A little-known new technology for Portland State students will be getting more exposure this month when spring registration begins.
PSU launched a portal in October 2008, but students have not had much experience with it yet.
According to Kristin Boden-McKay, director of Web communications, a portal is an application that draws information and links in from various places, displaying related content on a single page.
Most students will begin using the portal in the coming weeks, as it will now be used to sign up for classes online.
Students can access the portal at my.pdx.edu. The related information is all set up by tabs at the top of the screen, allowing the user to quickly jump back and forth between tabs.
“This is designed to make access to this information, all related to your business of being a student, available on a single screen,” Boden-McKay said.
The portal site is called Luminis, named after the platform upon which it was built. Boden-McKay said the Luminis platform was chosen because SunGard Higher Education, the same company that provides Banner, the PSU student information system, offers it. This system will integrate easily with the Banner system.
The portal presents all of the basic information a student needs to access classes and grades, financial aid requirements, personal information and account balances.
“In addition, students have access to campus resources, library resources, etc., along with a single sign-on to Blackboard for Blackboard-enabled classes,” Boden-McKay said.
Portals are not here to replace other Portland State Web sites, such as www.pdx.edu. Instead, it offers an additional Web site to access via Web browsers.
“However, my.pdx.edu is exclusive content, pulled from multiple sources and providing access to multiple services, all via a single tab, or set of tabs,” Boden-McKay said.
“My.pdx.edu is a resource designed specifically to help students manage the business of being a student, in a single application.”
Boden-McKay does want to know how the portal is working so far for students.
“Comments and feedback on the portal are welcome, and there is a handy comment form on the home tab of the portal,” Boden-McKay said.