December 2011 Blog Posts (2)

My previous post was about how students were confused regarding what information was on portal vs. what was on the external web site, and changes we had made to help them figure it out.

Today I came across a great example. Santa Barbara City College,identifies pathways with START HERE! and emphasizes content that is unique to their student portal, under the heading "What's Inside."

And, notice the way they present…

Students at Harper College must use the student portal for all business-related transactions, such as registering, paying tuition and accepting financial aid awards. But most other information—academic programs, college catalog, calendar of events, advising—is on the external site.

Through user testing, we saw that students were confused about which site to go to, to accomplish particular tasks. They would search the external site for information that was only available on…