In response to reported inefficiencies in the traditional paper system, the registrar has implemented electronic “enrollment requests” that will replace Wesleyan’s familiar add/drop slips.
“We’re trying to keep it very simple,” said Registrar Anna van der Burg. “We’re not trying to make huge changes to our culture, but we’re trying to change the vehicle.”
The change was spurred by the Registrar’s Office, the Office of Academic Affairs, Information Technology Services and student and faculty members of the Educational Policy Committee (EPC). The faculty approved an electronic drop/add system last spring, and the switch was announced to the community in an all-campus email on Nov. 5.
This week, students will register for classes in the usual manner, book-marking their course selections and clicking for available seats. The system change will become apparent during advisor authorization period, which lasts from Nov. 17 to Dec. 5.
If students are denied a spot in any of their desired courses during online registration, they may submit an enrollment request instead of using the electronic waitlist. They may do this at any time, whether their faculty advisors are present or not. By clicking the button labeled “Add to Enrollment Request” before the end of advisor authorization period, students will submit a virtual plea to be admitted into the course in question. Up to four ranked enrollment requests are available per person.
In January, students will have the opportunity to cancel any or all of their enrollment requests, in addition to submitting new, unranked requests.
Professors will then have access to enrollment request lists and will use them to make decisions during the add/drop period at the beginning of next semester. They will be able to offer available seats to interested parties through the electronic system. Students will likewise be able to accept or decline seats with the click of a mouse. According to Van der Burg, the benefit of such a system—and the driving force behind the change—is quick turnaround time. As soon as a student accepts a professor’s offer, one seat will be removed from the availability number of the course in question. Dropped spaces will also be immediately processed by the system so that the number of available seats for each course can be accurately identified at any time. This feature will alleviate one of the major flaws in the paper system, according to Van der Burg.
“There’s always been an issue of class access,” she said. “When we researched the issue, what we found was that, even in popular courses, seats would remain untaken.”
Van der burg explained that seats have been wasted in the past because of the imprecise nature of the paper system. Professors would accept students into a class, sign the necessary forms and reduce the number of seats remaining in the course. There was no guarantee, however, that the admitted students would actually enroll. Decisions did not become final until the last day of the add/drop period, when most students, according to Van der Burg, turned in their completed forms.
“The new process will give extremely up-to-date information to both student and instructor as to who is in each class, including what seats are open, throughout the drop/add period,” said student chair of the EPC Karen Courtheoux ’05. “In this way, seats are far less likely to be wasted.”
The elimination of the electronic waitlist is another intended improvement to the system; the online lists were convenient, but not utilized by all professors. Because the virtual enrollment lists will drive the drop/add system, there will be no confusion as to whether a professor is keeping a waitlist electronically or by hand.
The new system does not, however, preclude students from pleading their case to professors, Van der Burg said.
“Rather than walking up to professors [in class], we’re asking students to submit an enrollment request,” she said. “But we still encourage them to e-mail, call, go talk to their professors…whatever they would normally do to get into a class.”
Both Van der Burg and Courtheoux expect that the new system will smooth out the some of the current kinks in the current drop/add process.
Other changes, including an extension of the drop/add period from eight to ten full class days—allowing students to attend two class meetings as opposed to one—are currently under discussion. For more information on the new policy, visit: http://www.wesleyan.edu/registrar/dropaddFAQ.ctt.
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