2008 Woodie Awards
Testudo could include detailed course info
Alex Tilitz
Issue date: 12/4/06 Section: News
Undergraduate university senators moved forward with their plan to give students more complete course descriptions on Testudo by presenting a template of the system to the most powerful committee in the University Senate on Tuesday.
The presentation to the Senate Executive Committee garnered an enthusiastic response, with members supporting the inclusion of course details such as reading material, course goals and potential assignments. But some senators were concerned about difficulties instructors would face posting information on Testudo, despite the Office of Information Technology's assurance that the process would be easy.
"You have to know what it would take to get a website on Testudo," said university Sen. Paul Smith, a statistics professor. "To just let Testudo know that next to my name it can link to my website is a complicated process."
To temporarily remedy the confusion, university Sen. Nan Ratner, chair of the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, proposed to post the expanded course descriptions on department websites. The move was aimed at easing the faculty's transition to the new system and getting extra information to students in time for fall 2007 registration.
While university Sen. Patrick Hughes, one of the architects of the plan, said he supports Ratner's suggestion to put expanded descriptions online before fall registration, he also said Testudo is the best venue for the new descriptions in the future.
"I spoke to Jeffrey Huskamp in OIT and he said linking online descriptions to Testudo was feasible and easy for OIT to do," Hughes said.
Phyllis Johnson, the director of communication for OIT, said the technology and tools to implement the proposed changes had been in place "for years" and it was just a matter of faculty choosing to use them.
Using the in-depth descriptions offered by the University Honors Program as a guide, Hughes a fellow undergraduate senator, Katie Hurlbut, designed a template emphasizing grading methods, potential reading, class format and content.
The presentation to the Senate Executive Committee garnered an enthusiastic response, with members supporting the inclusion of course details such as reading material, course goals and potential assignments. But some senators were concerned about difficulties instructors would face posting information on Testudo, despite the Office of Information Technology's assurance that the process would be easy.
"You have to know what it would take to get a website on Testudo," said university Sen. Paul Smith, a statistics professor. "To just let Testudo know that next to my name it can link to my website is a complicated process."
To temporarily remedy the confusion, university Sen. Nan Ratner, chair of the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, proposed to post the expanded course descriptions on department websites. The move was aimed at easing the faculty's transition to the new system and getting extra information to students in time for fall 2007 registration.
While university Sen. Patrick Hughes, one of the architects of the plan, said he supports Ratner's suggestion to put expanded descriptions online before fall registration, he also said Testudo is the best venue for the new descriptions in the future.
"I spoke to Jeffrey Huskamp in OIT and he said linking online descriptions to Testudo was feasible and easy for OIT to do," Hughes said.
Phyllis Johnson, the director of communication for OIT, said the technology and tools to implement the proposed changes had been in place "for years" and it was just a matter of faculty choosing to use them.
Using the in-depth descriptions offered by the University Honors Program as a guide, Hughes a fellow undergraduate senator, Katie Hurlbut, designed a template emphasizing grading methods, potential reading, class format and content.
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