ESTHER changes to prevent overscheduling

By Rachel Carlson     4/10/08 7:00pm

A series of registration changes began taking effect this week as ESTHER was modified to reduce schedule overlap. Alana Lemay-Gibson, associate registrar for technology, said when students add courses that are scheduled at the same time, ESTHER now notifies them of the conflict. Next fall, ESTHER will be further modified so that it not only warns students, but bars them from enrolling in overlapping courses. The former version of ESTHER was not equipped with this feature, Gibson said.The aim of the new ESTHER feature is to reduce the incidence of accidental schedule conflict, she said.

"This [feature] will assist students during registration so that they don't inadvertently end up in a situation where their schedule overlaps," Gibson said.

However, Gibson said a byproduct of the changes might be less "class shopping," which is the practice of attending several classes experimentally during the first two weeks of the semester. She said the new feature was not designed to discourage class shopping.

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"That may be one of the potential outcomes, but it's not something we're trying to prevent," Gibson said.

She said the new feature may also help students whose major requires them to take two or more overlapping courses. Because ESTHER will prevent double-booking, students will be required to submit a Special Registration Form bearing signatures from the professors of all conflicting classes. Gibson said she hopes the form will alert professors to the need for alternative course scheduling.

"If students need both courses, it is less likely that they will do well in both, and this will prompt instructors to rethink the time for their classes," Gibson said. "[The form] will help students by advertising the need to have courses that don't overlap."

Jones College sophomore Mary Grace Hager said she thinks the new ESTHER feature will restrict registration flexibility that helps students find optimal schedules.

"I think it will decrease class shopping, which is sad because I like having the longer period that lets me sign up for two classes at the same time and decide," Hager said.

Though no future changes to ESTHER have been determined, Gibson said the Office of the Registrar is discussing measures to create priority registration sections to handle an impending surge in student population. "[Further changes] depend on the future growth of the student body," Gibson said.

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