ACU’s Information Technology department is rolling out a new MyACU portal this summer in an effort to enhance students’ online experience allowing for more customization and easier access.
The MyACU portal is home to different resources for students, staff and faculty including access to student services, personal information, and ongoing news and events on campus.
But now, after 18 years of running on the same technology infrastructure, major changes will be made.
Jeff Brawley, Director of Enterprise Applications at ACU, says there are many reasons for the shift and that it is ultimately to give those in the ACU community what they have been asking for.
“We wanted an opportunity to move to new technology that is more advanced that is going to give us flexibility, functionality and features that don’t exist right now,” Brawley said. “It also is an opportunity for IT to do something that is impactful for everyone on campus. It doesn’t matter if you are a student or staff, this is going to have an impact on you in some way.”
The core of the site is set to come out this summer with more features and functions being added throughout the duration of the summer and into the fall.
The site is designed to be much more targeted to the user themselves and their personal preferences and delivers a more modern design and layout.
“Think of it as kind of a Netflix experience,” Brawley said. “Whenever you log into the portal, you are going to see announcements that are relevant to you, you are going to see widgets that are relevant to you, you are going to see your courses, your balances and you are going to be able to customize and tailor that experience to your needs.
The portal will allow for specific grouping based upon aspects such as major, classification, and lets the user see what they want to see.
On top of the newly renovated portal, one of the biggest features will be a brand new mobile app that is set to release in late summer.
“One of the biggest requests from our students was a mobile experience,” Brawley said. Students want to be able to do on their phone what they can do on their laptop. You will be able to do that moving forward with a true mobile app that will closely mimic what you can do on the computer.”
Some students are glad that a change is being made and are excited to try out the new features and customization.
“It definitely sounds like it will make things a lot easier,” Colby Vaughn, sophomore kinesiology major from Fort Worth said. “I obviously don’t know what all the new applications have to offer but just knowing that changes are being made and these changes are being put in place to benefit students is exciting.”
The new portal is set to make its release on June 2 with the mobile app set to release around a month after.
