Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Next Generation Campus Portal Ali Jafari, Ph.D. Professor of Engineering / Director of CyberLab Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Indianapolis, Indiana, USA April 6, 2006 Portal 2006 June 7-9, 2006, Gettysburg, PA

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, To what extend campus portal is being used in higher education?

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Visited the homepages of America’s Best Colleges 2006

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, …Only very few offered a link to campus portal

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Status of Campus Portal use in US Higher Education Institutions Less than 10% of the top 100 US colleges has a link to their campus portal Not many success stories and popular campus portals

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Students perspective on a multi million dollar campus portal project!

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, …so what is wrong?

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, It is not “Sticky”

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Let’s review some sticky success stories Facebook Blackberry Gmail eBay

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Facebook Facebook.com Launched in Feb 2004 by a Harvard undergraduate Free to college students 9.4 million users 3 billion monthly page reviews 75% of users visit the site every day Average user signs on 6 times a day 7 th in terms of overall traffic on the entire Web * Feb 2006

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Blackberry

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Gmail Gmail.com Enough storage so you never have to delete a message Very easy to use and advance interface/technology (AJAX)

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Perfect UI design

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Forward looking of what a user may need.

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, eBay Inspired a totally new concept for trade (eCommerce). 11 – 2 –

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, May be a bad interface design! The new Microsoft ie7 navigation interface

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, My observation Facebook, Gmail, etc. have become substantially more popular and “sticky” among our students than the campus portals, CMS, ePortfolio, and the system! Why?

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Why? Perfect (A+) interface design and navigational scheme exhibiting a total understanding of the end users’ needs.

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Why? “Sticky“ environment with carefully designed application modules that encourage frequent, easy use.

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Why? Human Aspect Technology Aspect Attention to the human aspects.

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Technology Aspects Human Aspects Design of the Campus Portals; not enough attention to human aspects

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Research on Next Generation of eLearning Environment Ali Jafari Sabbatical Research, 2005 With Collaboration: Colleen Carmean, ABD Arizona State University – West Campus Patricia McGee, Ph.D. University of Texas in San Antonio

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, About me Ali Jafari, Ph.D. Initiated and created two highly successful Course Management Systems (CMS): Oncourse (oncourse.iu.edu)oncourse.iu.edu ANGEL ( Conducted a year-long (sabbatical) research on Next Generation of Teaching and Learning Environment (known as NG-CMS)

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, About the CyberLab Every year I bring together a select number of undergraduate students in the CyberLab environment and have them participate in a real-life R&D project according the CyberLab internship model (six credit hours, two semesters, no pay). CyberLab Team, Class of 2006

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Research Procedure Visited a select number of campuses for one- to-one and group focus interviews Faculty Group: Adjuncts, instructors, and professors (59) Student Group: Both on and off campus (52) Admin/Professional Group: Provosts, Deans, CIOs, IT Directors/Mangers, Technology Support, Instructional Support, Librarians (51)

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Research Procedure The research team visited seven campuses for 1-2 days of interviews: Bowling Green University Eastern Michigan University Pierce College SUNY Brockport California State University at Monterey Bay University of Central Florida University of Wyoming Acknowledgment: Thanks to the following institutions for supporting travel expenses: eCollege Inc., ANGEL Learning Inc. Bowling Green State University, California State University at Monterey Bay, and the University of Central Florida.

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Research Questions 1. What are the characteristics and shortcomings of the current teaching and learning systems being used on/off campus? 2. What are the functional and technical requirements for the next generation of teaching and learning?

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, My Conclusion I have identified seven major characteristics for the next generation of teaching and learning environment. * These findings are in addition to other conclusions made by my research collaborators, Patricia McGee and Colleen Carmean. See white paper report at and Educause Review, July/August

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Jafari’s perspectives for the NG-CMS (next generation of learning tools) 1. Provide an “environment” that offers a comprehensive one-stop-shopping toolbox which includes a variety of integrated tools that learners need while attending school and even beyond formal education.

