In the not-too-distant future, University of Colorado at Boulder students will find that registering for classes will be as easy as tapping their computer keyboards.
Some 900 sophomores and freshman took advantage of a pilot program in web registration when they signed up for spring classes in November and found the experimental web registration to their liking.
"This was awesome!" declared freshman Tim Shirk after signing up for classes through the online program that displayed all of a student聮s options and let him or her pick and choose. "This is the most efficient and user-friendly system possible."
Chris McGowan, a student government representative, agreed that "registering on the web is much easier than registering on the telephone." He particularly liked the program聮s ability to configure and display his schedule.
"The initial pilot received a very positive response from the majority of students. They like being able to see the course availability in real time, how many people are on the course wait list and which sections of courses are open," said Assistant Registrar Sally Page.
About 3,700 incoming freshmen and sophomores were invited to participate in the spring semester web-based registration program, and about 900 used it before the Nov. 29 deadline. The others used the traditional methods of registration, primarily by telephone over CU Connect.
"I like being able to view a list of open classes of various subjects and knowing right away" if they can be scheduled, said Nelma M. Vinyard. Another student, Bryan Pilson, said the easy-to-use program lowered his level of frustration with registration.
The success of the initial program has translated into new plans to expand the service. During the Jan. 8-27 period, when courses can be dropped or added to refine schedules, web registration services will be available to about 10,000 students. This time, the target experimental group will include all freshmen and sophomores, all engineering and business students, plus arts and sciences students going through orientation.
Page said the university plans to have web registration available for all students in time for the summer and fall registration periods, which begin in March.