Screenshot of the New MySXU Portal
On Nov 19., the MySXU portal was given an update, allowing users more ease in navigating the website.
As the walkthrough video for the new portal states, the update now allows students and staff to “Personalize your, move cards around, bookmark cards you wish to see, remove cards that you don’t want, and create quick link cards.” To access the page, students simply need to go to the website (my.sxu.edu) and log in with their NetID and password.
The new site features a streamlined menu, dividing resources and links into cards that can be pinned to the home page. Among the cards are an Administrative Office directory, the contact information for every individual’s advisor, and a calendar for students to keep track of their schedule.
New additions to the MySXU page include a weather card and an interface for students to view their email inboxes.
At the bottom of the page, there is a blue button marked “Discover More”, from which one can see all available cards, and select which ones they’d like bookmarked.
Students have the freedom to add, take away, and move around available cards at their convenience. The only stipulation is that cards with a lock icon in their top right corner, specifically the Helpful Links, Gmail, and Student Self-Serivce, cannot be moved from their position as the first three menus on the portal.
For Gmail and Google Drive Access, the portal walkthrough video stated that students will “Only have to sign in once.”, though many students have had to sign into their accounts every other time they open the website.
Faculty and staff will also be able to log in to their Outlook account to view their inbox.
The new portal also offers more organization, as it allows students to create itemized to-do lists and pin important links to help with productivity.
No pages outside of the portal have seen a revamp, and all features from the old MySXU Portal remain. Students still have access to their accounts with Navigate, The Den, Canvas, and Student Self-Service, and should remain logged in on all devices.
School closures, parking lot closures, weather notices, and other important information will be displayed at the top of the page, as a small card. The walkthrough video encourages students to check this section daily, as it will change often.
The portal’s makeover has been a welcome change for students. According to a handful of people, the simplified interface has made life much easier for them, though they would have appreciated a warning.
When asked for her thoughts, Elizabeth George said “It caught me by surprise, and I don’t like it,”. She finds the site to be “not very visually appealing” and thinks that it would benefit from a dark mode option.
Nailanie Roman also finds the portal hard to navigate and often gets lost looking for specific links. “It’s terrible” she put bluntly.
But there were also some positive remarks made about the update.
Grecia Luna and Mark Weeks have found it “easier to get around the website” and more practical to navigate the portal. They have found the update to be for the better, and enjoy the convenience that it offers.
Even upperclassmen, who were more used to the old portal, said that they saw the school’s vision with the new interface and appreciated the change. “I don’t think it’s bad, it just takes getting used to,” Quaron Neal stated.
Overall, it seems that the portal will take some getting used to, but it is being slowly accepted by the student body. Only time will tell if this change remains in students favor.
For more information or further assistance with navigating the MySXU Portal, students should visit The Hub, or call (773) 298-4357 with any questions they have.
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