For many campuses the first portal constructed will be a student portal. Campuses with significant web access to student information and e-Business systems will find that a portal helps to bring all these services together in one coordinated point of access.  

Student Portals

The University of Texas Initiative,  a student portal demo from the University of Texas, recommends a student portal to pull together this wide variety of disparate web services for students.  (Note: This requires the Flash plug-in). 

It is possible to access the campus portal implementation at the University of Texas, UT Direct, by clicking here.  You will be greeted by a screen requesting information.  To get their  identifier, a UT EID, you complete the information requested on the screen and are then allowed to choose a user name and password.  It is interesting to note the explanation they provide on requesting a SS#.  On subsequent visits you can go here and enter your UT EID and password for access.  The technology is marvelous and a visit is strongly recommended.

There are a significant number of student portals in use at colleges and universities.  Three excellent examples follow.

CalTech Portals - although not personalized, a significant amount of content is available for students through this interface.  The graduate student portal is here.

MyStanford.edu - provides guest demo access

walksideways.com - student portal from Georgia Tech.

Portals for Prospective Students

Prospective student portals can help provide a competitive advantage to campus recruiting efforts.  They also provide a mechanism for communicating with admitted and accepted students before they attend their first semester.  Prospective student portals are somewhat easier to construct since they may not need to connect with as much university data student portals.

Campus Examples

University at Buffalo Admissions - Although not personalized or customized, this is a good example of what is possible on a site directed at prospective students and is very  well done.

University of North Carolina System Prospective Student Portal - information on a prospective student portal project to link all campuses of the University of North Carolina system.  A presentation on the student portal project is accessible here. (Note: This PowerPoint presentation takes time to download, but is worth watching.)

Commercial Examples

There now exist a significant number of resources available to prospective college students through commercial portal sites. These sites may list only those campuses which contract with them or may list most institutions with preferential listings and services available.

CampusProgram.com - allows users to search for academic programs by discipline and state with links to campus information

Embark.com  - impressive amount of detail on college data, matchmaking, application, and e-mail correspondence service 

Peterson's - the traditional college directory, transported to the web, databases on a variety of subjects.

Study Portals

An additional grouping of student portals has developed focused on student study and helping students to improve academic performance.  These frequently possess the following characteristics.

• Institution-independent learning portals aimed directly at students.
• Interesting conceptual grouping of students outside of class.
• Business model involves advertising to and purchasing by students

Examples

• Study 24-7.com  has attracted attention through its offer to purchase class notes from students.  It is an interesting approach to encourage student interaction and study.  Are there notes from your institution here?
• Tutor.com looks to connect students needing assistance with available tutors, for either in-person or on-line tutoring.
• WebCT.com provides learning communities for students on-line

Some questions to consider -

What do students and prospective want from a portal? 
What will encourage students to use portal sites? 
How can we discover this?
How do we involve student affairs professionals and students in portal development?