a Little Light

After many weeks of anticipation, hype and waiting – it is finally upon us. We’ve been eagerly looking forward to this moment, as it will significantly alter our collegiate experience for the next semester. Unfortunately, many of us are unsure of the key individuals who will essentially be determining the level of success we may achieve. While I could have easily been talking about Cougar basketball, I am instead talking about a semi-annual ritual which has become as static and ineffective as it has ever been: class registration.

Our college professors are the individuals who play the largest external role in our educational journey. They are the ones who deliver the material to us in a manner which is comprehendible and digestible. However – during class registration period – these professors mean little to us other than last names next to the classes we are required to take.

This is why I would like to see WSU do its part in assisting students with the class registration process by providing critical information which would help students make wiser and more effective decisions in deciding which class to take.

One way WSU could help the students is by requiring professors to upload copies of the course syllabi onto a website database prior to class registration. This would be great for the students because they would be able to understand the expectations and requirements before taking a step in the classroom. This is especially useful for courses such as Gen Ed 110 because each professor has their own standards and method for teaching similar content. It would also expose students in greater detail what the course would entail far better than the current one sentence description located in the course catalogue, which would increase student enrollment in more obscure and less known classes.

It would be great for professors as well because students will be enrolled in a class where the expectations and class course work were pre announced, decreasing the amount of roster shuffling taking place in the first couple weeks of each semester. Universities such as Harvard and Princeton already employ a system similar to this. If WSU has an intention to join the ranks of upper echelon universities, this would be a great step in such a direction.

Another way WSU could be of service to students would be to open end-of-the-semester course evaluation data to the university body. Obviously, this would be great for the students because we would be able to know what our peers thought of a particular class and professor before we actually take the class.

While sites such as ratemyprofessor.com claim to provide such information, most of the students who bother to critique the professor have strong opinions about them. Either they love them or they hate them. But you usually never see someone leave average marks across the board. The sample sizes from such sites are limited and bias, but information from the university will be extensive and objective.

This is also great for the professors and administration because the students may actually make an effort in completing these evaluation sheets. At its current state, I am aware of many students who rush through these evaluations because it means an early exit from class, or they believe that their opinion matters little. But if these anonymous assessments were placed on-line for others to view, a far stronger effort to be comprehensive and beneficial would likely take place.

WSU has made great strides in recent years to improve itself in serving its students with better facilities, advising emphasis and other steps. But it’s time that students become more knowledgeable of the most important individuals on their academic journey – the professors and their distinct expectations.

We appear to be wrapped in a season of change, so let’s improve and innovate a class registration system for the betterment of everyone involved.