Gone are the days of initial passwords consisting of information your mail carrier knows! Learn how Anne Arundel Community College changed its process.

Gone are the days of initial passwords consisting of information your mail carrier knows! Learn how Anne Arundel Community College changed its process to set and reset student passwords to college computer lab and portal accounts while still complying with FERPA.

Identity AuthenticationFor Student Portals

AACRAO Tech 2013Tucson, ArizonaMonday, July 15, 2013

Erin K. Reeder Assistant Registrar

About AACC Community college in central Maryland (near Annapolis)

Established 1961 FY12 enrollment profile

Credit enrollment 26,080

Noncredit enrollment 29,522

Combined unduplicated enrollment 53,476

49% of credit students took at least one online class

Student Services Building

Ohhhh, But It Was So Easy!

Student passwords were not secure Portal & computer lab (NT) = first four last name &

last four SSN Phone registration = birth month & day

FERPA told us to stop using commonly known information to authenticate users

HERA 2008 said we had to be sure of identity Our NT account and portal passwords were

not synced

How it Works. Short and Sweet.

Step 1: Apply (Credit or Continuing Education)

Step 2: Create an account Step 3: Create a password

It’s Not Short and Sweet! New Credit Students

Apply online Apply on paper

New Continuing Education Students Current Students (Credit and CE) Deactivated Accounts Faculty and Staff

20092010201120122013

Internal Stakeholders Registrar’s office Continuing Education Help Desk (Technical Call Center) Network Security Administrator Database Administrator Database Programmers Distance (Online) Learning Department Dean of Enrollment Services Admissions office

AACC Technology Background Datatel/Ellucian Colleague Datatel/Ellucian Recruiter online admission

application Luminis Sungard portal (at time of

implementation) Datatel/Ellucian portal (as of May 2013) Fischer identity management

2 Colleague database administrators 8 programmer/analysts 2 technical Records & Registration staff

New Credit Students

Online Admission Application

Apply Online

We collect: Demographic info High school info Previous college info (if applicable) Program of study/major Previous discipline and/or felony convictions Answers to challenge questions Other miscellaneous info

I Do Solemnly Swear.

A Few Minutes Later…

An email is sent to the applicant’s home email account with instructions on how to request his/her college computer account (MyAACC and NT account)

College Account Request Formto get a user name/create accounts

Uses information already provided by applicant to verify that the person who completed the application is the person accessing the college computer account (MyAACC and student NT account)

Three of These Don’t Belong

A Few Minutes Later…

User name is created for MyAACC and NT account

An email is sent to the applicant’s home email account with instructions on how to create a password.

Have a User Name? Great! Now Create a Password.

User names and passwords are synced

New Credit Students

Paper Admission Application (provided home email address)

Paper application is entered into Colleague.

A Few Minutes Later…

An email is sent to the applicant’s home email account with instructions on how to request his/her college computer account (MyAACC and NT account)

Name Corrections

We permit new students, never enrolled, to correct their legal name before we assign auser name. This also updates their record in Datatel Colleague.

User names are assigned for life and do not change when name is updated in Colleague.In extenuating circumstances, a student or employee may request a new user name.

Answer Challenge Questions for the First Time

Verification Password was Provided in Email

We use this because we didn’t know the answers to challenge questions until just a few seconds ago.

A Few Minutes Later…

User name is created for MyAACC and NT account

An email is sent to the applicant’s home email account with instructions on how to create a password.

Have a User Name? Great! Now Create a Password.

New Credit Students

Paper Admission Application(do not provide home email address)

Same Process via Snail Mail

Students still use the College Account Request Form to create accounts

Instead of emails, students are sent mailers with same info

New Continuing Education Students

Same Process as Credit Students

Follows either email or mail process Validation questions slightly different

So Yeah, I Lost My Email/Mailer…

There’s a screen for that.

What We’ve Learned Since November

Students are notoriously bad with data entry Email address Date of birth Mailing address

Students won’t request an account right away

Students will forget the answers to their challenge questions

We Could Only Help with that Last One 4 chances to answer challenge questions

correctly Can clear answers Email generated with verification

password

A Few More Finishing Touches Change message of original email to create

the account Email reminders to students who do not start

process 2 weeks after first email sent Email after request process has expired with

info on how to start over

Reminder!

Thank you AACRAO Tech

2013!Let’s go O’s!