New registration system brings challenges
Rawly Bransom
editor-in-chief

   One department chair on NW Campus described registration as being like “going down a runway, building the airplane you’re riding in.”
Registration has been a problem for everyone on all campuses with the district’s new system TCC Connect.
“Anytime you put a new system in, it is one challenge after another, and we have had to work it out,” Gloria Mills, division chair of business and science on NW Campus, said.
Students have experienced the increasingly long lines and a computer system that seems to be overloaded by the volume of TCC students trying to register.
As of the last day of enrollment 31,483 students have enrolled at TCC for the spring semester. This was an increase over last spring when 30,195 students registered.
NE Campus has the largest enrollment with 11,919 students, followed by South Campus with 8,878 students, SE Campus with 8,753 students and NW Campus with 6,670.
Getting these 31,000 students enrolled, however, was not always an easy task.
“My grandson Tim has been trying to register since 6 a.m. (Jan 20),” Jeanine Van Noy, a former NE Campus instructor, said, “Apparently too many people were trying to get online or something, and the registrar’s office is woefully unable to deal with the crowd resulting in hours of wait time.”
Long registration lines are not the only problem the new computer system created for students and faculty.
A student who registers for class on one campus may find that his lab is on a different campus, creating scheduling problems as well as the inability to attend required labs.
“We want to be able to serve students. On the old system, we could have just gone in and changed a schedule. The new system doesn’t allow that, and not being able to help the students is hard for us,” Mills said.
The first few days of school saw students and faculty alike wandering the halls looking for classrooms with new numbers, which often had not been marked.
On some campuses faculty members stood outside buildings or classrooms handing out maps that showed the changes.
“It has not caused me as many problems,” Georgia Kasper, a secretary on NE Campus, said.
“Faculty can’t find classes because no one knows where to go since there were no roll sheets available.”
On the new system, faculty must access their roll from online. However, because of the overloaded system, professors often cannot get on the new system to access it.
“Faculty can’t get on, and at times you keep getting booted out. Then after five tries, the computer says, ‘try again tomorrow,’ but faculty still need those roll sheets,” Kasper said.
At press time faculty still could not access the site to print class rosters.
“This has been a monstrous job putting in tons of information. That we have had a few problems is just a minor thing,” Paul Sexton, associate professor of Spanish on NW Campus, said.
One counselor on South Campus took a more positive look at the situation.
“The new registration system was challenging, provocative, stressful, complex and fun for students and staff. It definitely got ‘all’ out of their comfort zones. It required embracing a new way of thinking, training and planning. Change and transition are here to stay. New technology is the future. TCC is moving forward,” Triesha Light, coordinator of Women in New Roles, said.
The administration also recognizes the need for improvement.
“We have some training to do as well as some assessments on programs that might need to be redesigned,” Rusty Fox, SE Campus dean of student development and educational services, said.
“We also might look at the way we access the information and see new areas to look into,” the dean added.