Revamped Penn InTouch slated for June

Navigating Penn InTouch and registering for classes might be smoother sailing next year.

A revamped Penn InTouch Web site is scheduled for a June 2009 release and will resemble the new Course Search tool, which was rolled out to students last spring, in its interface.

The new Penn InTouch design will be able to integrate information from the Course Search's "Shopping Cart" tool into the registration system, allowing students to transfer mock schedules into formal registration requests.

The site will also undergo design adjustments, adding mouse-over instructions, drop-down menus and modern color and font schemes similar to the Course Search tool, director of Student Financial Services Regina Koch said.

Although still in its planning stages, the new layout will have similar functions aggregated under one heading, rather than in a sidebar with no particular order among the links.

Though it will look different, the update won't include new tools.

"We're trying to make sure that what we have works and that it works better," Koch said.

But she added that the team is working to create some level of continuity between Penn InTouch and other online resources.

Convenient links to resources such as Campus Express will also be available.

Some students are looking forward to the increased integration of course registration tools.

College senior Mark Magee said such integration would make the process of signing up for classes "much more streamlined."

In the next few months, Koch said, the new system will be undergoing testing periods to ensure that there are no bugs and that it will be able to handle going live to thousands of student at once.

Michelle Brown-Nevers, associate vice president for Student Services, said the new Penn InTouch design was largely driven by student interests, much like the Course Search tool.

"This isn't just us designing a system for students, this is us designing something with students," Koch added.

Anthony Maggio, a College senior, leads the Penn InTouch Student Executive Committee, which has served as an advisory board to the administrators leading the Penn InTouch project.

Administrators have "made a truly phenomenal effort to listen to students' concerns and incorporate them into an effective solution," he wrote in an e-mail.

Engineering freshman Gurbani Chawla said she's looking forward to Penn InTouch's new look.

"I think it's great, because the Course Search tool was really nice, and easy to use," she said. "It'll be a lot more useful."

College sophomore Angela Ddamba said that even though the new site won't do any new tricks, "anything that makes our lives easier is great."

Ddamba, a work-study student, added that she appreciated the plans to add links for online work-study resources to Penn InTouch. Now, she said, finding information about work-study finances is inconvenient because it requires visiting multiple sites.

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