myCamosun portal launches
“Mostly ready” approach brings student portal to life early in development cycle
Camosun College this week releases an online “portal” to student-related information. Branded as “myCamosun,” the portal connects students with important dates, announcements, course schedules, and fee statements using any standard browser, anywhere in the world. This is the first time the college has offered a student portal, which are now common in larger post-secondary institutions such as UBC and BCIT.
“We designed the portal using open source software,” says Murray Smith, Manager of Systems and Software Development at the college. Camosun College’s Information and Technology Services department is part of a consortium of larger schools in Canada and the United States, including Georgian College, California State LA, and University of Arizona. “The open source approach allows us to piggy-back on work done by institutions with huge budgets and armies of staff,” says Smith.
The college is releasing the portal in “beta” form for students to play with and then provide feedback on what they like, don’t like, and want to see developed. “It’s 80% finished,” says David Sovka, Associate Director of College & Community Relations at Camosun. “But Camosun is for students, and we want to make sure that what we develop works for students, and actually helps them with providing the right information they want at the time they want it.”
Contact
Murray Smith, Manager
ITS, Systems and Software Development
Phone: 250–370–3366
Cell: 250–217–2734
msmith@camosun.bc.ca
