For those of us who were temporarily disrupted while trying to sign up at the last minute for classes last week, your wait is over.
MyCSULB is back, with brighter colors at the top of the page, and a whole lot of white space everywhere else. The reason for the white space is that students can now customize their page to put the portions of the sites they visit most on the first page, instead of being buried in a link within a link.
The new version is a bit more concise and is color-coded, with burnt orange representing the aspects related to new classes (features like “Browse Schedule of Classes,” “Search for Classes,” “My Class Schedule” and “Degree Progress,” which are now featured up front on the main page of the MyCSULB site instead of hidden in the finances and registration link.)
A light turquoise color represents the financial aspects of the page (not the harsh green that usually represents money, but a softer, friendlier version of green) and pink represents the infinitely useful BeachBoard and Library links.
Other than those links, there is a useless link welcoming students to the new site under the “What’s New?” feature (which actually doesn’t welcome students to any of the new features, but in three brief paragraphs, it merely notes that there are changes, and the school hopes you’ve noticed them). There is also a tips section with a security tips link and a link with upcoming deadlines, and that’s about it.
There’s a tab at the top of the page called the “How-to Guides,” which may be the only useful portion of the page so far, allowing students to customize their own MyCSULB, but, like anything else on the site, it takes getting used to.
The page has been condensed and, after some serious adjusting, it will surely be useful. But does that really compare to the inconvenience students have faced when trying to access the site during the inconvenient six days it was down?
The time period when the site was unavailable lasted only between May 9 through May 15, but as everyone knows, that is when a good deal of students choose to do their work – at the last minute when there are only a few classes remaining available.
The time, at first, may have seemed perfectly within a reasonable period; students really only should be using BeachBoard as they prepare final projects and download study guides from BeachBoard. Changing the site before finals would allow students to utilize the summer to improve their own site. But students may still be working out kinks in their fall schedule.
Students will certainly benefit from the changes and will have all summer to adjust and customize the site to their own personal preferences. So regardless of whatever minor inconveniences we had to suffer, the new site will definitely be worth it. And, for those of us who are not computer savvy, it may take us all summer to perfect our site to our own needs.
