Web site allows input
on new student information system

by Joe King

A new Blackboard site unveiled Friday, Oct.13, will allow NIU faculty and staff to monitor the progress of, and comment on, the development of NIUConnect.

NIUConnect is the Web-based student information system that promises to revolutionize the way students interact with the university and vice versa. The system will begin to roll out in the fall of 2007, a process that will continue for a full year.

When completely implemented, NIUConnect will dramatically simplify many functions for both students and university staff.

For students, it will allow them to use a single Web portal to track the status of their application for admission, check their financial aid, pay bills, check their grades, create new schedules and a host of other activities. It also will simplify all of those activities by eliminating the need for individuals to repeatedly enter personal data or submit it in paper form.

For staff, NIUConnect will provide a single, reliable, comprehensive and secure source of information on every student, eliminating the need to search for data across a variety of antiquated systems, many of which do not interconnect. It also will eliminate much duplication of effort in the entering of data.

Many decision need to be made on the way to attaining those goals, however, and those in charge of the project want that process to be as inclusive as possible.

“The new system is going to require some changes in the way we do business, and we want people to have input on that,” said Vice Provost Gip Seaver, explaining why the NIUConnect Blackboard site was created.

“We put this in place to give people an opportunity to learn about NIUConnect in greater detail and to better understand what it will mean for NIU,” said Brian Brim, NIUConnect project manager. “We want the university community to have a detailed understanding of how we got here, and we want to open up a dialogue with that community to ensure that we create the best possible system for both students and staff.”

For instance, currently posted in the Documents area of the new NIUConnect Blackboard site, is a folder titled “Proposed Changes Under Review.”

In that folder is a proposal to change the rules regarding how students submit coursework from other institutions for application toward their NIU degree. Parties interested in that topic can read the proposed rule change there and then comment in the “Discussion” area of the site. They can ask questions or offer insights that they believe might lead to a better policy.

Over time, several such topics will be available for review and comment.

“We want people who will actually be using the new system to have input on how it operates,” Brim said. “We want it to better reflect the way things are actually done rather than the way dictated by the limitations of antiquated mainframe systems that were put in place 25 years ago.”

The site also includes information on the progress of the NIUConnect implementation, plans, committee reports and more. Eventually it also will feature screen shots of what the pages will look like and provide detailed explanations of how the new system will operate.

Ultimately, Brim said, a similar site will be created for student input.

“This ties in very well with the new Web Presence Initiative,” Seaver said. “Both are intended to make the NIU Web site a more useful, more functional tool. It’s important that we get this right, and we are hoping that the university community will take advantage of this new Blackboard site to help us do just that.”

10-16-06