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By Anthony Guillen
By Anthony Guillen
The days of Riverside Community College’s telephone registration program “Tiger Talk” could be numbered.
The college will be rolling out a new registration technique during this year’s winter session so that students will be able to register for classes online using the college’s Website.
The new “Web Advisor” online registration program will allow students to register for classes, print unofficial transcripts, request official transcripts and refine searches for classes that will fit their schedules online, said Lorraine Anderson, dean of Admissions.
Anderson said that the “Web Advisor” program was tested successfully during the fall semester registration period with a limited number of students.
“(The testing) went well,” Anderson said. “We’re going live with it now and it’s exciting.”
Anderson said that although online registration has been around for awhile it was never a good option for RCC until now.
“Because of the complexity and the high enrollment at RCC there had to be some technical problems to be worked out,” Anderson said.
With the new registration technology in use, the future of “Tiger Talk” registration is under discussion.
According to Anderson, the problem of switching from telephone registration to online registration completely is a problem of access and the ability of the college population to navigate the online program easily.
However, Anderson is optimistic that “Web Advisor” registration will be successful.
“We have a population that we think that once people get on with it, they will be enthusiastic about it,” Anderson said.
“Tiger Talk” has been problematic because students often call in their registration using cell phones or cordless telephones where wavering signals can flaw registration attempts, Anderson said.
“Students can think they are registering for a class when in fact they are not because of a broken signal,” Anderson said.
RCC student Jessica Staub, 17, said she found the “Tiger Talk” phone registration process troublesome. Athough Staub was able use her student athlete status to get priority registration, she was still unable to get her first choice and preferred classes.
“It’s really hard to work out your schedule with the limited time you get on the phone,” Staub said. “When you don’t get your first choice, it’s hard to figure out how to change up your schedule on the phone.”
Staub said she looks forward to choosing her classes online.
“If you were to do it online, you can sit there for an hour and look at the different options you have,” Staub said.
