Looking for that fourth class, but only have a small hint of an idea of what you want? Only, perhaps, one word?
As the first week of shopping period drew to a close Friday afternoon, the University unveiled a new method for students to browse for courses online. The software, called CourseMap, is designed to allow students "to explore the Brown curriculum via keywords or topics of interest," wrote Dan Rosenberg '09, its creator, in an e-mail to The Herald. According to the CourseMap Web site, a user can enter a term such as "Internet" to see all the courses that have something to do with that subject.
The goal of CourseMap is "to expose students to courses that they would not have found otherwise," Rosenberg wrote. CourseMap was not created to replace other sources of course information like Mocha, the Critical Review or Banner, he said.
Rather, "it is designed to illuminate relationships across departments based on common content, which I feel is a great embodiment of what the New Curriculum is all about," he said.
Rosenberg and Miles Hovis '08 came up with the idea for the site, created a basic design and presented it to Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron last year, Rosenberg wrote. Bergeron offered him funding to work on the project over the summer, she wrote in an e-mail to The
Herald.
"I think this tool has a great potential to enhance a student's path through the Brown curriculum, because currently there is no way to do keyword searching" using Banner or Mocha, Bergeron wrote. This "relational database" allows students "to discover connections between disparate courses," she wrote.
CourseMap is still in its pilot phase and there are some "small discrepancies" between its data and the information available on Banner, Rosenberg wrote. The Web site encourages users to report any problems and, according to Rosenberg, "students should be able to expect reliable scheduling information from CourseMap, since it comes straight from Banner."
Another feature to expect in the future is the ability for students to submit their own ideas for keywords, based on their own personal knowledge of courses, Rosenberg wrote. There are also plans "to improve the flexibility of searching and to interface with Mocha, Banner and the Critical Review," he added.
Most of the students The Herald spoke with had yet not used CourseMap. Joshua Rodriguez-Srednicki '12 said he thought the Web site was "pretty cool," but it didn't run well on his computer.
Brittany Katz '12 criticized the timing of the program's release, after three full days of shopping period. "It came out after we chose our courses," she said.
"Here's a way to find out what you already know," Tom Iadecola '12 said. "I'm sure it will be useful later."
Other students said they were satisfied with Mocha, another student-built Web tool. Nicholas Melvin '09 said he prefers using Mocha because he is already used to it. He said he also appreciates the ability to see a list of books and compare prices on Mocha's Web site.
Rosenberg plans to continue to develop CourseMap for the "foreseeable future," he wrote.
"This is exactly the kind of project that defines the excellence of our undergraduate curriculum," Bergeron wrote. "A student had a good idea, the passion to pursue it, the talent to build it and the sense of social responsibility to share it with everyone."
Rosenberg's Web site, accessible at coursemap.brown.edu, was operational when it was introduced to students on Friday but was down early this morning.
