When I first logged into MySlice to officially accept my letter to attend Syracuse University in 2020, I thought, “This is the student portal?” At the time MySlice looked like it was made in 1990 and hadn’t been updated since. I was committing to SU to major in information technology … and this is the website they created for their students? It definitely made me wary.

Nevertheless, after using it for a little bit, I got used to the website. I knew where everything was, and there were headings for each resource and links to useful information. If I wanted to find something like Degree Works (a resource to see the classes necessary to fulfill the requirements), it was easily accessible through the website.

Don’t get me wrong, the old MySlice website had many issues. The Schedule Builder wouldn’t let students transfer classes from their planned schedules into their “Shopping Carts” for enrollment. It looked very chaotic, and the text was incredibly small. But, just like many other SU students, I got used to the way MySlice looked, and it was an easy website to navigate with some practice.

Last semester, SU announced that the MySlice website would be updated. SU even emailed all students in September promising that the new MySlice website would feature “increased mobile capacity, accessibility, and personalization.” I thought that all SU students would finally have a website that is easy to navigate and visually appealing. I was wrong.

The update made it even more difficult for students to access the website. After the update, MySlice would say “stale request” when students tried to login. In order to fix this, people had to clear their cache and cookies on their browser. Even once the cache is cleared and students open the website, the only things visible are the headers of the old website, not anything underneath those headers. For example, if students don’t remember that Degreeworks is under the advising header, it may be very difficult to find. Personally, I just use the search bar to find anything.
Visually, the website went from looking like it was made in the ’90s to looking like it was made in 2000. While this is somewhat of an improvement, MySlice still looks outdated. We need a modern-looking website that even students who are new to SU can comprehend and easily use to find information.

Students register for classes, pay bursar bills, select housing and meal plans, see their financial aid and look at their grades through MySlice. Why is a website that is so crucial to students so difficult to navigate?

It’s hard to fully understand why we do not have a visually appealing and easy to navigate student portal. There are many third party websites that we could use to create a student portal. For example, My School Design is a company that builds websites specifically for schools. Appypie, a no-code web and app development platform, is another great option.

We also have many qualified and incredible technology professionals on campus: Jeffrey Rubin, Michael Fudge and Lauren Hardee-Chase, just to name a few. There are also incredibly talented students in the School of Information Studies and the College of Engineering and Computer Science who would love the opportunity to fix the MySlice website.

Personally, I would like to see the SU community come together to build a great website that is both visually appealing and easy to navigate. Having professors who teach how to make a website and students who interact with MySlice on a day-to-day basis coming together to create an excellent myslice website — wouldn’t that be the perfect solution?

The bottom line is: SU students need a student portal that is easy to navigate and looks like it was made in 2022. We already have so many great professors and students here on campus — why don’t we utilize them to create a website that works for all of us?

Melanie Wilder is a sophomore policy studies and information management double major. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at [email protected].

Published on February 7, 2022 at 1:05 am