by Tyler Jensen

jensenty@mnstate.edu

MSUM’s unveil of a website that helps organizations communicate with students was three-and-a-half years in the making.

DragonCentral is similar to Dragonmail, eServices and D2L in that it requires students log in with their StarIDs. But unlike these programs, DragonCentral has a public section describing organizations and events happening on campus for prospective students.

Assistant Director of Leadership and Organizations Steve Fox, who’s in charge of the project, said the service became needed as the previous brochure system “began to show its age and … wasn’t made to be used.”

DragonCentral gives organizations the ability to set different “interests” and attract students who share them. Orgs are also able to upload events and link to the site from social media pages.

The site offers four levels of document and event privacy, which grant access from absolutely everyone, to only select individuals. 

“In my eyes, for this software, there’s probably two main audiences,” Fox said. “There are the student organizations and the people that run them … (and) those people who aren’t involved, students who never got involved, incoming freshmen or other new students and also prospective students.”

Still, not everyone is hopeful about the situation. Gamer’s Club President Alex Smestad said he doesn’t believe people will use the site.

Fox acknowledged results will not be immediate. He considers this semester a testing period during which clubs will get familiar with the program.Fox’s hopes to see DragonCentral become part of MSUM’s club culture as the place to see what’s going on at MSUM.