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About MyBCC
The MyBCC PortalThe MyBCC portal is a web-based framework created with Microsoft SharePoint and BizTalk that provides one central access point to commonly-used tools, applications and services. After logging in, MyBCC recognizes the user and delivers information relevant to his or her role (student, faculty, staff or administrator) at BCC. New user groups – such as college alumni – may also be added in the future. In addition to providing customized content, the portal can enable the growth of an online community by providing tools that allow for easy collaboration and dialogue between students, faculty and staff.
The MyBCC portal contains many unique features for the campus community. New resources available through the portal include personal server space to store files, centralized document management, individual course sites for every BCC class that allow faculty to distribute online materials to students, and innovative data-mining tools for college administrators.
New Technology Yields Efficiency for College and IndividualsStreamlining access to services and resources on the web is an important long-term strategic initiative identified by the college to better serve the campus community. The MyBCC portal helps to condense the vast number of forms, tools and applications provided to students and employees in an easy-to-use, secure format. The portal provides a “one-stop-shopping” mechanism for students to access all of their important academic, financial and support services in one location.
The portal allows information to be customized so that it’s more efficient and relevant to each user. College announcements and bulletins may be directed to different student groups depending on their role or status at the college. Because access to services and applications is critical for a campus offering day, evening and online classes, MyBCC is available from campus, from home or via any other computer with an Internet connection.
New tools available through the portal will yield valuable information to guide forecasting, tracking and decision-making processes. The institutional “report card” provides instant access to a wealth of administrative data, allowing college administrators to review up-to-the-minute and historical information and trends to better inform decisions about enrollment, course offerings and student resources. They may also gauge operational efficiencies by monitoring faculty-student ratios, course section costs, facility use and performance against state standards. Pivot table technology allows administrators to browse data cubes and create custom views and reports through easy access to information.
BCC’s investment in technology resources will help to meet the needs of the college’s growing and increasingly tech-savvy student population while improving efficiency in many areas. The college will realize savings in cost and employee time through streamlining and automating processes, implementing more e-commerce systems, reducing the amount of paper used on campus, and improving workflow processes and access to information.
Enhancements to services delivered in the portal are being planned to address future needs. Some features and tools that college staff hope to incorporate in subsequent development stages include: 24/7 access to all online processes, personal calendars that may be integrated with a college events calendar, online advising, online notification of course changes or program requirements, and additional storage space for personal home pages.
Project History: A Collaboration of Educators and IndustryAs a pilot institution in the product development, BCC is engaged in a successful partnership with industry and educators to create a portal interface that serves the diverse instructional and administrative needs of students, faculty and staff. During the spring of 2003, BCC teamed with Big Bend Community College and the Microsoft Corporation to identify solutions to information management and data integration issues at the colleges. They needed to find a way for administrators to instantly access online college data and easily analyze it from the desktop.
Data cubes, pivot tables and the college report card were the tools developed to respond to these needs, with the portal serving as the delivery mechanism. Microsoft SharePoint was selected to deliver tools to the user’s desktop. BCC and Big Bend worked closely with Microsoft to identify specific issues and design specifications for a portal framework that would be ideal for higher education. Cascadia Community College later joined the effort, and the group eventually evolved into the Higher Education Solutions Collaborative (HSC) in 2004.
The HSC’s goal is to build technology resources and solutions (including code, best practices and architecture) that address strategic education initiatives and can be shared among a community of higher education institutions at no cost. The long-term vision is to establish a consortium of collaboration among colleges across the state and eventually across the nation. Stronger applications can be developed more efficiently by pooling resources and collaborating with other institutions who have similar needs and goals.
As more custom tools and applications are developed at individual colleges, institutions participating in the HSC may access the applications and benefit from the work of others. In a climate of budget cuts and decreased funding for higher education institutions, this creative solution will enable smaller colleges and those with fewer staff and financial resources to benefit from the shared development efforts of the group.
Support, resources and expertise provided by Microsoft were critical to the development of the portal and accompanying administrative tools. Microsoft created an open, collaborative environment for the HSC colleges to define the direction of the project, and offered hundreds of hours of staff and consultant time to custom design the portal interface and report card tool. They also addressed specific needs such as easy management of applications, compliance with Americans with Disabilities (ADA) accessibility standards, and usability with multiple browsers and platforms.
Customized Features for Students and EmployeesMyBCC tools and features are tailored to the specific needs of students, faculty and staff members. Each user can customize or filter information to best meet daily work or school needs in a personal area called ‘My Site,’ and more enhancements are planned for the future.
Due to the collaborative nature of the project, additional resources and updates will be made available to further enhance the capabilities and features of the portal.
Campus PromotionThe portal was advertised to the campus community in a variety of ways. Students were informed of the new portal through brochures describing features and procedures, posters and banners displayed throughout campus, announcements on the external campus readerboard and interior plasma screen displays, and website announcements. Information about the portal was also included in letters and e-mails pertaining to registration, tuition payment and resources for new students. Signs were posted in all student computer labs detailing MyBCC log-in procedures, account set-up instructions and computer security tips.
Employees received periodic e-mail updates about the portal progress, launch and training sessions. Brochures detailing special features, procedures and security tips were distributed during training workshops and in various locations across campus. Faculty and staff also learned about the new portal through website announcements, posters, banners, readerboard messages, and articles in the employee newsletter.
Specific technical processes, procedures and issues relevant to all users were addressed in a frequently asked questions (FAQs) section located at the main portal site (http://mybcc.net).
Resources & Contact InformationTour the MyBCC portal and find more resources online at http://mybcc.net. For more information, please contact:
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Bellevue Community College