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Provide “lifelong” accessibility during school and beyond Lifelong personal ePortfolio/CMS for k-12, college, career, and beyond Lifelong Cyber identity Lifelong access to academic and professional collections Jafari’s perspectives for the NG-CMS (next generation of learning tools)

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Offer “learner-centered” framework design The system be technically designed around a person (learner) rather than a course or contents (CMS/LMS) Support multiply roles beyond learning (career, professional life, retirement) Jafari’s perspectives for the NG-CMS (next generation of learning tools)

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Demonstrate a “smart” environment that is able to think, reason, and act on behalf of the person (learner). Intelligent agent acting as a classmate Intelligent agent acting as a personal secretary, administrative assistant, or helper Intelligent agent acting as a subject matter expert Jafari’s perspectives for the NG-CMS (next generation of learning tools)

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Present global “social networking” services for: Collaborative learning, teaching, and research Career development Intellectual exchange / trade Peer review Jafari’s perspectives for the NG-CMS (next generation of learning tools)

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Supply an “affordable” and cost- effective solution ISP/hosted outsourcing model Hosted by school system, school consortium, state government, national or international programs, or for profit companies. Jafari’s perspectives for the NG-CMS (next generation of learning tools)

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, It’s “sticky”! Jafari’s perspectives for the NG-CMS (next generation of learning tools)

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Campus Portals What is a campus portal 2. Tips on building a successful campus portal 3. Quiz 4. Next generation of campus portals

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Campus Portals 101 Campus Web sites vs. campus portals Campus Web site: Every visitor (user) gets the same menu item (links) and tool sets (static services) Information is considered public, available to any visitor Simple http protocol Campus portal: Different group/individual users get unique menu items and tool sets based on their roles/profiles (dynamic/smart services) Some degree of authentication is required (to verify the authenticity and role of a user) Database-driven system

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, One of the first campus portals

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Innovation

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Top ten tips on building campus portals These suggestions are in addition to, or further emphasize, those most commonly identified in literatures. 1. Design it for dummies 2. Have it designed by an architect, not by a committee 3. Test usability twice a year 4. the portal the home page of your campus 5. Do not develop a user manual nor offer a training workshop for your campus portal 6. Let an expert review the final design before production 7. Make it truly the “portal” of your campus 8. Make it “sticky” 9. Make sure it always works even when Tom is on vacation or resigns for a higher paying position 10. Make a “smart” portal environment

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Top ten tips on building campus portals 1. Design it for dummies Assume the end users have no knowledge about the portal software environment and its navigation scheme

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Campus Portal 101 Quiz time! Please rate the tips: Most agree= 10 Least agree= 1

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Top ten tips on building campus portals…Conti 2. Have it designed by an architect, not by a committee Follow the norm of constructing a new building; that is, have an architect be in charge rather than a committee

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Top ten tips on building campus portals…Conti 3. Test usability twice a year Find an easy, practical, and fast usability testing procedure Make sure you are testing it on the “right” persons Do not test it on the boss or the programmer

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Top ten tips on building campus portals…Conti 4. Make the portal the home page of your campus Learn from the corporate world: use the homepage of your campus as the campus portal ( not my.institution.eduwww.yourinstitution.edu

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Top ten tips on building campus portals…Conti 5. Do not develop a user manual nor offer a training workshop for your campus portal A campus portal dependent on a user manual, help pages, or training workshop is clear evidence of bad design and has little chance of user acceptance

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Top ten tips on building campus portals…Conti 6. Let an expert review the final design before production Refer to an expert on user interface design to analyze the UI and human aspects of the environment Consult an expert on technology to confirm stress, reliability, expandability, interoperability, and other factors

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Top ten tips on building campus portals…Conti 7. Make it truly the “portal” of your campus Make sure that it offers simple access to major tools and resources on the campus

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Top ten tips on building campus portals…Conti 8. Make it “sticky” Make it sticky, offering lots of “candies” that encourage or even entice users to come back, visit, and use it every day

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Top ten tips on building campus portals…Conti 9. Make sure it always works even when Tom is on vacation or resigns for a higher paying position Be wise about using open source stuff and buying commercial custom-made software

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Top ten tips on building campus portals…Conti 10. Make a “smart” portal environment Do as much as you can afford to make the portal smart, with capability to learn, to reason, to think, and to react.

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Next Generation of Campus Portals 1. Smart 2. Environment

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Smart …becoming expert on an individual user, serving the user according to his or her personal requirements and desires with capability to learn, to think, to reason, and to intelligently act and react on behalf of an individual learner.

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Environment

Ali Jafari, Next Generation Campus Portal, Portal Conference, Gettysburg, PA June 7-9, Q & A To obtain a copy of this presentation and my contact information, please visit my ePortfolio at: To continue this discussion, please join the following collaboration group: