City College’s new MySBCC portal is currently in progress and active, which will eventually replace the Pipeline portal.
Dean Nevins, the executive director of information technology, worked on starting the MySBCC project and eventually launched the portal. Nevins sent out a school-wide email on Aug. 1 informing students that the portal is now available and aimed to enhance their college experience.
“The concept of retiring Pipeline has been considered for at least a decade,” Nevins said.
Since the main portal has changed, it’s not exactly known when the Pipeline portal will be completely gone. Despite using MySBCC, the @pipeline.sbcc.edu will still be attached to City College emails.
Why MySBCC?
According to Nevins, MySBCC is more accessible for students and is already more useful than Pipeline.
Pipeline is visually outdated, and Nevins says the technology is old and not supported by the vendor. He added that the Pipeline portal isn’t mobile-friendly and says there’s a rise in students accessing their college resources through their phones.
“Both platforms serve as a hub of links to various campus resources, but MySBCC’s card-based layout provides students with faster, more direct access to what they need compared to Pipeline,” Nevins said.
According to the Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Jordan Killebrew, City College students can find their interests and needs on MySBCC whereas it’s harder to find those on Pipeline.
“Students have already signed up for clubs on their own,” Killebrew said. “They’re going through the portal and finding things on their own, and they’re finding resources, which has been huge.”
Killebrew and Nevins are the two promoting and pushing students to use the new portal.
They’re currently working with Associated Student Government (ASG) advisor Amy Collins along with the IT department to allow clubs on the portal to share information and posters. Clubs or departments can have their modules shown for students to join. The module allows clubs or departments to communicate and interact with students and not rely on email.
The goal is to move away from emails and have MySBCC be the new home base for students.
“I believe MySBCC is already more useful than Pipeline and will continue to enhance its value over time,” Nevins said. “Both platforms serve as a hub of links to various campus resources, but MySBCC’s card-based layout provides students with faster, more direct access to what they need compared to Pipeline.”
According to Nevins, during weekdays, there are 6,000 sessions, and since the launch, there have been 480,000 sessions logged, which is an impressive level of engagement for a new site.
Killebrew explained that MySBCC is an exciting outreach for students.
“We want to provide a fun, friendly experience where students can get the resources they need,” Killebrew said.
How students can use MySBCC
The Office of Communications designed the MySBCC visual layout to create a strong visual connection with students.
Once a student is logged into the new portal, there’s a search bar on the left side that has information about anything regarding City College.
The far left side of the portal has a basic resources scroll bar for students. Some of those resources include Canvas, Starfish, and financial aid.
The middle of the portal includes widgets that have all of the students’ information, some of which include the class schedule, bill, or textbooks.
Once a student scrolls, they can come across clubs, the City College Instagram, news, or events happening on campus.
City College is currently in the process of removing the Pipeline portal and implementing MySBCC for all students to use. It’s hoped to simplify the life of students and have more student engagement on campus.
