The My Actions widget at one.stthomas.edu shares personalized, actionable information about you. Where can you find it? What does it display? Where does the data come from? What other information should it include?
This article will answer the first three questions. (If you have ideas about the last question, fill out a My Actions service request! We can't make everything happen, but we love suggestions!)
The MyActions Widget
The My Actions widget is found in the lower left hand region of the one.stthomas.edu home page:
The goal, in a nutshell, is to give university members actionable information: each item here should allow a person to do or learn something directly useful, to her specifically, from anywhere (even their dorm couch while wearing pajamas).
All links in MyActions are to be personalized. That means that, in general, these links cannot be shared with others. If you copy the personalized Major Selection Form link from here, put it in an email, and send it to a friend, your friend will get your Major Selection Form and will fill out something for your major, not his. MyActions secures against this in the few cases where it's really important to prevent it, but, as a rule, you can't share MyActions links.
What It Shows
The My Actions widget shows a wide range of information to students, faculty, and staff, including...
Holds
If you are a student, and you have a registration hold of any sort, you will see it here.
This data comes from Murphy Online (specifically ODS, for you ITS people reading).
Click the link to go to the website or profile page of the person or group that applied the hold.
Canvas
Enrolled in any Canvas courses? This section of My Actions shows you all your Canvas activity feed, including Announcements, Conversations, Discussion Topics, upcoming Submissions, and more from each of your classes.
This data comes from Canvas, surprise surprise.
Clicking any of the items takes you directly to that item in Canvas.
Advisors and Tutors (aka My Tommie Support Team)
If you're a student, you may be surprised how many people and groups are out there to support your academic success! Did you know that all students are assigned a specific financial aid advisor? Or that any student can sign up to meet with Career Development? This panel displays all of them. In fact, I can't fit them all in this screenshot! This is only about half.
This data comes from each of the many departments involved.
Clicking most of these links will take you directly to a scheduling form where you can sign up for a session with one of these support groups. There are a handful of exceptions, where clicking the link opens up a separate website or profile page.
Advisees
If you're a faculty member, or a staff member with student advisees, your student advisees will be listed instead.
This data comes from Banner.
Clicking their names will open their profile in Office365, where you can send them a message or look at other information.
Tuition
This part of the My Actions widget tells you exactly what you currently owe the school.
Clicking the link takes you to Touchnet, where you can pay your balance. (You can't send this link to your parents; they will have to bookmark their own links.)
This information comes from Touchnet (via Banner Ethos, for the ITS people out there).
Dining Services
This part of the widget tells you how many dollars and meals you have left in your various Dining Services accounts.
Clicking any item takes you to a website where you can add more dollars or buy more meals.
This data comes directly from the Dining Services system, CSGold.
Libraries
Got library books checked out? Waiting for a held book to come in? This will tell you what's up on all your library items.
Clicking any of the items takes you to the relevant account page in the Library website.
The data comes from the Library API.
Major/Minor Declaration
Degree-seeking undergraduate students can reach the Major/Minor Declaration form in Banner directly from MyActions (except during their first semester of college).
Clubs
Many of us are members of clubs and organizations!
The data shown here comes from TommieLink, the St. Thomas club registration system, and clicking any of the items will take you there.
Note that events listed here are only public events listed in TommieLink; the My Actions widget cannot (yet) get private events or events that are listed only in R25. But we're working on it!
Printing
This section won't just tell you about your current printing budget, but will give you some stats about your printer usage and its environmental impact.
The data comes from Papercut, the print management system.
Clicking any item takes you over to print.stthomas.edu/user.
Course Materials
Courses may have up to three different kinds of materials listed here:
- The official required book list, from TommieBooks
- Reading lists, created for specific courses at the library by your professor.
- Course guides, created by the library to help out with broad subject matter areas.
The data shown here comes from TommieBooks and from the library, with the actual course lists coming from Murphy (ODS).
Clicking an item takes you to it.
Parking
Managing parking can be tricky! Right now, My Actions shows you your currently active parking permits. We hope soon to add more information about parking to help people manage the sometimes-complex campus parking rules with less stress. This widget does NOT currently list outstanding parking violations.
This data comes from T2, the campus parking system, via Banner ODS.
Clicking your permit takes you over to T2, where you can manage your parking.
