Shifting systems: USU removes College Scheduler registration tool
This year’s spring registration was the first registration session not to utilize College Scheduler since Utah State University adopted the tool a few years ago.
The USU Registrar’s Office website described College Scheduler as being “the most efficient way for you to optimize your semester’s schedule and maximize credit hours. College Scheduler generates a variety of daily schedules to fit your needs based on the criteria you input, such as campus location, desired courses, and work breaks.”
USU now uses one tool for registration: Ellucian Banner.
The website describes Banner as the “traditional registration option… You can still add, drop, and find different classes in Banner, but you will miss out on the added features like being able to add in when you need breaks to auto generate schedules that work for you.”
According to the official Ellucian website, Banner is used by over 1,400 institutions. At USU, Banner is used to submit registration requests, while College Scheduler is used for various student services, including generating schedule options based on applied filters.
Daylin Myers, associate registrar for the Registrar’s Office, was part of the decision process of whether to discontinue College Scheduler.
Myers said Banner has been the registration tool at USU since 2005 and the office went to great lengths to make an informed decision to eliminate College Scheduler.
“When we heard that people were thinking about not renewing the contract with Civitas Learning — who owns College Scheduler — we started asking questions,” Myers said. “We pulled students in, we talked to advisers and we talked to peer advisers to try to get a feel for, you know, how often do students use Banner versus College Scheduler, and what do they like about it? What don’t they like about it?”
Myers said the decision to rid of College Scheduler was because it was doing similar functions that Banner already has, making it a superfluous tool. While it was questioned if it was a monetary issue within the university, it is because Scheduler was no longer needed according to Myers and the Registrar’s Office.
Civitas Learning is a student success software and owner of College Scheduler.
“We had a contract with them, and there were a whole bunch of aspects to that contract,” Myers said. “It’s kind of like your Progressive ‘bundle your car insurance with your home insurance’ and all that sort of stuff. We had bundled a whole bunch of stuff with them, and all that stuff had gone away — except for College Scheduler.”
While Myers admitted he was not an attendee of the money discussions, he said College Scheduler was being removed to tie up what looked like loose ends.
“We asked all those students and the advisers and the peer advisers and talked to folks,” Myers said. “Students are happy either way. They use both. They use College Scheduler for some things. They use Banner for other things. ‘It’s easier on Banner for this.’ So we gave that back to the decision makers.”
Myers spoke on the important role that student and faculty feedback had on the decision-making process. Focus groups helped the office create instructional videos on how to navigate Banner.
The office sent out more emails than usual about registration and the recent changes, and had people answering the phones from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.. On the days of registration, the registrar’s office responded to emails and questions around the clock.
Myers said any issues or difficulties students may have with Banner could be fixed. Any problems with Banner that are brought to the office’s attention can then be brought up with the owners of Banner by the university. If other schools are asking for the same functionality to be improved, the change could happen.
“They’re not the only people out there who do this sort of thing,” Myers said. “Just as a free market society, I guess they need to be able to answer our needs, or else we could go shopping somewhere else. So hopefully, our feedback will inspire them to some of the changes that the students bring to us.”
Myers said students should use the available resources if they are running into trouble with registration. Students can use the instructional videos, call, email or visit the Registrar’s Office in person.
Elizabeth Lambries is a junior majoring in psychology and minoring in criminal justice. She said her registration process was straightforward and uncomplicated. Lambries said she felt indifferent towards College Scheduler because she did not use it for previous semesters.
“I’ve never even heard of it, really,” Lambries said.
Lambries said she could have done more to be more informed about registration and could have taken more action and responsibility to learn more about the changes and process.
“It was pretty easy. Like, I thought it was straightforward,” Lambries said. “I just used Degree Works and needed to see what classes I needed for a plan.”
The registration changes affected students in different ways. Myers believes the discontinuation of College Scheduler will not greatly impact the school’s registration process because of the long-time traditional registration tool that has been in place since 2005.