The beginning of registration for next fall’s classes may
catch students by surprise — some because of Wolverine
Access’s new look and features, and some because they were
unaware that registration was approaching.
University students will begin registering for classes today on
the newly upgraded Wolverine Access. But since the Office of the
Registrar has failed to send out e-mails alerting all students that
their registration appointment dates are available online, some
students said they had not yet heard about registration for next
fall.
According to the Office of the Registrar website, registration
appointments have been viewable on Wolverine Access since March 22.
Appointment dates for graduate students run from today to March 31,
and appointments for undergraduates run from April 1 to April
19.
Last semester, the office alerted students via e-mail on Nov.
10, the day that registration appointments and pre-registration
backpacks were made available.
The Registrar’s office could not be reached for comment
this weekend.
MBA student Andrew Bayley said he had not heard that
registration appointment dates were available on Wolverine Access.
“I didn’t know when the start date was,” Bayley
said.
Social Work graduate student David Steed said he received an
e-mail from the School of Social Work informing him that his
registration appointment date was available. The school maintains
its own registrar’s office.
But most undergraduate students said they had not yet heard
about registration appointments. “I have no idea (when my
registration appointment is),” LSA sophomore Jeffrey Kahn
said.
Students who do know their registration appointment dates will
find the new Wolverine Access more robust and dependable than the
old system, said Nancy Firestone, communication consultant for
Michigan Administrative Information Services.
Among the changes is an additional two hours of availability
each weekday. Wolverine Access will now be accessible from 7 a.m.
to 4 a.m. on Monday through Friday.
In addition, the “backpack” and registration are now
on separate pages, with a modified navigation system and a
completely revamped class search function. Students will now be
able to search for classes by instructor, day of week and class
times.
But since the new class search displays a maximum of 200 search
results, students will not be able to search for a list of all
class sections within a specified subject area. Instead of using
the search function to view course listings on Wolverine Access,
Firestone recommended that students use a second browser window to
view the Registrar’s Office Online Schedule of Classes at
www.umich.edu/~regoff/schedule/.
Firestone also stressed that students using the new Wolverine
Access should not leave their computers without logging out. The
new Wolverine Access is authenticated through Single Login Service,
which provides access to University web-based e-mail, CourseTools
and several other University sites with one login.
“It’s very important that you not walk away from a
computing site still logged in,” she said.
Firestone also recommended that students navigate the new
Wolverine Access using the links and buttons on the page rather
than their browser’s Back button, which does not function
reliably in the new system. Students should also keep cookies and
popup windows enabled and avoid opening more than two browser
windows at the same time.
Students registering for classes this semester will also see a
new change in the waitlist procedure: Unlike past semesters, they
will not be able to waitlist or enroll in multiple sections of any
course at the same time.