MyCourses is on its way out, The Herald reported last week. The current version of the system will no longer be available beyond 2013 and Brown will either have to upgrade to the newer version or find a new platform all together.
According to The Herald, the Academic Technology Steering Committee is looking for student input as they evaluate options for a new course system. The committee will work to prepare recommendations throughout the year so that implementation of the new system can begin by next summer.
We agree that MyCourses is becoming outdated and there is need for a newer, more user-friendly system. We've come up with a list of suggestions, guided by faculty interviews, about features we'd like to see in a new course system.
Stability
MyCourses has a number of quirks. Users are unable to have multiple windows open at once and there are frequent maintenance periods during which the website is inaccessible. Although these are small inconveniences, we hope that the technology committee chooses a system that is more stable and has fewer technical difficulties.
Customizability
One popular option that professors turn to now is wikis — websites that allow professors to easily create and edit interlinked web pages.
Wikis currently offer many features that MyCourses lacks. They make it easy to change page layout, create tables and embed HTML code, wrote Assistant Professor of Neuroscience Carlos Aizenman '93 in an e-mail to the editorial page board. These features would allow professors to tailor their course pages to the needs of the class. MyCourses currently only offers one page layout and a standard slate of interactive features, leaving professors less room to design course pages specific to their classes.
Interactivity
Currently, MyCourses is not as convenient as blogs and wikis are for interactive discussions or group work. Aizenman noted that wiki pages also allow students to create interactive projects. Associate Professor of Public Policy and Political Science Ross Cheit echoed this sentiment in an e-mail to the editorial page board, noting that while he uses MyCourses to post general course information, he has separate blogs for group discussion.
Though MyCourses currently allows professors to create a discussion board, the feature is less flexible than external blog websites that allow users to customize post format or insert non-text elements.
While we encourage faculty to use whatever platform they find most convenient, we also recognize some of the potential benefits of a central course system. As others have noted, a standard system could be integrated with Banner, making grade entry easier for professors. Students may also find it easier to obtain course information from a single, centralized system.
For this reason, we hope the redesigned system will take some of our suggestions into consideration and ask other faculty members for their input on what would make the most useful course system.
We're excited that the University is taking steps to update its Internet presence to meet the needs of students and faculty — from redesigning the University homepage to switching to Gmail — and we hope the new version of MyCourses will be as successful as these other recent projects.
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials (at) browndailyherald.com.
