University of Montana Web portal to make information access easier

The University of Montana’s Information Technology Office announced last week that its new portal Web service http://portal.umt.edu is available for student use and encouraged students to test the service.

Contributed by Sean Breslin/Montana Kaimin

Gordy Pace, Director of Applications and Media Development at the IT Office, described a ‘portal’ as a Web site that funnels information from different sources onto one page, making it easier to access information from very different sources. By logging into the UM portal, users can automatically gain access to Blackboard, CyberBear and the Banner database, which provides information about students to professors and to the Registrar’s Office, Pace said.

“One of the things a portal does is hopefully it makes technology easier,” Pace said.

The UM portal site is currently in beta — or trial — mode, which means that it is not guaranteed to work 24 hours a day, Pace said. The portal is scheduled to be fully in place by the start of the Fall 2006 semester, he said. Pace encouraged users to comment on the portal, and to point out any problems they have with the service.

“We want feedback and we want to see what students in particular find useful and compelling,” Pace said.

Steven Jorgens, a computer science student, has been using the new portal service for about three weeks, he said. He works at the IT Help Desk, and said he and several other students there have tried out the service.

“They suggested to us: ‘Hey, it’s out there. Give it a shot,’” Jorgens said.

Jorgens has been pleased overall with the service, he said. He usually uses the portal site to access Blackboard, but enjoys its other features as well, he said. But he added that the portal feature that allows him to access his e-mail “has been sketchy.” Still, Jorgens has high hopes for the portal and said it will be “a fabulous tool” once all the bugs get worked out.

In addition to access to University-related services such as CyberBear and Blackboard, the portal can also be customized to provide local and national news, movie listings and off-campus rentals, Pace said. He hopes that the portal will become a useful tool in students’ lives both on campus and in Missoula, he said.

“We’ve really tried to focus on development that centers around recruitment and retainment of students,” Pace said.

Students can access the portal site at http://portal.umt.edu.

http://www.kaimin.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1346&Itemid=55