After circulating ideas and prototypes since 1995, Johns Hopkins University will offer fully functional online registration to all undergraduate seniors, Nov. 12. All other undergraduate students may also use the system but cannot register or modify course enrollment until the first day of the add/drop period in January.
Select students tested the Web registration system Oct. 26 and made suggestions for improvement like adding a pop-up screen on which students could search for courses by department, course level or meeting time. Students who want to register for independent study, research or permission-required courses still have to go to the Registrar with appropriate signatures.
"I think it's functional as an online registration piece [but] people need to realize this is a work in progress," said Student Council President Anuj Mittal.
Overall, the students who participated in the test were impressed with the system.
"I think the system was very user-friendly. You know immediately whether or not you got into a class. It has a lot going for it," sophomore Leah Greenfield said.
The system was also seen by participants as smooth and efficient.
"I was impressed. The interface was easy to use and there were no glitches. It's so much more convenient for us. You don't have to keep track of paperwork and wait in lines at the Registrar's office. It's time-saving, more efficient and more convenient," senior Mario Monopolis said.
Schaedel also said that it is especially convenient for those students who are self-sufficient. They will no longer have to wait in line at the Registrar to register for classes.
"If you're at home, you can still register for classes. It's a tool if people choose to use it," Schaedel said.
Another benefit of Web registration is that it lessens the strain on the Registrar during the registration and add/drop periods. On the first day of add/drop this semester, exactly 1,018 students went through the Registrar.
"There's definitely a strain [on the Regsitrar] during add/drop," Schaedel said.
McFarland and Schaedel both stress the need for more student input.
"We would like to see more students looking at it. The feedback so far has been very helpful. We're collecting suggestions now and we welcome any suggestions people have.
"The foundation is pretty good, but it definitely needs to be tweaked and improved upon," Schaedel said.
"What we're committed to is getting that input from the students that use it and their suggestions and continuing to improve the system to the degree that we can," McFarland said.
Student Council has been a driving force behind Web registration at Hopkins. Along with Student Council, Mittal has pushed to bring online registration to Hopkins for over three years.
"Our role has been to say we need a system. MUMPS isn't enough - we need Exeter [and] we need an interim system," Mittal said. "I think [the interim system] serves the needs of what the student body wants."
Some improvements are already in progress, such as online transcripts that list a student's completed courses, grades and total credits earned. Eventually, there are hopes to extend Web registration beyond Homewood to include all Johns Hopkins schools and divisions.
"We are starting with the Arts and Sciences and Engineering undergrads because there is such a need there and such a large population, but if other schools are interested, the idea is to work with them, also," Schaedel said.
The University began researching ways to offer students web registration in 1995 upon requests from the student body. Four years later, an outside consultant headed the project and created a registration program written in MUMPS, an older computer language. Complications arose when the consultant left near the project's completion.
"I'm not really quite sure [why the consultant left]," Registrar Hedy Schaedel said.
Student Council then suggested that the University buy Exeter, a system by SallieMae Solutions that will integrate the admissions, financial aid, student accounts and Registrar student information systems as well as provide a more comprehensive web registration program.
"The University has agreed to generously fund information technology initiatives to support improvements in student services," said Interim Director for Student Systems Alice Brainerd. "Included in this wide array of solutions are new technologies [like] a new suite of student applications [Exeter] and some interim steps to support web access to registration, such as Interim Web Registration."
Because Exeter will not be available for another two years, however, the University wanted an interim solution to satisfy the needs of the students. After considering using outside sources to create an interim web registration program, the University decided to make it an in-house project involving collaboration between the Registrar and the Hopkins Information Technological Services (HITS).
"[The creation of a web registration system] was a collaborative effort between the Registrar at Homewood and the [Management Information Systems], a part of HITS. There have been, as I understand it, some meetings going on and some prototyping to get an idea of what should it look like, what should it feel like and what will the process be like," said Joseph McFarland, the associate registrar for Information Systems.
The collaborative team used a method called prototyping, a circular process of development, by making gradual improvements and changes compared to a more direct method.
The prototype used for the current web registration system has been rotating for approximately six months.
This program, as compared to the 1999 system, uses a more advanced web-based technology.
"The technology used in 1999 was definitely not as robust, it wasn't as timely and I think there were some problems with that. [The new system] was developed in Microsoft Visual Basic and Server 2000," McFarland said.
Students will use their Johns Hopkins Enterprise Directory (JHED) login IDs and passwords to register online. Once logged in, students can update their personal data, register for classes, add or drop classes and check course enrollment. When registering, students enter their desired courses by division, department, course number and course section. The complete course schedule appears in a separate window to facilitate registration. After entering the courses, a registration summary page appears listing all entered course names, meeting times, instructors, credits and previously registered courses. Upon submitting this information, a registration confirmation page will generate the student's final schedule.
"I think we have a simple, relatively easy to use, intuitive, process," McFarland said.
Even students who choose to register the traditional way will reap benefits from the interim system. All students will have access to their registration confirmation, or schedule, and can check the location and meeting times of classes as they are updated.
There are, however, some restrictions involved with Web registration. The student's adviser must meet with the student prior to registration to approve the classes a student wishes to take. Only then will the adviser release the hold restricting the student's ability to register online. In addition, when a student completes online registration, the adviser receives an email containing the student's final course schedule.
"As of Nov. 12, there will be a special link on JHUniverse that will say AS/EN Web registration and that will take you to the Registrar homepage. From our homepage, there will be another link that says Web registration. A possibility we're looking forward to in the future is when the link will actually be on My JHED," McFarland said.
After seven years of working to bring Web registration to Hopkins, "It's exciting to almost be there," said Dean of Students Susan Boswell.
- Staff writer Matt O'Brien contributed to this report.
