“MyESU PORTAL” has also created the convenience of paying tuition bills via credit card through PayPath. This method can be used at a 3% charge in addition to the tuition cost. The best part about it is that it cuts down the number of visits to that long line at Enrollment Services. While all of these attributes sound like great changes, “MyESU PORTAL” still has a lot of kinks to work out.
One of the main issues students and professors are finding with this system is that it is not very reliable. Sometimes it’ll take six or seven login attempts when trying to navigate the different functions of the portal. This is extremely frustrating when you are trying to view your schedule or view your transcripts and you can’t get to them. The non-functioning links make it hard to know if you have actually completed the task you were trying to complete. These are the same kinds of problems that students were having with the old system, making it seem like this isn’t much of an improvement.
The biggest issue with the “MyESU PORTAL” for me does not so much lie in the technical support aspects, but the fact that no one was thoroughly trained how to use it. It is true that B.A.L.A.N.C.E. (Being an Active Learner Among New College Experiences) workshops were held back in September to train ESU members how to use the system, but it is hard for a lot of the new users to attend workshops like this. It is unfair to throw a completely new system at users and expect them to just figure it out. It seems like this system was not thoroughly tested before being released and there should have at least been a mandatory faculty training prior to its use.
The concept behind the “MyESU PORTAL” is much appreciated, but I think it is failing due to lack of testing and training. A lot of issues are continually being resolved with the portal, but I think it will be a while before people learn to love and decipher all of the portal’s functions.
