Over the 2015 summer sessions, both myUMBC and Blackboard remodeled their sites, adding instant messaging widgets, organizational columns and daily email alerts.
MyUMBC reorganized their layout completely, replacing the slideshow which would display the day’s highlights with one long column containing daily news and event announcements. The new site also displays users’ events, alerts and deadlines. Below all of that lies a column dedicated to Discussion Groups, organized into subjective categories.
On 21 June, UMBC’s Campus Portal Architect B. Collier Jones released a beta version of the new myUMBC site for students and faculty to test out before officially bringing the site to life. While some were worried about the loss of the discussion board, others welcomed the renovations as a cleaner website for members to navigate.
Senior philosophy major Connor Alexander expressed skepticism towards the new layout. “So, there’s no way to post discussions?” he asked. “You’ve effectively neutered the biggest draw to the myUMBC webpage.”
Jones replied, addressing Alexander’s concerns among many others.
Health Administration and Policy graduate Bidemi Oladiran gave positive feedback. “I like the list of deadlines posted on the right,” she said.
The official, updated site went live on June 20, with minor changes made over the following summer.
