Re: Electronic registration with advising holds?

["David E. Clark" <declark@MAINE.EDU>]

Ray wrote:

> We are preparing for electronic registration here at Northern
> Kentucky University. We are being told we cannot get advising holds
> on the registration. Faculty are arguing for advising holds and that
> this is an academic matter that should not be decided by non-academic
> units. Currently, faculty sign registration forms. Our department is
> very concerned about loosing this advising control.

<snip>

> Does anyone have experience with electronic registration and advising
> holds? Can you give specific institutions and details?

Hi Ray,

    Here at the University of Maine we have had electronic (on-line) pre-
registration for a couple of years. I do not think there are advising holds
(as an advisor, I am not aware of them). However, our system allows a
student to pre-register for courses provided they have a RAN number. This
number is provided to the student by their advisor. Thus, students
generally have to meet with their advisor to pick up their RAN number as
well as their pre-registration sheet. The student can then pre-register for
courses on-line. In our department (physics & astronomy) students are also
expected to fill out their pre- registration form and hand it back to their
advisor for her/his signature. The advisor turns this form over to the
secretarial staff who then verify that the student is pre-registered for
their courses. The one method (I know of) to avoid meeting with an advisor
and still be able to pre-register for courses requires a student to go to
someone with access to pre-registration info (such as staff at a Collge
Dean's office or in another department) and have that person pre-register
them. It does not happen often in our department and, when it does, it is
usually because the student is changing to a different major.

BTW, the one thing implemented during this change over to electronic
methods that I and others dislike is that a student can drop a course any
time during the semester without consulting with their advisor or the
course instructor! Furthermore, the course instructor is not notified of
the drop until the end of the semester (on the final course grade sheet).
As an advisor I usually have enough week-to-week contact with my advisees
(or faculty teaching the undergraduate physics courses) to be on top of
their situation, but in my intro course with 100+ students I will have a
number of students each semester who simply disappear - stop attending
classes. I suspect that many of these students are just having a difficult,
stressful time and contact with an advisor or instructor would be
beneficial for them. We have many programs and services set up for students
to help them deal with college life. Some students are just not aware of
them.

Good luck,

     Dave Clark