I discovered in my Introduction lecture on Wednesday that some tutors are not big fans of the Portal.
WHY??
Because its not simple!
But, the tutor did have a point. It is extremely hard to find things that you need. It all seems to be hidden within menus and links where you wouldn’t expect it to be.
It is especially difficult for tutors to explain to students where these useful things are hidden. This has stemmed from my tutor trying to explain to us where to find Regulations relating to the University and Assessments.
It is a very helpful site, don’t get me wrong, its just the fact that it is hard to find bits and bobs.
Is there any way it can be made simpler?!
Oh and…where CAN I find the Regulations for the Uni??
I have to agree, Portal is terrible. In fact, there’s been mention of it over a Get Satisfaction. Searching should improve with the looming upgrades to Server 2007, but this is a way off and won’t help us at all.
The problem with Portal is ultimately that it’s trying to be all things to all men. It doesn’t know if it’s a document repository, a CMS, a blog, a publishing tool, a directory… the list goes on. A lot of data on there has badly set permissions and a total lack of metadata.
However, after much searching using arcane strings I found the 04/05 regulations. A bit of URL hacking led me to the following, so I’m proud to present (in .doc format, sorry guys) the University Regulations for the 2009/10 Academic Year!
http://j.mp/ulregs0910
[…] really should make an apology to David Raines, Creator of the Portal, for a previous post I wrote. He found my post and I don’t think he was too happy! So to prove that the Portal […]