University Web Portals: Patterns and Policies

A two-year study of Web portal use in a large university has found a number of results that can help in management decision making about the use of university Web portals as a communication channel. The study involved the collection and analysis of Web usage statistics for a business information technology school in a large city university over a two-year period. Findings initially indicate that: it is likely that some students and prospective students prefer personal contact (or face to face communication) to information provided by the portal; students use the portal mostly during critical phases in the academic calendar; students use the portal “at the last minute” or “just in time”; students are only interested in information absolutely specific to their immediate needs; students are not interested in multimedia per se. These findings should help us in improving Web portal use as a communication channel. Preliminary findings can contribute to our understandings of student information seeking behaviour and choice in the use of administrative educational information systems and communication channels.