A new administrative software called CampusVue has been implemented and will replace Campus Connect by late April or May, offering students in the 2007-2008 academic year more features when accessing grades, demographic information, schedules and account information associated with Baker University.
“Campus Connect was a sound system, but it was connecting to a database that is 15 or 20 years old,” said Simon Maxwell, assistant vice president of information technology.
Campus Connect was also connecting to four different databases at the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Nursing, School of Professional and Graduate Studies and the School of Education. The new system maintains the CampusVue software in one database to which all four schools will connect to retrieve information.
“We wanted to make it university-wide and bring all those (databases) together,” said Toby Ebel, web services administrator. “It’s a better way to manage your data.”
Ebel said Campus Connect will be used for online enrollment and registration for the 2007 summer and fall semesters because that portion of the online portal hasn’t been completed. However, students can create their CampusVue Portal accounts by logging onto the site and choosing a username and password to gain access to and start interacting with the new program.
“It’s very similar to Campus Connect in terms of what it offers, especially at this point as we go live with it now,” he said.
It offers a course schedule, faculty search option, a student’s class schedule, grade-point average calculator, grades per term, account information and external links to Blackboard and Wildcat Mail. Ebel said new options like the calendar and message center, alerting students to accounts that are on hold, will be helpful to students.
“(The calendar) lets you not only see courses in a calendar view, but you’ll also be able to add items to it,” he said.
Ebel said students should use their Baker e-mail address when registering their account.
“We want to make sure you get your official notices to an account that we know you have, one we know you have access to and that is officially sanctioned by the university because we also know that’s an e-mail that’s not going to change,” he said.
CampusVue will replace Campus Connect by late April or May.
“For a short time (students) will need to have both until we turn Campus Connect off,” he said.
Ebel said students won’t see many brand new or advanced features this semester, but by next fall, options like degree audit, which will allow students to see their progression in their majors or general education requirements, and others will be available.
“We hope to offer some other benefits and features that we just don’t have ready yet,” he said. “More importantly, when students get back for the fall we hope to have a few more services enabled.”
Freshman Kisha Dodson said she’s looking forward to being able to use the new features associated with CampusVue, especially degree audit and the faculty search option.
“I think (CampusVue) will be better, easier to use and less confusing than Campus Connect,” she said. “It’ll help out a lot of people.”
To register a CampusVue Portal account, go to http://my.bakeru.edu and create a username and password. The site can also be reached by choosing the My Baker option on the eTools menu. Ebel said Campus Connect login information will not work for CampusVue Portal, so new passwords and usernames are necessary.
