Students seek cleaner access to campus Web applications

Pamela Praniuk finds WebAdvisor difficult to understand, even after using it for four semesters.

“I still don’t know what a lot of the stuff is,” said Praniuk, a senior music business and Spanish major. “Like the CRA, I still don’t know where to find it.”

While upgrades and redesigns have pushed Lee’s technology forward over the years, students and administrators agree that the infrastructure still has room to grow.

Nate Tucker, associate director of information services and technology, said that his department continually monitors WebAdvisor, Angel and Clean Access, three Web-based tools that the university relies on.

“The performance for WebAdvisor has been tweaked,” Tucker said, adding that adjustments will continue to be made as needed.

Senior telecommunication major Ryan Felton said he still doesn’t feel comfortable utilizing the newer online application.

“Having used Lee Central, WebAdvisor is significantly more complicated,” Felton said.

The predecessor to WebAdvisor, Lee Central was a custom developed application that was designed specifically for Lee, Tucker said.

The current system, created by Datatel, is employed at number of higher education institutions throughout the country. Its introduction at Lee rendered Lee Central obsolete, Tucker said.

“[Lee Central] ran on older technology that is no longer an option for delivering the high level of service that we expect to provide,” he said.

Students who have difficulty with the new system should simply browse the application repeatedly to become more familiar with it, Tucker advised.

While students may not be completely satisfied with WebAdvisor, Lee’s online-classroom application, Angel, provides a whole different level of interaction, Felton said.

“I think it’s a good resource and tool,” he said. “It’s a good way for teachers to get us notes and PowerPoints.”

Angel is so well-liked that some students actually insist that their professors employ its use, Michael Sturgeon, faculty coordinator for instructional technology, said.

In a world of ever-changing technology, however, nothing is constantly perfect.

“I had a teacher who puts grades on Angel and he went back and the grades weren’t there anymore,” Felton said. “That was the only place he kept our grades so we freaked out a little but he found them.”

The third integral part of the campus network is Clean Access, a program used to keep viruses from destroying the Lee infrastructure.

“Clean Access is kind of stupid, but I think it’s necessary,” said Felton.

IS&T isn’t taking a break in the meantime, however. Tucker said that the department is striving to make all Lee software more user-friendly by continually  soliciting feedback from students and faculty.