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Fall course selection is coming soon, and that means it's time to sign back on to Penn InTouch.
But don't complain just yet - a new course-search and schedule-planning tool will be launched on PennPortal and Penn InTouch on March 17.
The tool - which will allow students to search for courses and plan mock schedules - will be available for use in preparation for the fall 2008 class term, which students can begin registering for on March 24.
The course-search capability is part of a larger Penn InTouch "Refresh" project, which aims to improve and update the Penn InTouch system.
The new tool will allow students to search for courses based on a number of criteria, including term, course name, description, instructor and course status. Students can also run advanced searches based on the course's day, time, level and requirements it fulfills.
Now, there is no central system that helps students plan mock schedules. Course timetables, descriptions and the requirements classes fulfill must all be accessed on separate Web sites.
The new program provides access to full course descriptions, pre-requisites, and recitation times and highlights course time conflicts. It also allows students to make multiple mock schedules, which are viewed in separate tabs.
"Course search is the most difficult part of the registration process," said College junior and junior class vice president Anthony Maggio, who has worked on the project. "Our main goal was to save time."
Initially, the planning tool will be available as a stand-alone application. Students will still need to sign up for classes through the existing Penn InTouch program.
Maggio, along with College senior Michelle Tandler and Wharton senior Alex Flamm, both Undergraduate Assembly members, worked with Student Registration and Financial Services and the Information Services and Computing office on the initiative, which has been in the works for over a year.
Before its launch, coordinators conducted focus groups with students and faculty adviser. Both Maggio and Regina Koch, IT technical director of Student Registration and Financial Services, said they received positive feedback.
"I think that the new system is a great first step to reforming the current system," Wharton senior and focus-group participant Stu Stein wrote in an e-mail.
Stein added that "there are some features that were noticeably missing, like the ability to immediately reference any professor or class on Penn Course Review or the ability for Wharton students to be able to see what courses are global requirements."
Maggio said he hopes to connect the course-search tool to registration next year as part of the Penn InTouch "Refresh" project.
Also next fall, Student Registration and Financial Services plans on adding the option for professors to link the course-search tool to their syllabi, Maggio said.
According to Koch, the project will be beneficial for students.
"It is really exciting that we can do something directly for student use," Koch said, adding that "students have come back with a lot of good feedback and ideas."
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