The Penn State Schedule of Courses Web site showed one coveted seat available in an honors criminology class, but when Jeffrey Conway tried to add it to his schedule, he was immediately informed the class was full.
"I had no idea it only updated at, like, 6 a.m.," Conway (freshman-mathematics) said. "I had no idea what was going on."
For students like Conway, scheduling courses without up-to-date information can often be frustrating, University Registrar Karen Schultz said. In response to such complaints, the Office of the Registrar is considering enabling the site to update in real time by as early as fall 2008.
Under the proposed system, the Schedule of Courses site would update every time a student registers for a course. Currently, the site updates once a day at 7 a.m. Until then, the site does not indicate how many seats have been filled throughout the day.
Students began actively campaigning for such a change as early as 2005, said George Khoury, Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG) vice president.
"It's inconvenient and misleading to students," he said. "There have been complaints about this for years now. God knows how much time we spend updating our schedules."
At the beginning of fall semester, Schultz formed a team to address the problem. Participants included representatives from the Registrar, Information Technology Services (ITS) and CCSG.
"I suspected it had been an issue for students for a while," Schultz said. "Technology's come a long way since we initially implemented [the Schedule of Courses site]. I thought it was time to take a fresh look."
A new real-time Schedule of Courses Web site is currently being tested, Schultz said.
"We actually have a technique that works," Schultz said. "What we don't know is whether or not it will work under load. The Schedule of Courses gets a huge amount of hits."
If real time is not feasible, Khoury said, the site may update once every hour or several times a day.
"The alternatives are all viable, and they're all better than what we have now," he said.
Other proposed changes to the Web site include combining the course lists for undergraduate and continuing education courses at the University Park campus and changing the site's design for easier student access.
There is no set time frame for the new site's implementation, but the initiative is "a high priority item for completion in 2008," according to an e-mail from Khoury posted on the Web site of student advocacy group Safeguard Old State (SOS) at www.safeguardoldstate.org.
Khoury said CCSG will continue to work with the administration on future initiatives on behalf of students.
"This is something that's going to greatly affect students," said Gavin Keirans, executive director of SOS. "It shows what can happen when we empower ourselves."
However, some students, like Steve Aliberti (junior-geography), are satisfied with the current Web site. Aliberti said the current system allows for less competition to enroll in popular courses.
"You can't tell [if a course is open] unless you try," he said. "It's kind of sneaky."
