FINAL
DATE FOR BOOKING : Friday 7th June
A one day conference for senior managers in Post 16/Higher Education,
jointly hosted by the University of Nottingham and JISC.
Increasingly institutions are coming to realise the need to provide
an integrated gateway through to disparate services and content.
Web sites have become difficult to maintain, with out of date material,
and struggle to serve the needs of the many classes of user: student,
staff, alumni, visitor, applicant etc.
Many institutions having adopted a 'best of breed' strategy will
have purchased systems from a variety of vendors. Thus the finance
system, student records, timetabling, library, virtual learning
environment and content management system will have issues of compatibility
not only at the backend in sharing data, but also in the interface
they present to the user.
Portals promise the capability to allow for personalised views
onto an institution, based on what is known about the user, and
incorporating their own preferences. They present a seamless interface,
which allows for diversity in the underlying systems and services,
but prevents confusion. They can dramatically improve information
flows, and act as a personal information manager, where the news
items, announcements or appointments that are important for the
user are shown in a single space, without being drowned in material
that is for a more general audience.
This conference presents an opportunity for institutions to share
their experience and expectations in adopting portals. Although
there will be an exhibition space for portal vendors and solution
providers, the emphasis is on the institution, and technology will
be kept to a minimum. No two institutions have the same combination
of MIS systems, authentication methods, database and server configurations,
but all institutions will find they have several parts in common,
and will be seeking similar solutions. This conference is a good
opportunity to create a basis for collaboration.
Anyone considering implementing an institutional portal will find
that their stakeholder analysis will reveal interest from many areas
that may not have worked in close collaboration beforehand. Any
of the following will find the day stimulating, without being technical:
VC's, PVC's with responsibility for eLearning, Information Services
or Student Affairs, Registrars, Managers of Information Services,
Teaching Enhancement units, Data systems, Librarians, Student Affairs,
Student Union Representatives.
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