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Students and staff are questioning whether a Web portal proposed by the University of Maine System is necessary when campuses are suffering academic cuts.

The portal, listed as a high priority in the system’s New Challenges, New Directions restructuring plan, would serve as a single access point between various online resources, including MaineStreet, Blackboard, WebCT and e-mail, in a manner similar iGoogle. It would not replace any of those services, but would create an interface from which to access them all.

The NCND report lists the investment at $1 million at least, but costs could stretch into many millions depending on the software the system chooses. A cost estimate by the system office calculates the five-year cost to be between $3.2 million and $8.1 million.

An example of the type of service being considered is CampusCloud, which was previewed in November for the board of trustees by Interfusion Solutions, and would have cost the system $7 million over five years if implemented. The service — which is no longer under consideration, according to Rebecca Wyke, vice chancellor for finance and administration — would have been funded through a $20 per-student fee.

Wyke said the system was looking at other ways to absorb costs that didn’t involve a separate fee for the portal, but that the portal’s cost will be part of future budget cycles and that the portal’s funding source has yet to be identified.

In interviews with The Maine Campus, system Chancellor Richard Pattenaude has talked enthusiastically about the portal, saying it would reduce the amount of time students spend waiting in line to talk to administrators, even to the point where administrative staff might be trimmed.

Wyke said the portal would be especially advantageous for students who take classes on multiple campuses. The current system makes it difficult for students to navigate between different campuses’ systems; a portal would change that, Wyke said.

“We have quite a few of those students now,” Wyke said, and “life is pretty difficult for them.”

“I think a portal is a valuable tool, I just don’t think we can afford it right now,” said University of Maine Information Technologies Director John Gregory on Wednesday. He said a system that would allow one place to sign into the different online services but not combine interfaces “may be a more realistic solution due to our financial situation”.

Gregory’s sentiment was echoed by others who found the idea promising, but too costly.

“We need better ways to communicate and share information between campuses,” but there is no need to spend millions to do so, said Benjamin Goodman, a board of trustees member and UMaine student.

Audrey Minutolo, a UMaine alumna and lecturer in the English department, registered her dissent in an e-mail to Pattenaude.

“Your description of the portal sounds ideal, but given the university’s proposal of cutting majors in women’s studies, foreign languages, and the performing arts, a new UMaine portal seems untimely, to say the least — in fact, a slap in the face of those of us concerned about these majors being cut,” Minutolo wrote.

Rebecca Dyer, former nonvoting student representative to the board of trustees, said the portal demonstrated at the November meeting was promising, but said she was also concerned with the possibility of a high price tag.

“I think it’s important to know if students would be willing to pay additional money as part of their tuition and fees for the service,” Dyer said.

Gregory said the portal was considered a higher priority at other campuses that do not use the FirstClass e-mail system, which is unique to UMaine. The portal may include abilities such as instant messaging and group message board, which are already available to UMaine students through FirstClass but don’t exist or are largely ignored in the system’s GMail-based e-mail service.

The system will pay Columbia, S.C.-based Collegiate Project Services $68,000 to help gather student opinions and find a vendor for the portal.

Dyer said CPS was hired after the board’s student representatives expressed concern about the high priority of the project and that student input wasn’t being solicited. The project has also since been delayed, Dyer said. The original timeline projected project approval by January 2010 and launch by June 2011, but the report from CPS now isn’t due until the board’s May 18 meeting.

Since the firm was hired, it has conducted focus groups and solicited student feedback through a 13-question survey asking students what they would look for in a portal and what services they most frequently use.

CPS was unavailable for comment.

• UMS portal may not cost students (November 23, 2009)
• UMS decision: A portal to nowhere? (April 8, 2010)
• The value of a dollar (November 20, 2003)
• Republican candidate eyes education overhaul (March 25, 2010)
• Dollar night with Diana (February 20, 2003)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 7th, 2010, 11:32 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.