Quinnipiac students will see a change in their Internet homepage when typing in www.quinnipiac.edu. Current students are now going to have to become more comfortable with a new Web site: www.MyQ.quinnipiac.edu.
The Web site, www.MyQ.quinnipiac.edu, is set to launch through public affairs today. The goal is that current Quinnipiac students will now set their homepage to this Web site and it will increase convenience and organization at Quinnipiac University.
QU is not the first university to make this change.
“We are seeing more and more of this in higher education, this split between external world and internal community,” said Janice Wachtarz, director of university applications.
There will be three major changes that will take place beginning this September with the launch of the new Web site, and ending hopefully in the Spring/Summer of 2007 with a complete revamping of the way Quinnipiac gets its updates through Blackboard, WebAdvisor, and e-mail.
The first phase is the actual launch of the new Web site. This site is geared to current students and faculty.
From this Web site, current students and faculty can obtain the information that pertains directly to them. The purpose of the change is to differentiate between students involved in the internal network of Quinnipiac, and those just looking at it from the outside.
“Content for the internal community will rest here, things that do not need to be available to the whole world, just the Quinnipiac world,” Wachtarz said. “We have been working on a new Web site design for about two years now. The current Quinnipiac Web site is so dense it needed some updating.”
When typing in www.quinnipiac.edu, users will no longer be able to view all information about Quinnipiac for current students. This Web site is now going to cater to the needs of prospective students. There will be fewer pages, the design will be altered and there will no longer be the “Quick Links” drop box. This is to better showcase the university’s programs, people and administrators.
When logging into MyQ.quinnipiac.edu users will see a “Welcome to the MyQ Home Page” banner. This site will have a series of “Quick Links” that will be available to the university community when the page opens up.
Quinnipiac will also be implementing a university-wide instant messaging system by the end of this fall. This system will allow all students to talk with faculty and other students. The username of each student, faculty member, and staff will be their first and last name.
“You will know exactly who you are talking to,” Wachtarz said. “We want to get the instant messaging system out. It’s not required to use but we think people will want to use it.”
Users will be able to type a paper in a Word document, and have a conversation through the instant messaging system at the same time. It will be a single web page with the instant messaging system will taking up part of the right-hand column of the page.
“In the long run it’s going to be a huge benefit. Hopefully it will be just as important to us as e-mail,” Wachtarz said.
The second phase involves making all network services like e-mail, Blackboard and WebAdvisor available to any Quinnipiac University member through a single login. Quinnipiac University is also introducing “team sites,” where an organization can create their own “team site” and communicate to other members through it.
“These team sites are a central location for everyone on a team to use,” Wachtarz said.
Each team site will allow students to post updates, discussion boards, pictures, meetings and send e-mails to their members. These sites are created through Windows Sharepoint Services. Students will be able to stay updated with announcements, news and events and athletic events all by logging into one site. This is particularly helpful because Quinnipiac is no longer using QUdaily.
Wachtarz hopes the students think the move is, “A good change for them.”
The third and final phase is to integrate Outlook email and a calendar into the MyQ page. However, this change won’t take place until spring or summer of 2007. The ultimate goal is to be able to log on once, and be able to access e-mail, blackboard, WebAdvisor, calendar and announcements.
“Once you log into the network, it will know you, you won’t have to keep logging in,” Wachtarz said. The items on the page are also customizable. Students will be able to add and remove elements of the page.
“Our goal is to cut down on excess e-mails,” Wachtarz said.
The university’s aim in this three-stage process is, according to Wachtarz, is to “Adjust everyone a little more easily.”
