Priority: Well-Designed Single Sign-On Student Portal
Information overload and password fatigue are real. With a recent Forbes survey reporting upticks in student stress levels from information overload, a student portal that consolidates and presents all the information a student needs without the need to constantly reauthenticate is a priority.
There are several key factors to keep in mind, so that your portal improves the student experience.
Incorporate Single Sign-On
With Single Sign-on now available within common student and faculty applications such as Blackboard LMS, Canvas LMS, SharePoint, and Office 365, harnessing this capability allows institutions to create and brand a consolidated student dashboard that expands and optimizes access to information, improving the student experience.
Organize the Right Information
Include the following information as a baseline:
· Courses: Course List/overview (with access to previous classes), degree progress, and registration information
· Grades: assignments, grades, advisor contact info, final exam schedule, calendars.
· Financial Aid: outstanding payment information, financial aid status, and any outstanding pay.
· Resources: Campus health resources, Upcoming events, Housing information, Dining information.
· Directories: Departments and faculty listings, Sports information, Maps, Bookstore.
· Mail/Social Media Block: links to mail and ability to link to other social media.
Ensure the Portal Incorporates a Mobile Responsive Design
Ensure that your portal is designed using responsive controls that automatically size and adapt for mobile use, use menu option controls that are large enough to select and navigate, and place the most frequently utilized resources such as current semester information in prominent location on the mobile page.
Ask for Feedback and Utilize Statistics
Finally, ensure the portal is working for users by gathering feedback from students regularly, and use website statistics to further understand which features users are utilizing so that students ultimately stay engaged with the tools they need to stay enrolled and be successful students.
