New and improved Kyou portal provides one-stop shopping for many KU services

LAWRENCE -- This week, University of Kansas Information Services launched the new and improved Kyou portal. Through this new version of the portal, students will enjoy one-stop shopping for many services they need each semester.

Many students already are familiar with portal technology because last November KU launched a prototype of the Kyou portal to demonstrate how a portal works. Now students enter their KU Online IDs only once to access Blackboard, library account information, class schedules, enrollment information, finances and more. Other features include announcements from the university, KUÿs daily news, the university events calendar and weather. Additional features are planned in the months ahead, including online pay information for all KU employees and Briefcase, which will allow each user to store 20 megabytes of files on the portal and access them from any computer with Internet access.

When designing the Kyou portal, the implementation team surveyed students, faculty and staff to determine which services would best meet the needs of the KU community. Julie Loats, Web administrator, said that the feedback from the surveys, response to the prototype and research of other portals guided the choice of which portal software to use, as well as which features to implement first.

"The new Kyou portal provides a terrific framework for additional functionality and to serve the many different audiences at KU," Loats said. "A portal is never done, like a good Web site is never done. Responding to the needs and feedback of our users, the portal will continue to grow and change."

Since the generation of current students often quickly adopts new technologies, many have been awaiting the convenience offered by the new version of the Kyou portal.

"Ever since I was a freshman, my friends and I have been saying that it would be great if all of the student services on the Web would be all in one place," said Katie Manley, a junior in psychology and sociology. "This is going to be so much more convenient. Iÿm anxious to see what other new features they add throughout the year."

Students should go to https://students.ku.edu to access the Kyou portal. The portal also will include views for faculty and staff, with benefits information coming from human resources. Faculty should visit https://faculty.ku.edu, and staff should visit https://staff.ku.edu.

The Kyou portal is partially funded by KU students through the Tuition Enhancement Program.