Collegian Weekly: Online registration process delayed again
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: Opinion
Registering students will line the long hall, looking for a light at the end of the tunnel. Instead, at the end, they will fall into a dark abyss of anachronism known as the Hillsdale College registration process.
The way Hillsdale students register harkens back to the primitive days before the Internet advent. And, much to everyone's dismay, change to online registration has been delayed again. And there's nothing much to be done except complain.
The college aimed to begin online registration in fall 2008. Now, it may open in spring 2009.
Meanwhile, students will grudgingly stand in line for hours, holding a stack of signed cards and an ID with a photo they hate. All this when a few clicks of a mouse would suffice.
Frankly, the registration process should embarrass our college. According to a survey from EDUCAUSE, 90 percent of colleges have online registration. Even high schools use online registration. The technology has been around for a long time.
Hillsdale College has had the program to create online registration since 2004, when it bought a shiny new software infrastructure. But since then, college employees have wrangled merely to adapt to it and upload all the data.
Don't get us wrong: The hard work of all those involved in the transition merits respect. The registration office abounds with kind, accommodating employees who yearn to serve students. The Information Technology Services office abounds with competent, diligent employees who understand computers. And everyone says online registration is the top priority.
All this makes the delays even more puzzling. Semester after semester passes, and students still wait in line and wait for change. Everyone gets tired of it.
In the meantime, the entire process could be simplified, even on paper. Right now, many classes require signatures. Students must scramble across campus on a signature hunt. Professors' office hours vary, so the legwork sometimes takes days, and classes fill quickly. The Registrar's Office would save students a significant amount of time if it accepted e-mails from professors instead.
Such a change would encourage students that embracing more technology -the long-promised online registration, for example - is just around the corner.
We hope online registration will be worth the wait. The brownies and Tang at the end of the Queue of Boredom are not.
The way Hillsdale students register harkens back to the primitive days before the Internet advent. And, much to everyone's dismay, change to online registration has been delayed again. And there's nothing much to be done except complain.
The college aimed to begin online registration in fall 2008. Now, it may open in spring 2009.
Meanwhile, students will grudgingly stand in line for hours, holding a stack of signed cards and an ID with a photo they hate. All this when a few clicks of a mouse would suffice.
Frankly, the registration process should embarrass our college. According to a survey from EDUCAUSE, 90 percent of colleges have online registration. Even high schools use online registration. The technology has been around for a long time.
Hillsdale College has had the program to create online registration since 2004, when it bought a shiny new software infrastructure. But since then, college employees have wrangled merely to adapt to it and upload all the data.
Don't get us wrong: The hard work of all those involved in the transition merits respect. The registration office abounds with kind, accommodating employees who yearn to serve students. The Information Technology Services office abounds with competent, diligent employees who understand computers. And everyone says online registration is the top priority.
All this makes the delays even more puzzling. Semester after semester passes, and students still wait in line and wait for change. Everyone gets tired of it.
In the meantime, the entire process could be simplified, even on paper. Right now, many classes require signatures. Students must scramble across campus on a signature hunt. Professors' office hours vary, so the legwork sometimes takes days, and classes fill quickly. The Registrar's Office would save students a significant amount of time if it accepted e-mails from professors instead.
Such a change would encourage students that embracing more technology -the long-promised online registration, for example - is just around the corner.
We hope online registration will be worth the wait. The brownies and Tang at the end of the Queue of Boredom are not.
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