RamPoint brings personality to the Internet

A big change is happening for students and faculty all over

campus.

It has nothing to do with drinking rules or politics, but it is

something almost everybody has in common: computers.

RamPoint, CSU’s new Web portal, has arrived, bringing with it a

way for both students and faculty to personalize the Internet.

RamPoint makes things easier for students by allowing a single

login to access features such as WebCT and e-mail, rather than

entering multiple e-names and passwords.

“Work began on the portal last fall – we signed a contract with

SunGard/SCT at the end of October and installed the software about

mid-December,” wrote Linda McNamara, the associate director of

University Information and Technology Support Services, in an

e-mail interview. “Students were the primary driver of the portal,

and they felt it was important enough to encourage us to proceed

with it.”

One of the program’s main goals was to create something that

could be used to fit each person’s individual needs.

“Our initial goal was to have a Web site students could go to

and by logging in be presented with personalized information,”

McNamara wrote.

RamPoint offers students the ability to personalize their

favorite sites, as well as news and events and even weather

updates.

“We wanted to create a “one-stop” site where students can keep

an online calendar, bookmarks, and other information that is

available anywhere there is Web access,” McNamara wrote.

Professors can use RamPoint with WebCT to keep students up to

date on their classes. There is a “My Courses” channel on RamPoint

that allows students to keep tabs on their courses.

Not only was the project student driven, but it is also student

maintained.

“I originally spent most of my time playing around with the site

as it was being developed to see how user-friendly it was,” wrote

Jesi Humbles, a senior in computer information systems, in an

e-mail interview. “In addition, I spent time giving surveys to

students after they’d been given the opportunity to try out the

portal which gave the portal team more feedback on what students

thought was good and bad about the portal.”

Computer Training and Support Services (CTSS) is there for

students and faculty who have any questions about the portal and

will be hosting several workshops later on in the semester.

“I have been involved in developing some of the support and help

documents for RamPoint,” wrote Trina Swenson, a junior business

management major and CTSS Consultant in Portal Support, in an

e-mail interview. “I also am one of the first points of contact for

students and some faculty and staff if they need help.”

Humbles believes the biggest benefit to the portal is that

students will have most CSU-related material in one place.

“No more long lists of favorites to upkeep; now you enter the

portal and just about anything you could ever want are there,” she

wrote. “I especially love that

RAMweb is integrated into its own tab and allows students to

take advantage of single sign on.”

RamPoint also has an available online calendar, something that

has never been offered before.

“One of the benefits for students is the portal calendar,

because many students have not had access to an online calendar.

The option to customize channels and bookmarks so that students can

have their own specific college information immediately available

is a great feature,” Swenson wrote.

While RamPoint is now up and running, there are many plans for

future additions.

“We hope to be able to add college and departmental channels, as

well as more fun things like a Fort Collins movie-listing site and

an ad board,” McNamara wrote.

With more to come in the future, all students and faculty are

encouraged to log on and check it out.

“The main thing I would like students to know about RamPoint is

that they should try it for awhile,” Swenson wrote. “It is fully

adaptable to the things they want and need here at CSU.”

 

To access RamPoint go to

“http://rampoint.colostate.edu/”>http://rampoint.colostate.edu/

Will need eID to log in