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/
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