CEMS student portal

In order to enable first year students to make their selection of optional modules before they arrive, where this is required in their programme, we have committed to providing a site which will present a student-friendly view of the FOLD data, which generates an option form specific to the programme taken.

The site must contain appropriate student views of:

• programmes - overview, contacts, links to Cereus PDF programme spec [? but it is often very out date]
• programme structures
  
• modules (simplified and perhaps enhanced)
  
• teaching staff
  
• an option selection form for a specific stage of a programme
• The ILP option form
• specific guidance on dissertations (with a table of past dissertation titles and their supervisors)
  

In fact this turns out to be a rebirth of some aspects of the ill-fated logging-in project which was canned when the central Admit project was announced. Since all students will be made aware of this site in their welcome packs, it's an ideal place to put additional information and links.

Here are some of the ideas for this site:

• additional guidance to students on why they should or should not take an optional module - at programme and module level (gives module leaders somewhere to express informally what background is helpful and what careers it will help with)
• short biographies of staff to give the place a more personal feel
• staff research interests to assist students starting dissertations and projects
  
• the programme of study checker under development
  
• FAQs of significance to incoming students, including definitions of some of our terminology (What exactly is a pre-requisite - does it mean you have to have passed the module or merely taken it?)
• links to the most relevent parts of the CEMS external web and the UWE site
• a diary of key dates for the 2006/7 year (with iCalendar export)
  

Whilst the core functionality of supporting option choice is top priority, this site provide a great opportunity to add some 'cool' stuff. I have in mind:

• a blog - this blog on the development of the site itself might be interesting to the information systems and computing students, but it would be great to find a few staff - an admissions tutor, a student advisor, a first year tutor to share the writting of a blog. A shared blog would also be one way for students, via comments, to interact with staff.
• a podcast welcome talk from the dean
  
• maps. I've played around with CommunityWalks, Google Earth and made an 'Arts in Bristol' overlay, but Google coverage for the Frenchay site is poor. Just the other day, Microsoft's Live Local was launched and this is terrific. Here's a demonstration overlay for the Frenchay site. Not only is the aerial view better than Google's but we have these wonderful oblique bird's eye views from 4 directions. Editing an overlay is straightforward.
• Discussion board. Probably use the Student Union for this