College course systems going online

April 18, 2013

For many universities, the college course book has gone from paper packets and books to an online database, so students can look at their options without forcing the school to reprint information each semester or quarter. But even with these systems, many colleges still include some paper in the process, whether it be for declaring majors or for teacher permission for a class. One school is working to make the entire course enrollment system paperless.

The Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College will begin its new online override program for classes this fall. According to The Ithacan, depending on how the system works, other schools at the college will be using the paperless option next semester. The form was unveiled to students at a recent meeting at the beginning of this month, and most, according to the news source, have expressed positive reaction to the switch.

This new initiative is part of the Homer Workflow Implementation Group project by the Park School, Office of Information and Technology and Office of the Provost. The goal is to move the most heavily used forms online to save paper and become a more technology-savvy community.

“The Park School has a history of innovation and becoming early adopters of new areas of technology,” Bryan Roberts, assistant dean of students at the Park School said. “The second reason was more than any other school, we are heavy users of the old generation of the course request form.”

Students have said that this new change will help the course enrollment system be more efficient, in addition to saving paper.

Other schools may too begin turning to online forms instead of paper ones, for the same reasons behind Ithaca’s decision. Businesses can use document scanning and data entry services to move online affordably, gaining the benefits of a paperless system as quickly as possible.

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