Spring Break
Opinions vary on MySJSU
Registration for Spring semester began Nov. 10
Kenneth Seli
Daily Staff Writer
- Page 1 of 1
The priority registration period to add classes for the Spring 2005 semester began Nov. 10.
MySJSU, which is the registration and records system program from PeopleSoft used by the university, has been available for students to use since the Fall 2003 semester.
Some students say that the system is quick and easy to use.
Matt Fore, who is a student in the public administration master's program, said though he is new to the system, it has given him no problems.
"It's been really smooth," Fore said. "I just finished registering for classes (in four minutes)."
Tony Seekao, a senior mechanical engineering major, said that MySJSU's user interface is simple to understand, but that he misses the postal notifi cations from older SJSU registration systems.
"It was pretty much self-explanatory," Seekao said. "The one thing people would like better is if they notify people on how much they owe."
Twinki Mistry, who works at the Common Management Systems help desk, which is placed to handle complaints and problems regarding the MySJSU Web site, said the system sends out notification on proper use of the registration program.
"We have a standard e-mail that resolves (many) problems and educates (students about how) to use the MySJSU system," Mistry said.
Christine Virata, a senior majoring in computer engineering, said the she uses the e-mail system to track the progress of the system.
"I actually subscribe to their notifi cations and there have been quite a lot of alerts of the system being down," Virata said. "I don't know if they are doing maintenance or if the system is down (for other reasons)."
Mistry said the MySJSU system has been implementing new features such as the Degree Progress Report, which is meant to track the requirements a student needs to fulfill in order to graduate.
Still, many other students are not satisfi ed with the use of the program to add classes onto their schedules.
Myesha Compton, a senior double majoring in behavioral science and sociology, said she repeatedly attempted to sign up for classes only to get refused many times over.
"I accessed it through the library and it booted me off four to five times," Compton said. "It took me about an hour, and it's not user-friendly."
Mistry said many people have problems with the system because of subtle changes in the way a user may enter his or her login information.
"What happens is students change their passwords and (the system) is case sensitive," Mistry said. "A small percentage of students forget their passwords."
MySJSU usually blocks students from logging in after the third or fourth time, Mistry said, because the system employs a security measure to block hackers from accessing personal student information such as grades and records.
David W. Morris, a software systems architect who said he has worked in the computer industry for 35 years, said the problems with the system are more severe than many people realize.
"I found (MySJSU) to be appalling and disgusting, especially for a state university (to use)," Morris said. Morris, whose wife is a master's student in nutrition and food science, said error codes that popped up when his wife attempted to sign up for classes made little sense.
"You do what the error message said and (another) error message comes up," said Morris, who tried to help his wife sign up for a course with a required lab. "There was no obvious way to enter the second course code (for the lab)."
Mistry said error code definitions could be found in the MySJSU student interface.
"There is a clarification under 'Student Self-Service' on the frequently asked questions section," Mistry said.
Morris said after he had found another method to enter the same codes, he was successful in finding a way to sign his wife up for the courses, but that it took an "educated guess" to find the proper way to sign up for classes.
"I would be embarrassed to have
something like this associated with
my name," Morris said. "It's really sad
when it takes a professional to (resolve)
the problem, and it takes 45 minutes
to add two classes to a schedule."
