BFC presented with pros, cons of switch to PeopleSoft

Students across campus are coping with the enormous change within the University's course registration system. Only one month into the school year, many students are already finding themselves struggling with classes at inopportune times.\nMany students blame their unpleasant fall schedule on the new PeopleSoft registration system. During the Bloomington Faculty Council meeting Tuesday, Don Hossler, vice chancellor for enrollment services, said the overall number of credit hours being taken at IU is increasing.\nThe decision to switch to PeopleSoft was made almost three years ago because IU was operating on systems designed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The current system has been updated over the years to fit the University's needs.\n"It is a very different computer environment today," Hossler said. "The Automatic Course Exchange System was created on a system that is slower and holds less memory."\nMany fourth-, third- and even second-year students felt the frustration when the registration software changed during the spring 2004 semester. The Automated Course Exchange System previously allowed students to register, waitlist and drop/add for an unlimited number of courses.\n"One week ago I had to drop and add a class," sophomore Holly Borneman said. "It took me two days walking back and forth to five different buildings to drop and add the class."\nStudents have also identified several other major problems with the new software.\nPeopleSoft does not identify the drop/add features as easily as the ACE did, cannot identify what courses students prioritize, such as the waitlisted courses, and students are unable to register for more than the maximum 17 credit hours.\n"I didn't waitlist any classes because I didn't know how," sophomore Orly Menachem said. "I just signed up for classes that I needed at the first time I saw they were available."\nHossler said there will be at least one more semester of getting used to the new system, which concerned members of the BFC. He said together the faculty, the faculty of deans and the registrar will look at the issues and see what functions IU lost with ACE.\n"We still may have to change policies and make changes," Hossler said.\nHossler said most of the aggravation with the new PeopleSoft registration system derives from students who are looking for the ideal schedule. \nHossler said that according to the Office of the Registrar, students ideally do not want to be up before 10 a.m. for classes and want to be done by 2 or 3 p.m.\nThe enrollment behavior patterns for students changed significantly for the better, Hossler said.\nPrior to the beginning of the fall semester, the registrar stopped the drop/add fees. They allowed a free window of time for students to take advantage of free drop and add classes, due to the introduction of the new PeopleSoft system.\n"Perhaps the new system is working too well," Hossler said.\nHossler said the number of credit hours is currently growing rather than shrinking. The total number of credit hours for all IU students used to shrink considerably during the first week of school, he said.\nThis semester, the total number of credit hours rose because the waitlist function works differently. \n"A smaller percentage of students got the exact schedule they wanted," Hossler said, "and that may not be all that bad." \nWhile many students may not be anticipating the upcoming headache, when it comes time to register for the spring semester, the new system may prove to be more beneficial to students than they realize, Hossler said.\n"Research shows the more days students are in class, the more they study," Hossler said.\n-- Contact staff writer Kristin Huett at khuett@indiana.edu.