For the first time in nearly a decade, the University of Portland will have upgrades available for the Spring 2020 registration, according to Assistant Registrar Carolyn Blumenson. Students will see a new interface while registering this fall, though the process remains relatively the same.
Seniors will begin registering for classes on Nov. 4 followed by the rest of the school, ending on Nov. 13 with freshman.
All registration will still be done on Self Serve, and students will still need their alternate PIN to access registration. Students can choose to use either the new system or the old system for the next semester, with a tab indicating an option for the new registration. After Spring 2020, the old version will be taken down.
The look and feel of the system are the biggest changes, Blumenson said. Although the five-digit course reference number (CRN) is usually used to search for classes, students can now search using keywords or class subject with the new updates.
Students can see how their schedule will look as they register, and whether or not classes overlap or conflict. The other major change is that there is now a virtual waitlist for courses that are full, but not all of them will have a waitlist available. Before the digital waitlists, there were paper copies of waitlists in the offices of some schools, or students had to email their academic advisers or professors directly.
With the old registration software becoming outdated and in danger of no longer working, the updates were added this year to avoid any issues with registration in the future, according to Blumenson. The updates were initially introduced in 2014 to the Student Information System (SIS), and UP started to prepare their version of the system for the updates in the Spring of 2016, Blumenson said.
Workshop leaders spent last week teaching their students a registration system they were not used to. All workshop leaders were given screenshots of the new program and instructions on how to use it.
“It’s fairly similar to last year’s program, so I think it’ll be okay,” Grace Mariano, sophomore nursing workshop leader said. “I think remembering to teach all the new elements might be a little tough.”
A registration workshop is going to be led by returning workshop leaders for freshmen on Nov. 12 and 13, according to Program Manager of First-Year Programs Courtney Campbell. At this time the location is not known.
“First-year students will be able to come into that room, go through their registration submission and get live assistance from Workshop Leaders if there are any questions or concerns during the new registration process,” Campbell said in an email.
To prepare beforehand, there are programs online to help organize schedules for the semester. Students who will be walking into registration without any instruction on how to use the updated system should not worry. The system was tested by students across campus with few issues, according to Blumenson.
“While there will be a slight learning curve with the new version, students should be able to easily adapt and have successful registration,” Blumenson said.
Austin De Dios is a reporter for The Beacon. He can be reached at dedios22@up.edu.
