Online course registration. Itâs been known to cause frustration for many, but this year ±«Óătvâs Registrarâs Office and Information Technology Services (ITS) hope those feelings are a distant memory.
âWe knew students were frustrated last year with online course registration â we were too,â says Mairead Barry, associate registrar at ±«Óătvâs admissions office. âWe decided that a lot of work was needed to improve online registration.â
Now, the Registrarâs Office is looking to students for their help in testing the updated course registration system. On January 30 at 5 p.m., current ±«Óătv students are asked to log on to and complete a test registration (link will be live for the test).
The testing period, meant to simulate actual registration (which opens for returning students in March), should take students approximately ten minutes â and provide valuable insights to ±«Óătvâs ITS team.
Helping test capacity
ITS has been hard at work behind the scenes, updating registration software and replacing all of ±«Óătvâs hardware systems with more powerful machines
âStudent registration places an enormous load on our IT systems â up to 20 times our normal load, for just a few hours out of the entire year,â says Bryan Utas, director of administrative computing. âPlanning and scaling our systems to meet this load has been an ongoing challenge.â
Ìę
Throughout the year, ITS has employed automated tools to complete âload testsâ of ±«Óătvâs updated online course registration system. While these load tests provide the team with valuable insights on how to improve performance, no automated tools can simulate the real-world behaviour of thousands of students simultaneously logging on and trying to register for classes.
âWednesdayâs load test will give us an opportunity to measure the impact of all of the changes weâve made,â says Utas, whoâs optimistic about the upcoming registration period. âWeâll be monitoring all aspects of the system, and it will give us a chance to identify any other changes we might need to make before course registration begins in March.âÌę
Participation supports Shinerama
Students are encouraged to join the created for next Wednesdayâs load test to confirm their participation and receive updates about ±«Óătvâs course registration on an ongoing basis.
As an added incentive, for each student who participates in the test and completes a short survey afterwards Student Services has committed to donating $1 to ±«Óătv Student Unionâs fundraising in support of Shinerama.
âIn March weâll all be holding our breath,â says Barry, of the day students will log on to register for fall term classes. âBut it helps to know weâve done everything in our power to fix the situation.â