PITCHES
- UNE’s online services and their struggles, ie Brightspace, Okta, Compass
- UNE’s parking situation, do we need more lots? or different rules?
Draft 1
Students Are Angry and Annoyed by UNE’s Systems
By Casey Jordan
Students testify against the current online systems across the board describing them as “inconvienient” and “far too confusing”.
UNE uses services such OKTA, Brightspace and Compass as online navigation for its students. To view grades, do assignments and sign into their accounts.
Students are less than thrilled about the accesability of these systems. Michael Sullivan, a Sophomore Excercise Science major at UNE deals with the complications of these systems daily. “Having to change my password constantly is something ive never expireinced before and frankly its inconvenient and unprofessional”. Adding on “The other day I had to sign in 12 seperate times with Okta and got in trouble with my professor for using my phone to accept the log in”.
Business Administration Major Alex Yeaton compares the quality of UNE’s systems to business. “When running a business your systems need to be quick and efficient for both employees and the consumer”. Exclaiming the current systems are “far too confusing, especialy to new students” and “a potential turn off”.
Feature Creature draft 2
Students Demand Change from UNE
By Casey Jordan
Students testify against the current online systems across the board describing them as “inconvienient” and “far too confusing”.
UNE uses services such OKTA, Brightspace and Compass as online navigation for its students. To view grades, do assignments and sign into their accounts. However, what is supposed to help streamline operations, has proved the opposite.
Students are less than thrilled about the accesability of these systems. Michael Sullivan, a Sophomore Excercise Science major at UNE deals with the complications of these systems daily. “Having to change my password constantly is something ive never expireinced before and frankly its inconvenient and unprofessional”. Adding on “The other day I had to sign in 12 seperate times with Okta and got in trouble with my professor for using my phone to accept the log in”.
UNE uses a two factor authentication system with OKTA that requires opening up a second device to sign into anything UNE related. This process has recieved backlash from students and professors alike.
Sophomore business Administration Major Alex Yeaton compares the quality of UNE’s systems to the world of business. “When running a business your systems need to be quick and efficient for both employees and the consumer”. Exclaiming the current systems are “far too confusing, especialy to new students” and “a potential turn off”.
Not all of UNE’s systems receive negative feedback, brightspace is an easy tool to navigate according to Sophomore UNE student Max Arbour. “I find that brightspace was an easy application to use from the start”. Arbour continued to back the online service by saying, “Its a simple website with a good layout and I have no issues finding coursework, or seeing professors comments”.
These services are all most students know and they have gotten familiar with the good and bad of them. However, Luke O’Leary is a new student to the University who recently transferred from Bridgewater State. O’Leary on comparing the two Universities services, “I would say Bridgewater’s where easier, seeing grades and just navigation in general”. As a new student O’Leary has found Compass the most troubling; “Just looking at compass… its kind of a mess” “it feels like a scavenger hunt”.
Bridgewater State uses a completely different set of online services for their students. Office 365, Blackboard and Windows Virtual Desktop are what O’Leary describes to be “easier options for students”.
Feature Creature Peer Review draft
UNE’s Online Student Services, Superb or Subpar?
Students interviewed in February 2025, give their honest opinion on the schools current online systems across the board.
Casey Jordan
University Student
February 18 2025
With the rise of technology in education over the past decade, it has become a tool to streamline students’ experiences. Is this the Case at UNE?
UNE uses services such OKTA, Brightspace and Compass as online navigation for its students. To view grades, do assignments and sign into their accounts. However, what is supposed to help streamline operations, has proved the opposite.
Michael Sullivan, a Sophomore Exercise Science major at UNE deals with the complications of these systems daily. “Having to change my password constantly is something I’ve never experienced before and honestly it’s inconvenient and unprofessional”. Adding on “The other day I had to sign in 12 separate times with Okta and got in trouble with my professor for using my phone to accept the log in”.
UNE uses a two factor authentication system with OKTA that requires opening up a second device to sign into anything UNE related. This process has received backlash from students and professors alike.
Sophomore business Administration Major Alex Yeaton compares the quality of UNE’s online systems to the world of business. “When running a business your online systems and websites need to be quick and efficient for both employees and the consumer”. Claiming the current systems are “far too confusing, especially to new students” and “more frustrating than helpful”.
Not all of UNE’s systems receive negative feedback. Brightspace, where students go to do all of their coursework, is an easy tool to navigate according to Sophomore UNE student Max Arbour. “I find that brightspace was an easy thing to use from the start”. Arbour continued to back the online service by saying, “It’s a simple website with a good layout and I have no issues finding coursework, or seeing professors’ comments”.
These services are all most students know and they have gotten familiar with the good and bad of them. However, Luke O’Leary is a new student to the University who recently transferred from Bridgewater State. O’Leary on comparing the two Universities services, “I would say Bridgewater’s were easier, seeing grades and just navigation in general”. As a new student O’Leary has found UNE Compass the most troubling; “Just looking at compass it’s kind of a mess…it feels like a scavenger hunt”.
