Correction appended.
Except for Mocha crashing the night before shopping period and the inevitable student frustration with over-filled capped courses, the first week of registration this semester has gone by without any major hitches.
"Overall this semester, things are working very well," University Registrar Michael Pesta said.
This semester marks the first time Banner has allowed override PINs for professors to ease the task of admitting student into classes with course overrides, Pesta said. Students who wish to be admitted to a capped course can receive the override PIN number from their professor. The student then has a "one-time chance" to enter the number into Banner.
Separate PIN numbers are issued for smaller sections, labs and screenings depending on the course, he added.
With roughly 70 percent of University courses capped at 20 students or fewer, Pesta said it was necessary for his office and Computing and Information Services to develop a system that guarantees students an easier time getting into the classes they want.
"A professor who is teaching a capped class can now ensure that students won't take up class spots on Banner from those who either applied for the class, or are seniors or concentrators in a given department," Pesta said.
The PIN system was developed specifically for Brown by CIS — the first Banner school to develop this course override process, Pesta said.
As of Wednesday, 5418 total overrides have been performed by professors, with 3925 done since Sept. 1. Out of that number, 344 overrides were done by using the new PIN system, Pesta said.
Despite sending out e-mails to students and faculty that feature links to online tutorials on using the PIN, Pesta said it is still a feature that members of the Brown community are getting used to.
Besides the novelty of the override PIN, Pesta said that other concerns students initially had with the registration system are nearly non-existent as Banner enters its fifth semester at Brown.
"The newness of Banner is no longer an issue. During that first semester, our office dealt with issues of student unfamiliarity with the program," Pesta said.
As current University seniors are the last students familiar with the old registration system, the majority of the undergraduates at Brown "no longer feel as discouraged as they had when Banner was first put into place," Pesta said.
Much has changed since the days when students would fill out pink paper slips in class and wait in line outside the University Hall offices to register.
"I think the Banner registration system is great. Everything has gone smoothly for me since I have been a professor here on campus," said Laurel Bestock '99, assistant professor of archeology since fall 2008.
Bestock said she remembered when, as a Brown undergraduate, she would have to bring her class choices to the Registrar's office and then wait to find out if there was even an available spot for her in a given class.
"I didn't shop as many classes as people shop today. It just was a different registration process," she said. "As a professor, I think Banner is a great system. I love Banner."
While the registration process has gone smoothly this year, many members of the Brown community agree on one thing — they wish Banner were more like Mocha.
"I hate having to scroll through all of the class lists to get to a course title," Visiting Lecturer in English Lauren Sarat said. "It's unnecessarily time-consuming — it could be better streamlined. It would be nice if they had an easy search feature."
Michael Enriquez '11 said he agrees.
Mocha "is very user-friendly," he said. "Having to use Mocha to make up your schedule and then go to Banner to actually register for classes is really very annoying."
For Lillian Patil '11, the most stressful part of the registration process was determining her first day of classes when Mocha crashed the night before shopping period began.
"I think it's pretty hard to use Banner to figure out an actual schedule," Patil said. "Mocha is clearly superior in that it shows your schedule as you find classes."
Still, not all members of Brown faculty are satisfied with the Banner system of registration.
Sarat said it is very difficult to have a definite class list when students regularly drop and add themselves to sections of her ENGL 0180: "Introduction to Creative Nonfiction" class.
"I always feel bad about turning people away from the class," she said. "Some think they are actually in the class, when they really are not. It's a frustrating process."
While Sarat likes features of Banner such as class e-mail lists and student ID pictures, she sees the override PIN process as something that "just adds more administrative steps."
"If we just had a registration process with a piece of paper, everything would be all set and there would be no falling through the cracks," she said. "There just seems to be more policing of the class list than there should be."
"There is so much chaos in the shopping period — you just have to make peace with it," Sarat said.
An article in Thursday's paper ("A Banner year for registration, despite bumps," Sept. 17) incorrectly stated that 70 percent of Brown courses are capped at 20 or fewer students. In fact, 70 percent of courses have an enrollment of 20 or fewer students, but are not necessarily capped courses. Roughly 30 percent of University courses are capped at 20 or fewer students.
