DoIT Begins Changes to myUMBC
New mobile-friendly, cloud-hosted design
This fall we will begin the process of rolling out a new version of myUMBC. This new version is being built from the ground up using the latest technology, including cloud-based hosting in Amazon, to meet the university’s evolving needs for communication, community, and collaboration.
- A new design that's more modern and mobile-friendly
- A updated Profile with more personal data from more sources around campus
- A redesigned Start page that brings a focus back to the community
- An updated Guide featuring personalized content and resources
- A new Events section making it easier to find things to do
Roll Out Plans
This isn’t a small undertaking so we’re going to be tackling the upgrade of myUMBC in stages over the next year.
- Aug 13 - Launch the new Start page and updated Profile
- Aug 15 - 17 - Launch the updated Guide for students
- Aug 22 - 24 - Launch the updated Events page
- Aug 24 - myUMBC features frozen for the start of classes with no major changes
- Late September - Launch new Step-by-Step Registration Guide for undergraduates
Please note: These plans (except for the Aug 24 feature freeze) may change based on feedback or any technical problems that arise.
Last year, Campus Portal Architect Collier Jones held monthly “myUMBC Tips, Tricks and Future Plans” meetings to preview upcoming changes. He also met with several groups including Student Affairs, SGA, Enrollment Management, OIA and others, and future myUMBC workshop sessions will be announced after the start of the semester and initial launch of the new version.
Why is This Happening?
The short version is myUMBC has evolved and is outgrowing itself.
The current iteration of myUMBC launched in Fall 2009 with a fresh (at the time) look and new features like groups, community news and events, and the Topics menu. Over the past few years we’ve added new features to meet the university’s needs by integrating into departmental websites, automatically enrolling people into groups based on university data, and providing a suite of communications tools utilizing the web, email, and the UMBC app, all of which have been extremely successful. We’ve also recently been able to start using live data from systems like PeopleSoft to start to create a new Profile for students to reduce the need to jump between different systems to find information.
Two years ago, we updated the Start page to be a feed of updates from your groups as a way to be more “personal.” With that change we lost a lot of the community aspects of myUMBC that made it a great way to feel connected. Our overall aesthetic and usability, especially our mobile experience, has also lagged far behind what is expected. Finally, there are a ton of new features we want to build, but the current infrastructure just doesn’t allow us to do that.
We know this will be a big change for the community, and we appreciate your patience with any bumps along the way. Please know that we will be watching things closely and doing our best to quickly fix problems as they come up.
If you have further questions, please contact the Technology Support Center by either submitting a support request at my.umbc.edu/help or calling (410) 455-3838.
Posted: August 8, 2018, 11:44 AM