Bridgewater State uses a completely different set of online services for their students. Office 365, Blackboard and Windows Virtual Desktop are what O’Leary describes to be easier options for students.
Due to the clear frustration that students have with UNE’s choice of online systems, is it time to make a change?
Feature Creature Final Draft
The University of New England’s Online Student Systems, Superb or Subpar?
Students in February 2025, give their honest opinion on the schools current choice of online services across the board.
Casey Jordan
University Student
February 28, 2025
With the rise of technology in education over the past decade, students and professors rely on online programs to manage their workload. However, at UNE a majority of students would prefer a change.
The University of New England uses systems such as OKTA, Brightspace and Compass as online navigation for its students to view grades, do assignments and sign into their accounts. However, what is supposed to help streamline operations, may be doing the opposite.
Sophomore Exercise Science major, Michael Sullivan, deals with the complications of these systems daily. “Having to change my password constantly is something I’ve never experienced before and honestly it’s inconvenient and unprofessional”. Adding on “The other day I had to sign in 12 separate times with Okta and got in trouble with my professor for using my phone to accept the log in”.
UNE uses a two factor authentication system with OKTA that requires opening a second device to sign into anything UNE related. This process has received backlash from students and professors alike.
Sophomore business Administration Major, Alex Yeaton, compares the quality of UNE’s online systems to the world of business. “When running a business your online systems and websites need to be quick and efficient for both employees and the consumer”. Claiming the current systems are “far too confusing, especially to new students” and “more frustrating than helpful”.
Not all of UNE’s systems receive negative feedback. Brightspace, where students go to do all of their coursework, is an easy tool to navigate according to Sophomore Exercise science major Max Arbour. “I find that Brightspace was an easy thing to use from the start”. Arbour continued to back the online service by saying, “It’s a simple website with a good layout and I have no issues finding coursework, or seeing professors’ comments”.
In fact, one of UNE’s closest competitors, The University of Southern Maine offers Brightspace to their students as well.
These services are all most students know and they have gotten familiar with the good and bad of them. However, Luke O’Leary is a new student to the University who recently transferred from Bridgewater State. O’Leary on comparing the two Universities services, “I would say Bridgewater’s were easier, seeing grades and just navigation in general”. As a new student O’Leary has found UNE Compass the most troubling; “Just looking at compass it’s kind of a mess…it feels like a scavenger hunt”.
Bridgewater State uses a completely different set of online services for their students. Office 365, Blackboard and Windows Virtual Desktop are what O’Leary describes to be easier options for students.
“It’s a pain in the ass” are Dr, Michael Cripps thoughts on OKTA. Cripps is the Director of the School of Arts and Humanities, as well as a professor at the University of New England. However, he also had insight on why the school uses two factor authentication; “There were problems with phishing and hacking” stating “Two step authentication is a tool to prevent hackers across the world from reaching students’ Emails, passwords, records, financial aid information, transcript, and bills”. All of which are highly confidential.
Dr. Cripps went on to clear up the good that OKTA has brought to the University; “It has dramatically decreased the amount of people getting hacked”.
When asked why he thinks students are generally unhappy with the universities choice of online services, Cripps offered this mindset; “Students are frustrated with the pace of change… is it because it’s bad? Or because we just aren’t familiar with it?” finishing with “Everybody thinks change is bad”.
This train of thought can be applied to any issue, and it holds some truth to it.
Dr. Cripps recalled times before Brightsace, when UNE used Blackboard instead; “Is Brightspace necessarily better then blackboard? I couldn’t say either is definitely better”.
The University of New England’s IT service provided no comment on the matter.
Due to the clear frustration that students have with UNE’s choice of online systems, is it time to make a change? Or are the security benefits just too valuable when it comes to protecting students’ private information.
Workshop Reflection
Reflecting back on my opportunity to take in feedback and hear what was working with my story was extremely impactful. I am thankful for my classmates for digging deep into my writing and telling me everything I needed to hear to make this piece better. I went back and focused on painting my lead more and trying to cover as many of the 5 W’s that I could. I also made sure to keep uniformity throughout when I mentioned to students names and majors, as well as the schools name. I also reacted to the criticism of getting more variety of quotes by talking with Dr. Cripps who gave me great information. And also visiting IT and sending two more emails, however after 5 total attempts I was forced to say they had no comment.
Project as a whole reflection
looking back at this project as a whole, I am proud of how far I was able to come. I started with a solid pitch with a topic I knew had lots of matter. However, I had never wrote a feature before so I had difficulty starting. I was able to slowly build momentum and gather ideas through listening in class and taking notes. I used things from class and the readings to incorporate into my writing and made every draft better. The biggest help however, was the class criticism. I was able to make the most ground with the information I got from my classmates and things started to click more. I can say now that I am happy with my revisions especially looking at my first draft compared to my final. I am also happy with how I pushed myself to talk to people like Dr. Cripps and try as hard as I could with IT, which was out of my comfort zone. I started to really enjoy crafting this piece once I had all of my quotes, I viewed it as a puzzle and the quotes and context are the pieces. I had lots of fun with this feature and I enjoyed watching the process unfold.
