AU students will now be able to place their names on an automated waitlist for closed course sections during registration, the Office of the Registrar announced Tuesday.
Students will be able to place their names on the waitlist on my.american.edu, according to an e-mail the Office of the Registrar sent to students
The system will create a waitlist as soon as an open section closes for the first time. Should a space become available, the first student on the waitlist will receive an e-mail at 6 p.m. notifying him of the available space. This student has 24 hours to register in the section. If he fails to register for this spot during the 24-hour period, then the next student on the waitlist will receive an e-mail notifying him that a space has become available. He will also have 24 hours to register, according to an e-mail the registrar's office sent to AU students.
Although a section that was previously closed will say "OPEN" on the Registrar's schedule of classes, it will have a waitlist and a student will have to put his name on the waitlist in order to register for the section, Bolden-Pitcher said in an e-mail.
University Registrar Linda Bolden-Pitcher said they developed the new technology so students could enroll in closed course sections and to give the university's different schools a better idea of which classes are more popular and need to have additional sections, according to the e-mail.
Bolden-Pitcher said in an e-mail that the university administration wanted them to create a new system for years.
"This is a service the administration has desired for several years now, but it became possible with the upgrade of our student system, Datatel's Colleague, last summer," she said in the e-mail. "We were fortunate to work with the OIT staff, who dedicated many hours to making this process available to students via the Web registration system."
Students will need to use the waitlist system if they want to enroll in a closed course section, Bolden-Pitcher said in an e-mail.
"Once a section is closed to capacity and a waitlist is created, students not already on the waitlist of the closed section will need to sign up for the waitlist to enroll in the course," she said.
The waitlists come one semester after Joel Croft, a sophomore in the Kogod School of Business, developed ClassAlert. ClassAlert checked the registrar's Web site every 10 to 15 minutes and sent e-mail and text message alerts when a closed section opened up, The Eagle previously reported.
Croft said he would not offer ClassAlert this semester because of the new waitlist system.
Bolden-Pitcher said she praised Croft's efforts and said he worked with her office to better the registration system.
"Joel Croft is a very talented student," she said in an e-mail. "We have had the opportunity to meet with Joel and discuss ideas for improving services to students."
Croft said he had productive meetings with the registrar's office.
"I think we really discussed the need for a better system to allow students that needed the classes to get in them and that the blue card system was just outdated and needed to be replaced," he said.
Bolden-Pitcher said she has received positive feedback so far.
"What we have received so far from students, faculty and the campus community has been very positive," she said.
Maria Fufidio, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said this was the right thing for the registrar's office to do.
"I think it's good. I think they're trying to take steps in the right direction," Fufidio said.
Alex Livingston, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs, said he was afraid the system would be abused.
"I think that some people are going to sign up, forget about it and then cause problems for people who truly need the class," he said.
Matt Fisher, a freshman in the School of International Service, said he was fine with the status quo.
"I like the way it was before," he said. "I thought it worked fine last semester."
Bolden-Pitcher said she encouraged students to e-mail her their thoughts at registrar@american.edu.
