The last few months of the academic school year can be difficult ones, especially with the fast approaching warmer weather tempting us to swing from study mode into the summer mentality.
It’s hard to believe, but with midterms and spring break already in the rearview mirror, it’s time to start thinking about final exams and wrapping up the academic school year on a positive note.
Another big part of the spring semester is getting organized for the fall, and more specifically, class registration.
Choosing the classes that you will be taking next semester is often a stressful and time-consuming process. Students must keep track of major courses, electives, and satisfying their graduation requirements when signing up for classes.
But perhaps the biggest reason that class selection is such an aggravation in the first place is the outdated and faulty St. John’s “UIS,” the University Intranet System.
If St. John’s UIS wasn’t as unreliable and outdated as it is, picking classes wouldn’t cause as many headaches as it does this time of year.
Currently, many students dislike the illogical format of the Web site and the defective glitches that often occur when using it, making the actual process of looking up and registering for classes a very arduous assignment.
Couple that with the annual task of running around campus trying to obtain a “priority number,” and the entire situation becomes rather irritating.
Unfortunately, class selection isn’t the only function that takes place on the prehistoric UIS. University payments along with all other financial matters that lead to the next semester takes place on UIS, complicating yet another part of registration.
Due to the poor design and terrible user interface, many students complain about experiencing some kind of complication or setback while using UIS, and rightfully so.
The entire St. John’s intranet system is a setback in itself and a major source of inconvenience to the typical St. John’s student.
As class registration is one of the more important tasks a college student has, it makes sense that the process used should be an easy one that doesn’t cause extra aggravation.
With 15,000 students at St. John’s, it’s easy to understand the necessity of organization and the difficulty in the task of accounting for a student body of that size.
The University seems to understand this, but in the process is failing to meet students halfway.
Is it too unreasonable for the UIS to be updated and transformed in the wake of the new St. John’s Web site and e-mailing system?
Should St. John’s students forevermore expect to have to tolerate inconvenience, when easier solutions exist?