The many handy applications of Web Portals, Part II: Education

By: Omar Abdulhafiz

In the previous part of this series, we briefly discussed what a web portal is and shed some light on what it can do for the Enterprise sector. We talked about two main types of portals, the Intranet portal and the Extranet portal, and addressed each one in some detail.

In this part, we move on to discuss how a web portal can be applied to serve the Education sector. And in fact, the web portal can be greatly beneficial for streamlining communication in Educational institutions, be they schools, universities, or other types of academic institutes.

So, without further ado, let us dive into it.

Web portals in Education

Back in March, and then again in July, we discussed in some detail the philosophy and practical merits of the blended learning method. One main idea that we should mention in this regard is that blended learning may not have been possible without the wide arsenal of advanced communications technology that we have today. And the web portal, as an intuitive and effective tool, is one of the most notable examples.

In this section, we shall touch upon the main perspectives from which a web portal can enhance the educational process and take it one step further to a more blended learning environment.

Teachers/Academic staff

Whether it is a school or university, portals can be a great tool for making your teachers’ lives much easier by giving them a single comprehensive interface where they can carry out all their different duties. Through a web portal, your academic staff can conveniently access all the information related to their courses, students, and teaching materials. From logging students’ attendance, rewards, and activities to planning lessons, uploading coursework and assignments, as well as booking exams, all these tasks will be manageable in one place with ease.

On another note, a web portal can create a dynamic space of communication between the students and their teachers. For instance, a teacher can post announcements and other information that need to be brought to their students’ attention. Also, they can communicate directly with each of their students as needed through the same portal.

In a nutshell, a good web portal can offer a great boost for your academic staff’s productivity and make them work much more comfortably.

Students

On the other side of the education process, we have the students. And just as beneficial as a web portal can be to your academic staff, there is quite a lot it can do to boost your students’ engagement with the educational process.

Through the student portal, your students can conveniently access and view all their lessons and subjects all within one consolidated interface. This also includes viewing their assignments and uploading their homework. They can also view their grades and keep track of their academic performance throughout the semester. Not to mention, keeping track with the latest details from attendance records to learning the latest updates on their coursework and upcoming exams and events.

As an icing on top of the cake, a web portal can even integrate with your library system so your students can search the library, view their borrowed books, extend their due dates, and so on.

Parents

Especially for the early stages, parent involvement is very essential for maintaining a healthy and productive learning process. The role of a parent portal, then, is to provide parents with a comprehensive and easy-to-access dashboard containing all the information they need to know about children’s academic performance. Such information can include their assignments, school activities, upcoming exams, grades, and more.

Moreover, a parent portal may also enable parents to communicate directly with the teachers should they have any inquiries or feedback.

Other web portal applications

Aside from the three essential perspectives mentioned above, there are also other noteworthy applications for web portals as far as education and training are concerned. They are as follows.

Alumni

Graduation college does not necessarily mean the end of a student’s communication with their university or college. On the contrary, alumni may benefit a lot from constantly being in the loop of their university’s latest news, events, and opportunities. Likewise, a university or college may benefit from keeping an updated record of all its’ alumni’s latest information. 

And this is where an alumni portal can come very much in handy. An alumni portal thus enables alumni to have their private profile on their university’s website where they can keep their information up to date all the while keeping abreast of everything that is going on in that great place where they once studied.

Corporate portals

In part I, we talked about the merits of the intranet portal for companies and organizations. Well, this is a good place to come back to it to mention that a corporate portal enables the company management to engage with its employees by facilitating the training process. What this means is that through an intranet portal, team leaders will be able to share valuable training materials with their respective teams, thus ensuring that they are always aware of the latest knowledge in their field of work. Not only that, but a web portal may even make it possible to conduct live training sessions between team leaders and their members. All of this, and more, can be done through a fully-fledged web portal that lives and operates inside the organization’s intranet.

Conclusion

As you can see, if designed and implemented correctly, a web portal system can play a very vital and effective role in enhancing the educational process. It does so by giving every part of the educational process (teacher, student, parent, team leader, etc.) their own personalized interface. Then, it enables these interfaces to interact with one another in a convenient and dynamic fashion. This leads to saving much time and effort, all the while making the learning process as comfortable, productive, and engaging as it can get.

In the next part of this series, we will look at another facet of business where web portals can be a great asset. Stay tuned!

Learn more about ESKADENIA’s collection of education management systems, ESKA^® Academia as well as the different web portals you can create with ESKA^® DCMS.