide feedback.
But the date My UNC will be available to all UNC students and faculty members is still in question, mostly because of state budgetary concerns.
Some project coordinators are worried that budget cuts might divert attention from developing the new portal.
In the meantime, Casile said she and other officials will continue working out the kinks, such as how to determine the identity of the user and how to get the rest of the UNC departments to utilize the Web site.
“We have to find how to get the rest of the University to buy in instead of them creating their own portal,” Casile said. “It will be a huge part of the University’s Web presence.”
The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.
