On Tuesday, the class of 2010 was the first class to use the new registration system. The first groups of the day registered without problems, happy that they were able to get all the major, minor, core and elective courses they wanted stress free. Unfortunately, they were the only ones.
At about 2:45 p.m., everyone’s worst fears came true – StagWeb stopped responding, despite many students’ desperate attempts to register. The unusually large amounts of traffic on the Web site became too much for the site to handle, and students were left pointlessly clicking buttons on the Web page, hoping that the classes they wanted would still be open when the site’s wheels started turning.
At the end of the day, students who were amongst the last registration slots were forced to register for the wait-list for their major and minor classes, for their senior year.
Associate Academic Vice President Mary Frances Malone told The Mirror in a previous meeting that Computing and Network Services assured her that the server would be able to handle the load of students attempting to register. Computing and Network Services and Administrative Computing were unavailable for comment.
We all knew that this new registration system was an interesting concept, but again, problems always arise when we rely on technology. How many times has one of your classes been put on hold because a professor can’t get their movie or PowerPoint to work?’ While that situation is amusing, the failures of technology are destructive when it determines if you are taking an 8 a.m. turbo instead of your desired afternoon class. This is especially irritating when it fails for seniors who are supposed to easily get the classes they want.
The question on everyone’s minds was how could the University ensure that all students would get the courses they needed to take fairly with the ease of one-stop online course shopping? At the end of the day, seniors had to find alternatives to the planned courses which they were shut out of. Further, some courses only allowed a certain number of seniors on the roster, leaving desired electives out of the question.
Hopefully in the time remaining until the class of 2011 registers, the registrar and individual departments will assess the wait-list, and help students fulfill their requirements before they graduate.
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