New Program Updates Registration

While the Registrar’s switch from TOUR to Gibson Online last semester caused problems for some students, for most, class registration went smoothly.

The new system is designed to speed up online class registration through features such as “one-stop” enrollment into multiple classes, the ability to waitlist multiple sections and overall faster technology.

Gibson Online improved upon many outdated TOUR applications, such as the use of students’ Social Security numbers, the PIN that differed from the Tulane password and unclear “time-ticket” and hold notifications.

“The process is now a bit easier for us and the students,” senior academic adviser Sarah Montes said.  “The functionality within Gibson Online is much more powerful.”

Though there were no technological glitches, the system overhaul caused confusion for some students, especially those trying to register for a “full” class’s waitlist.

The waitlist function caused problems for some students because after selecting to enroll in a class’ waitlist, it required an extra step of pulling down a menu, then clicking “submit.”

“Students came in and said they were number two on the waitlist,” Montes said. “But by the time they actually submitted, they were number 30.”

The academic advising office resolved this issue thanks to the updated technology in the new system that tracks all student activity on the site, enabling advising staff to determine whether the student had actually attempted to waitlist a class at the time they claimed.

“We did everything we could to help students get into their classes,” Monte said.

Also, because Gibson Online allows students to waitlist in unlimited sections of the same class, academic departments had trouble deciding whether they needed to open a new section of the overenrolled class.

“English 101 was a real problem because there were individual students registering for twenty sections,” said Colette Raphel, assistant vice president of the Registrar’s office. “We called students to try to get them into the sections they really wanted.”

These problems arose despite the Office of the Registrar’s attempts to reduce confusion, such as conducting student focus groups to tweak Gibson Online, holding tables in the Lavin-Bernick Center during the week prior to registration, and showcasing a three-minute instructional video on the new system’s website.

“At first I got confused by the new changes,” junior Jonathon Rothschild said. “But then I realized it wasn’t that different from TOUR at all.”