Organising one’s studies at the FernUniversität just became a whole lot easier with the launch of studyPORT, a one-stop platform where students can access Moodle, the exam portal, the University Library catalogue and much else besides. User-friendly and tweaked to work on different types of devices, studyPORT adds an element of convenience to lighten the load of distance learning.
In studyPORT students will also discover the wide range of applications they have access to by virtue of their FernUni enrolment. Proprietary versions of Citavi, the genius citation tool; Limesurvey and Zoom are just the tip of the iceberg. Further cool tools are the shared workspaces and cloud storage facilities.
Dr Cristina Pozo Vicente who heads the FernUniversität Project Lehrbetrieb: Innovating Online Teaching is jazzed about the studyPORT launch
Project Manager Dr Cristina Pozo Vicente (Fachliche Leitung Projekt Lehrbetrieb), under whose watchful eye studyPORT was developed says, “We decided to conduct the roll-out in stages to ensure that we could identify and eliminate any teething troubles. Now that it’s mid-June, we have finally deployed the platform to all the FernUniversität faculties.”
Those students who have given studyPORT a go have given it rave reviews.
“I’m impressed with how easy it is to navigate,” says Natalie Frede, a first year BA Psychology student. “It seems my days of going to the uni homepage and hitting search are a thing of the past. This application looks set to make my life easier.”
Also pleased with the platform is Julia Zimmer, a budding legal eagle in her final year. “I can access the law faculty’s webpage via studyPORT just as easily as I can find information on upcoming events of interest. I would definitely recommend studyPORT to other students,” she says.
The positive feedback is heartily welcomed by Cristina and the team behind the student portal. “We are pleased at the reception studyPORT has received and still welcome feedback from all users,” she says.
The FernUniversität Project Lehrbetrieb: Innovating Online Teaching has been running since 2017. Its inception predates the COVID pandemic and pandemonium, yet the timing could not have been more fortuitous since the project aims became even more pressing when the world of work was turned upside down in 2020. The overall aims include:
- improving the quality of distance teaching and learning
- promoting innovation
- developing and optimising digital capabilities and resources
- offering support services
The newly-launched studyPORT certainly ticks all the boxes. If you’re a student of the FernUniversität, you simply have to check it out. For a quick overview, take a look at the promotional video here.
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