IU is aiming to streamline the class registration process this year with the creation of the Office of Completion and Student Success.
Physically based in Indianapolis, the new office will be present statewide at all IU campuses primarily through electronic devices.
“IU is adopting a lot of new tools and technology in order to help them better work with students,” said Rebecca Torstrick, director of the new office and assistant vice president for University Academic and Regional Campus Affairs. “The new office is a recognition that that is a valuable process.”
The main initiative of the office is to foster communication across all IU campuses, Torstrick said. She said it would be valuable to connect the campuses so that people working across the state can share knowledge and information. If one campus tried something and it worked, that success does not have to stay on that campus — it could be shared.
Among its functions, the office will be responsible for the Interactive Graduation Planning Success System, a new tool that will handle all functions involving class registration, planning and the student information system.
Torstrick describes iGPS as a tool students can use to visualize their education. They will be able to download a four-year degree map to start, then specialize their own map.
If a student wants to see what their course load would look like to graduate on time with a major and minor or a couple of minors or even a double major, they can, Torstrick said.
The program, Torstrick said, also prides itself on being flexible, accurate and accommodating. Students who work part-time in addition to taking classes will be able to block out their work schedule online so they can schedule classes more easily.
This year will be important for getting the office up and running, Torstrick said. It officially opened July 1, but will take some time to be in full operation. Hopefully, she said, students will soon be more involved and the office will continue to build more positive relationships between students and advisers.
“The most important piece of this is to allow the time you’ve got with your adviser to be better spent so that you’re not always so focused on course selection, but you can talk to your advisers about study abroad or undergraduate research, internships, job shadowing, right?” Torstrick said. “Other important things.”
John Applegate, IU executive vice president for University Academic Affairs, said in a press release that there is room for improvement everywhere in the University system.
“This new focus on information and best practices should give advisers the tools they need to help more students achieve their degrees more quickly and more affordably,” he said.
