Written by Quasha Ross

This spring, the VSU faculty portal was recognized as a “model of efficiency” by University Business Magazine, and the unveiling of a student portal is soon to come.

Created in the fall of 2012, the faculty portal helps faculty access information and applications. It also helps them track and ensure student success through interaction with advisors, tutoring and other resources.

According Brian Haugabrook, director of VSU enterprise applications and analytics, the new student portal seems to be following the same concept as the faculty portal.

“The student portal is the first phase of an initiative to provide a one-stop-shop application for students,” Haugabrook said. “With so many technologies, we are always logging into different systems such as Banner, Blazeview, Active Directory, DegreeWorks, etc.”

The student portal is an attempt to bring necessary information to a central system so students can easily access important information. Haugabrook explained that the primary goal of the student portal is to provide an environment that gives students information, tools, resources and contacts to be successful.

Many departments have contributed in making the student portal a success such as the department of Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Research Analysis and many others. This portal is a creation of engaged innovation that will help improve access to information, provide academic support services and provide anywhere access from mobile phones.

The portal will allow use of a single sign-on and pull information from VSU systems such as Banner, Blazeview and the Student Success Center.

Haugabrook stated that the student portal will bring many changes in the way students use VSU’s academic systems online.  One change is that there will no longer be a need to log into Banner.

“Course registration will eventually be available from within the portal,” Haugabrook said. “Registering for orientation, signing up for housing and changing an address or phone number will be made simple and easy.”

The student portal uses new technology, making it easy to make changes quickly, and student input could influence changes to the portal.

“If a request to add housing assignments to the portal is made, we could add this information in a matter of hours,” Haugabrook said. “The current Banner Web application uses older technology and changes can take months.”

The student portal is in fact a simple and easy remedy that allows student access to information from a central place. From now on, there will be no need to use multiple log-ins on different web pages. Students can simply log into the student portal and gain access to everything from Banner and Blazeview to their VSU email account.

“The creation of the faculty and student portals are just one of many innovations that make VSU excellent and a leader,” Haugabrook said.

To get familiar with the student portal and see how it works, visit the website at    http://www.valdosta.edu/main/myvsu.php. As the portal expands and changes are made, training videos and websites will be set in place for student to learn more about the new student portal.