The end of last semester also marked the first full year since the implementation of Banner, the
This summer, University Technology Services staff worked to continue stabilizing and improving
“We’ve upgraded almost every piece of the infrastructure. We’ve really spent [our time] since May in preparation for this,” said Rita Anderson, UTS Student Information Systems program manager.
“There are a lot of things that we’ve done behind-the-scenes… We try not to change a lot of the basic appearance of Banner because it’s so new and we wanted people to get used to it.”
Anderson said that updates to Self Service have improved the process of choosing meal plans by tailoring listed options based on which residence hall to which the user is assigned. Another summer upgrade addressed Banner’s past tendency to run less effectively in different web browsers.
“We have really tried to make a lot of subtle changes,” Anderson said, describing efforts to improve the ease of navigation for users by increasing the number of listed FAQ’s and improving the clarity
While some other changes will not affect students directly, many of them enable the university to serve them better. For example, Anderson said, one upgrade allowed the Student Health Center to have access to better emergency contact information.
Still more exciting, however, are the updates and enhancements expected this year.
Personalized Self Service login
This year, University Technology Services will be working on Portal, a project designed to specialize the Self Service Carolina login based on the degree level, university campus, and perhaps even the academic college to which the user belongs.
According to university registrar Aaron Marterer, the feature would display user-relevant
“The idea would be to have a more personalized login experience so that you’re presented the information you care about and that’s relevant to you… There’s an art to that, and the degree to which we are able to do that this year will be interesting, but that’s definitely the direction we want to go in,” Anderson said.
Tracking course requirements
Another addition to Self Service Carolina, DegreeWorks, will serve as an online academic planning
If the degree audit system passes final system testing, Marterer said, the feature will become
“The tool also includes a ‘what if’ feature to help students who are thinking of changing majors determine how well coursework would fit into the new major,” Marterer said in an email.
Leadership Distinction opportunities
The new DegreeWorks system will also allow students to track their progress toward earning USCConnect Leadership Distinctions.
The “Graduation with Leadership Distinction” pathways recognize students with outstanding extracurricular involvement in one of the following areas: Community Service, Global Learning, Professional and Civic Engagement, and Research.
Marterer explained that UTS will integrate USCConnect into both the university’s master schedule and DegreeWorks by flagging courses that, in addition to providing course credit, serve as Leadership Distinction options. The end result, he said, will allow students to browse USCConnect opportunities and to view Leadership Distinction options alongside degree requirements.
“We are currently configuring Degree Works so that if a student opts into that [Leadership Distinction] pathway, they can track that pathway into the degree audit along with the courses that they are taking in their degree program,” said Marterer.
DegreeWorks is already available to advisors, Marterer said, and will hopefully become available to students within this academic year.
Convenient and paper-saving e-forms
UTS will begin converting many paper-based forms into electronic forms that will be available to students via Self Service Carolina. The first e-form to become available to students will be a new electronic graduation application, which will be piloted in Fall 2014 and is expected to launch in Spring 2015.
“Additional self-service electronic forms for students are scheduled to be developed during the 2014-2015 year,” Marterer said in an email.
Student input
University officials are working to assemble a committee of students with a faculty advisor to both communicate enhancement requests and submit system issues for the Banner system.
“What we would like to see is a place where people can easily submit… what you’re wishing for and what your problems are at the same time,” Marterer said.
According to Marterer, the committee, which will likely begin meeting early this fall, will allow students to give feedback and will “help steer the way the end user experience goes.”