Starting yesterday, Dartmouth students had the option to add and drop courses online, using a new addition to the Registrar's Banner Student system.
Yesterday afternoon, the number of students who chose to use the new web-based option for switching courses was in a dead heat with the students who opted for the traditional method of waiting in line outside the Registrar's office.
According to College Registrar Polly Griffin, she had not received much feedback on the new system, but she said the lack of response was probably a vote of approval.
"If it didn't work we'd hear about it," she said. "That would be a bad sign."
The new system has multiple advantages to students -- it can be done from any computer with Internet access, it eliminates the hassle of standing in long lines and it can be used 24 hours a day.
However, students who want to switch sections or make a change that requires permission from a professor still need to visit the office.
Kendra Kemp '02, who was the chair of the Student Assembly Academic Affairs Committee last term and was involved with testing the new program, said adding and dropping classes with the new system should be easy.
"It seems like it's going to be a really good thing for students to have," she said. "It will reduce lines and waits."
Six students, in addition to Kemp, helped to test the new system during Spring term. After they experimented with it, they gave suggestions that they thought would help it run more smoothly. But Kemp pointed out that the system worked well right from the beginning.
According to Polly Griffin, the banner system has web capabilities that have been progressively implemented since the system went into use in 1998.
The first such change was allowing students to register online, and later, providing grades and schedules to students on a term-by-term basis.
Griffin said eventually students will be able to use the system to do a degree audit, which will allow them to see what courses they have taken that fulfill distributive requirements and how many they have left to take in order to graduate.
