Mississippi State has recently released onCampus, a new Web portal assists MSU faculty and students by combining student internet services.
OnCampus combines campus Webmail, WebCT and Banner Intranet to allow students to access all of these services from one location, rather than logging into each system separately.
“We are bringing all of the systems together under one umbrella,” Matt Raven, director of ITS User Services, said. “Students can now log on using their net ID and net password and be logged onto everything at once.”
The service also allows users to have their own customizable Web space. It features groupings of information, or channels, which can be changed depending on a user’s interests.
The site puts Internet bookmarks, e-mail, Banner, tutorials, information such as Mississippi news and weather and an online calendar all together in one Web location, Raven said.
“Students can add or delete channels depending on their interests,” he said. “For instance, I have a channel for movies because it’s something I am really interested in.”
The online calendar allows a student to schedule his or her activities around course schedules and allows for events and tasks to be added as needed.
Despite the number of features that are included in onCampus, Raven feels that it is not difficult to navigate.
“It’s pretty easy to learn. I am using it for the first time too,” he said. “It is straightforward, just like most any other Web site.”
Training tutorials are online on the main onCampus Web page to help students learn about some of the features at their own pace. For students who would like more information, representatives from ITS will be in Colvard Union next Wednesday for group demonstrations from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
At the present time, all features of onCampus, such as WebCT and Banner, can be accessed from the separate locations and will continue to be separately accessed this school year. In the future, however, university officials could decide to make onCampus the only access point for these services, Raven said.
“Everything might be put into one place in the future,” Raven said. “There are advantages and disadvantages to both ways. We will try to find out what works the best.”