Students, faculty cruise through district e-mail
by Melissa Sanchez reporter

    TCC students and faculty have begun to use Campus Cruiser, a web application, as an added feature to their college experience.

   This new addition to TCC may soon be the future of communication between teachers and students, supporters believe.

   Campus Cruiser is part of the administrative software Datatel, which the college bought. It was implemented for the first time this semester and is still being introduced to faculty through training sessions.

   “Campus Cruiser is an enhancement to on-campus classes,” Dr. Jerry Mullen, director of academic computing, said.

   According to Mullen, Campus Cruiser was started immediately because of the faculty’s need for interaction with students outside the classroom.

   “Many teachers want to communicate with students through the Internet, and not all students have e-mail access. This provides it to students free of charge,” he said.

   Any registered student at TCC can automatically access the Web site by clicking the Campus Cruiser link on the TCCD home page. To log in, students must enter their first and last name as their user ID, and initials plus the last four digits of their Social Security number as their password.

   After logging in to the Web site, students can access class assignments, notes, special files and links provided by their teachers. Students can also chat with each other and view campus announcements.

   Some faculty members, such as Peter Hacker, NE assistant professor of history, currently enjoy using Campus Cruiser.

   Hacker is using Campus Cruiser in conjunction with all of his classes and has integrated it as part of his class curriculum.

   Using it mainly for class notes, assignments and links to helpful Web sites, Hacker said he also enjoys the security and e-mail benefits that Campus Cruiser provides.

   “The e-mail capabilities of Campus Cruiser are obviously a great benefit. I can communicate with students when they aren’t in the classroom for whatever reason. I can remind them of assignments, inform them of new developments or even nag them about excessive absences if necessary,” he said.

   Students have found the Campus Cruiser’s only set back is its log in problems.

   “More than a few of my students have had a very difficult time getting logged in correctly, either due to poor password configurations or not having made it into the system at all,” Hacker said.

   According to Mullen, this situation is because technicians ran across some computer problems while the system was being established.

As a result, some students were left out of the system and have since had problems logging in.

  Despite this minor predicament, Hacker feels strongly about using Campus Cruiser.

  “This problem should be resolved in the near future and the vast majority of my students are able to log in successfully. The benefits of Campus Cruiser far outweigh the problems and I will continue to use it from semester to semester,” he said.

  If students run across this problem, they are advised to call Mullen at 817-515-6819.

  The proficiency of Campus Cruiser will continue to grow in the coming semesters.

  Mullen plans to give Campus Cruiser new capabilities in the coming semesters. Students will be able to access grades, change schedules and order transcripts, much like the EZ stations around campus.

  According to satisfied professor Hacker, Campus Cruiser is here to stay.

  “If you are not afraid of computers, Campus Cruiser is a superb teaching tool and a welcome resource,” he said.