Once upon a time, college students registered for classes in person, waiting anxiously in line as full courses were crossed off bulletin boards, forcing them to frantically rearrange their schedules before they reached the front of the line. Then came the telephone age, with programs like Ohio University's TRIPS, which made the process easier, and continued even through the dawn of the Internet age that led to easier online registration.But times change. OU recently let go of a vestige of the past by retiring TRIPS on Sept. 2, another example of OU's continuing efforts to simplify services so that students can complete their educational errands with the click of a mouse. TRIPS, which had outlived its necessity, was certainly ready for its quiet death. Being computer savvy is a necessary skill for today's OU students, who no longer receive their much-dreaded tuition bills from the mailman and can now check their complicated DARS online. All students should be capable of operating Web registration. But while the movement towards technologically centered services is appealing to those who are used to shopping online while listening to iPods and instant messaging friends, such progress is only as valuable as its convenience, reliability and security. The outbreak of security breaches last year, which OU has taken steps to repair, show that campus computers are far from infallible and need oversight to ensure they are protected from hackers. The university's efforts to save students time and money by becoming more Internet-friendly deserve applause ' as long as online services receive the necessary upkeep, so they do not become more troublesome than the in-person registration of previous generations.
17 Archives
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