Improved Course Review Web site aids students

In an effort to aid students in the process of choosing classes, the Penn Course Review Web site is undergoing changes to make the site more user-friendly and easier to navigate.

Created in place of a printed Penn course guide, the Web site was created last fall and has seen an array of improvements in recent months.

Wharton class reviews, student comments and expanded search options were all added to the site. Designers also added a frequently asked questions section to help students navigate the pages.

"I used [the Course Review] when I was choosing courses in the fall for the spring semester," said Charles Bursch, a College freshman who added that he found the Course Review site to be fairly effective.

Bursch said that it would be very helpful to be able to see student comments on the site and that in general, he would look for "the most important thing they had to say" in order to learn more about the classes.

"I actually probably will go on there and look" at the comments, he added.

Engineering senior and Course Review Web Administrator Howie Vegter spoke about the improvements being made to the Web site.

One of the main additions to the site is student feedback on classes and professors. "These comments are coming from the scantrons that students fill out at the end of the semester. We just wanted to get it up in time for advance registration," Vegter said.

"A lot of people were asking us for features that already existed on the site ... one of the main things we have done is to educate users," Vegter said.

Other students who used the Penn Course Review in the past were unaware of the improvements being made.

College sophomore Yin Li did not know that the Web site was being revised to include comments but said, "I know the book had the comments, and I think it would be a lot better [for the Web site] to have comments."

Li said that she used the Penn Course Review site in the past and that although she found it useful, she also noticed some drawbacks.

"Sometimes the courses and the professors won't be listed," Li said. "I just try to look at the courses I'm thinking about taking on the Web site."

"Sometimes the numbers are kind of hard to judge from, and having comments will allow you to distinguish more between professors when they have similar numbers," she said. "If both classes have the same quality [rating], you don't know which ways those classes are being run."

Others said that word of mouth was their preferred method of learning about class options.

"I'm not too familiar with [the Web site]. I've looked at it briefly, not too much. I usually ask my friends about recommendations for classes and professors," Wharton junior Nicole Caprio said.

Knowing that the site is being updated to include student feedback along with ratings, Caprio said she is more compelled to use it.

"Sometimes, the course feedbacks are out of 1 to 4 points ... and they are not the best reflection of students' feelings toward a professor. I tend to just go down the line, and I end up marking 'excellent,'" she said. Comments from students "would better communicate the overall feeling about a professor."

Although those running the site are pleased with its advances so far, they emphasized the need for continued progress.

"We are always looking for more writers," Vegter said.

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