Online registration for the fall of 2008 will be a little different this year for Prairie View students.
Banner, a new software, will replace SIS for offering online student services like Panthertracks, and will be implemented this April.
In order to effectively test the new system, the Banner project will host a mock registration test for students on Friday, Feb. 29 on the second floor of the John B. Coleman Library.
The test run for the system will take place between 9 a.m. and noon. The administrators for the Banner system are hoping that they will be able to convince around 200 students to assist in this mock registration.
Other campuses located across the state will also test the online registration system, including the Northwest Campus, The School of Nursing located in downtown Houston, and graduate students who are taking classes in Dallas.
The test will serve two purposes: to allow students to familiarize themselves with the system and to allow the developers to work out all the bugs before the project is available to students.
“Our goal for the mock registration is to perfect the system, so when we go live in April we will have no glitches,” said Christa Molloy, an associate registrar and project manager for the Banner project.
The new system will give students a more streamlined registration process when they register online. There are minor aesthetic changes to the main screen of Panthertracks, but much of the same information will be available to students.
“The new system will have the same look and feel as the current system” said Deborah Dungey, the current registrar who is working to make the transition easier for students.
During the mock registration Friday students will be able to experiment with the new system, and will be given random student data with which to practice registering.
In addition to minor changes in the registration process, the Banner system will no longer allow students to use their Social Security numbers to log into Panthertracks.
Current students will still be able to use their old student IDs, however. PINs will have to be changed every semester to allow for greater security.
Faculty will also be able to post their office hours next to potential classes while registering, so students will be able to know the availability of their instructors. Prerequisite overrides, as well as the process of changing majors and doing course overloads will be delegated to individual departments now.
This will allow students to perform these actions without having to carry paperwork to the registrar’s office.