Everywhere I turn in the virtual world of education, there seems to be yet another web portal designed to serve the varied needs of learners. Some are targeted toward traditional students. Others are for adult learners busy at work or non-traditional learners or for the unemployed seeking further education or career changes.
These needs encompass everything from assessing interests and validating credentials to offering tons of content specific to various programs and initiatives. Talk to any advocate who wishes to demonstrate the value of such delivery. I am sure they will profess when asked about an ingredient or question that their answer is "it is in there" or "here is how you can do that".
Many web portals are designed to direct the attention of learners attracted by the message that they can earn more, if they learn more. In other words, they can earn a credential and get a better paying job. It’s like the thousands of cell phone apps that are offered which cover everything from playing a game to watching MLB.com. We have a world of choices.
Web portals offer a smorgasbord of options. Anything from finding the money to pay for your education, researching a career, assessing your interests, locating a program of study to discovering lost credits that can apply toward a degree can be offered on these portals. They are like expansive food buffets, filled with specialized entries and servings (of unlimited size). These buffets are visually appealing, and they are easy to consume if one has the stomach. Take a plate and fill it up with what you want. Come back for another plate when you are done. Enjoy.
Content and services, which are generally scattered across stakeholders or departments or institutions, are brought together and unified by a technology vision much like the clothed tables holding all the dishes and warmers of the buffet. This presents a unifying theme that can’t predict what consumers want or need, but can offer the dishes they prepare. The silos of specialization can be dismantled, according to many who develop and retrofit websites, to become portals bridging many disparate resources.
In the process of working on many web portals throughout my career, I have often heard and felt the resistance to developing generalized solutions and collaboration platforms that share common attributes, formats and methods of delivery that abstracted the differences of what institutions offer. The buffet table is radically different than the individualized meal prepared by order and served by a master chef for the discerning pallet - an experience worth noting and recalling. I have to say, my recollection is far better of attending those special places and the meals they served than the “all-you-can-eat” buffets that have become so commonplace. After working on so many projects with institutions and their states attempting to address the issues around academic credit portability, I have concluded my self reflection has become a catalyst of things to come. So, over the next ten weeks or so weeks, I am going to write about ten flaws of web portals serving learners in general, and begin to develop guiding principals to form solutions addressing the challenges outlined.
The subtle undercurrent, in my view, rests with the economic model and how we approach virtual services. The web portal, like the breakfeast buffet represents commoditization of delivery, and it highlights why many web portals poorly serve constituents. The experience may be appealing visually and attractive to those hungry for volume. It is based on the premise of trying to be all things to everyone, and it suggests that providing volume is better than offering high quality and well designed information based upon what the learner needs.
The buffet lacks the advice and professional design of a menu or staff who assist in choices, as is often the hurdle encountered when attempting to bridge the reality of education – which is it is messy and tangled. The buffet is economically a more logical choice to serve large masses and assumes that the choices offered satisfy the patrons better than a limited menu catered by expertise. Finally, the buffer, like the web portal attempts self service because there is not enough staff to go around and offer the personalized service one would expect.
AcademyOne designs, develops and hosts innovative websites, portals, mobile applications and widgets for all education providers, including higher education, government agencies, high schools, vocational schools, corporate universities, and a variety of specialized organizations and consortiums. The company powers a shared education cloud bridging distributed data systems with loosely coupled technologies.
