Student and staff portals as support channels for the first-year academy

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dc.contributor.authorVan der Merwe, Antoinetteen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorPina, Ralphen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2017-06-01T12:17:19Z
dc.date.available2017-06-01T12:17:19Z
dc.date.issued2009
dc.descriptionThe original publication is available from AFRICAN SUN MeDIA, Stellenbosch: South Africa.en_ZA
dc.descriptionCITATION: Van der Merwe, A. & Pina, R. 2009. Student and Staff Portals as Support Channels for the First-year Acadmeny, in B. Leibowits, A. Van der Merwe & S. Van Schalkwyk (eds.). Focus on First-year success: Perspectives emerging from South Africa and Beyond. Stellenbosch: SUN MeDIA. 113-125. doi:10.18820/9781920338220.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractIntroduction: Using technology to support student learning is well accepted, but using technology to support systemic initiatives is a less well-known approach. This paper discusses some of the issues that should be taken into account when designing portals and shares some of the innovative approaches adopted at Stellenbosch University (SU) in order to support the First-year Academy (FYA) initiative. In 2002, SU initiated the Portal Project, an ambitious drive to develop and establish web portals as key infrastructure and tools for campus communities. Since then, three web portals have been developed and rolled out; namely, a student portal (www.mymaties.com), an alumni portal (www.matiesalumni.net) and a staff portal (my.sun.ac.za). The FYA is an academic initiative focused on the success of all first-year students and was officially launched at the beginning of 2007. One of the specific aims identified by the coordinating committee of this initiative was to investigate the use of portals as communication channels to students, lecturers and parents or the persons responsible for the specific first-year student’s account. Timeous and targeted communication with these stakeholder groups on the progress of this group of students is of utmost importance to enhance the students’ chances to achieve success. The coordinating committee felt that the portals, as ‘user-centric’ communication channels, would be ideally suited to fulfil this role (First-year Academy Coordinating Committee, 2006:10). This chapter will firstly provide some background as to how Stellenbosch University identifies a portal. It will then show how the portals specifically add value to the FYA initiative. The chapter will also show how the portals strive to provide student-centric and staff-centric places of work, integrating many useful functions, services and information feeds into a common interface. We will share useful lessons learnt, as well as what we consider to be critical success factors for institutional portals. Finally, we will provide a glimpse of future plans.en_ZA
dc.description.versionPublisher's versionen_ZA
dc.format.extent15 pages : illustrations (mainly colour)en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationVan der Merwe, A. & Pina, R. 2009. Student and Staff Portals as Support Channels for the First-year Acadmeny, in B. Leibowits, A. Van der Merwe & S. Van Schalkwyk (eds.). Focus on First-year success: Perspectives emerging from South Africa and Beyond. Stellenbosch: SUN MeDIA. 113-125. doi:10.18820/9781920338220.en_ZA
dc.identifier.isbn978-1-920338-22-0en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn978-1-920338-12-1 (ebook)en_ZA
dc.identifier.otherdoi:10.18820/9781920338220
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/101671
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.relation.haspartFactors influencing the learning process in first-year chemistryen_ZA
dc.relation.haspartIntroduction: Perspectives on the first-year Experienceen_ZA
dc.relation.haspartStudent Perceptions of the Factors Influencing their Success in First-year Accountingen_ZA
dc.relation.haspartTutoring is Fun': A Study in Investigating Tutor Motivationen_ZA
dc.relation.haspartWhat Makes a 'Good' First-year Lecturer?en_ZA
dc.relation.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/101618
dc.relation.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/101672
dc.relation.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/101669
dc.relation.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/101666
dc.relation.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/101667
dc.rights.holderAFRICAN SUN MeDIAen_ZA
dc.subjectStellenbosch University -- First-year Academy (FYA)en_ZA
dc.subjectEducation, Higher -- Technology supporten_ZA
dc.subjectWeb portal -- Stellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.titleStudent and staff portals as support channels for the first-year academyen_ZA
dc.typeChapters in Booksen_ZA
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