UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — LionPATH, Penn State's student information system, is undergoing an upgrade over the Fourth of July weekend and will be unavailable to users from 9 a.m. ET on Thursday, July 4, through noon ET on Sunday, July 7.
While the upgrade will offer improvements to navigation and appearance to make the system easier to use, there are no major functionality changes or changes to business processes.
When the system comes back online, users will enjoy new features to enhance the student experience and facilitate interactions with faculty and advisers. These enhancements include:
- A new look for the student view.
- Faculty and staff will be able to see the student view.
- Inclusion of student photos (from the official Penn State id+ card).
- A new advisee details page.
A new look for the student view
The LionPATH Development and Maintenance Organization has made additional updates to the student view to better accommodate students’ needs. Informed by web analytics, student surveys, and usability testing, the new screen design features improved usability and gives more real estate to the items that students reported are most important to them when they log in to LionPATH.
Same screen views for faculty, staff and students
This long-awaited and highly requested feature will allow faculty and staff to view the same screen format that students can access within LionPATH. A link will appear on these pages called “See What the Student Sees.” When this link is clicked, the screen will change to show the same layout that the student sees. This will help faculty and staff who work with students to navigate the system when performing certain tasks or reviewing information with them.
Inclusion of student photos
LionPATH will now incorporate each student’s photo, as it appears on their Penn State id+ card, making it easy for faculty, advisers and other staff who work with a large number of students to identify them.
A new advisee details page
Responding to academic advisers’ requests to consolidate key advisee information on a single page, LionPATH will now include a new summarized advisee view. With input from advisers, the LionPATH Development and Maintenance Organization designed the new page featured above. It provides extensive data, as well as links to additional items that advisers use frequently.
For more information about the upgrade, visit the LionPATH support website. Questions should be directed to the LionPATH Development and Maintenance Organization at lionpath@psu.edu.