Portal Content

Our second segment in the campus portal project presents examples of the types of content these pages can contain.  The campus portal provides access to information already available on the World Wide Web, but also can provide access to internal information previously available only through the campus intranet, if at all. This access, combining the function of both Internet resources and intranet-based data in an interface that the user configures to his or her personal preferences, can create a strong, powerful, and valuable learning tool.

Perhaps you've been reading or hearing about how industry portals enable business to business and business to customer relationships.  One aspect of campus portals is that they allow customization for both the university and the variety of people involved, including students. When campuses consider why they are interested in portals, if the primary interest is commercial, then the customization by the university and probably the interest from faculty will be minimal. But if the primary goal is to be an educational agent (as distinguished from simply another vendor clothed in public, non-profit status), then we ought to think about the learning implications of this new technology.

This will be a sub-text throughout this course and one I'm hopeful you will help us develop. How can we make portals additional learning opportunities, in addition to other functions? As you access the resources on portal content at the following url, http://weber.edu/portals/Content.htm
I believe you will begin to see the potential technological challenges portals can represent for campuses. In addition to the external sources, connecting portal software with internal data sources is not an easy or simple process. I'm hopeful you will also begin to get a feeling for the potential in portals to create opportunities to build new relationships and interactions.

We enjoy hearing from you regarding this project and are excited by your participation in it. You may contact me at portals@weber.edu. As a cao I understand the time demands each of us faces. Thank you for making time for this. I look forward to hearing from you.

dave