Issue: There is a possibility that the university will make changes to MyState and if they want students to utilize the website, changes are necessary.

Changes to the university website, MyState, will potentially happen this summer. We at The Collegian believe that there are a few things the university should consider when making these changes. 

Students are given access to numerous websites when they enroll at SDSU. WebAdvisor, D2L, MyState, Starfish and school email are all major sites that students are expected to use and manage. While each of these sites serves a specific purpose, and an experienced student has probably figured out how to manage all of these sites, for incoming freshmen or transfer students, this can prove overwhelming. 

This needs some attention, whether sites are somehow connected into one on MyState through easily accessed links or through content taught in first year seminars or transfer student seminars. If the courses are intended to help acclimate students to college and provide them with tools for success on campus, teaching them how to use the necessary technologies definitely falls under that category. 

Another useful change would be allowing students to use the same username and password for all of the sites used, a couple of the sites currently use the same password, but it might make things easier on the student if they don’t have to juggle which password/username combination goes with which school site.

MyState allows students access to a number of different things relating to their student profile or account. A student can see their schedule, calendar of events, majors/minors they have declared, parking passes, scholarships and graduation applications to name a few. If the university makes the site more user friendly, students might find MyState more beneficial.

When changes are made to a university site, they typically happen late at night when traffic on the site is low. The same is planned for any potential MyState changes, which would happen over the summer, however, this could cause issues for students taking summer courses online. If changes are made, will this disrupt coursework? Will it cause problems for students if they need to adjust to a new site when they are in the middle of a term?

There are obviously still some things that will need to get worked out before any changes are made to the site, however some sort of change is necessary. Not all of these are changes for the site itself but maybe for how the university informs students on how to use it to its true potential. 

Stance: Changes to MyState are a necessity, but the university should make it a priority to change how they teach students to efficiently use the website as well.