Fall 2006 – #CB F06-02

MY SPOT WEBPORTAL PROPOSAL

Proposed by: Matt Keipper & John Ly

MySpot

As one of the main concerns of the student body, crashing classes has become a negative aspect of our culture at San Diego State. Many students must wait until after the registration period to request add-codes from professors in hopes of adding the course to their schedule. This is disadvantageous to professors and students, as well as the staff whose job it is to ensure an efficient process. Crashers must sacrifice time to seek add-codes, students are forced to sacrifice instructional time, and professors are faced with the burden and challenge of choosing which students, if any, are allowed to add their course.

Through the review of past white-paper proposals, the following criteria have been identified as desirable features of an automated crashing system:

Automated waitlist System (“MySpot”) would be operational during registration and adjustment period

If entire course enrollment reaches 100% capacity, automated waitlist system is activated for all sections of that course

Automated waitlist system will remain active until adjustment period is over

Students can waitlist a maximum of three sections per course and five courses.

If a new section is added or additional seats are added to a section, wait-listed students will get first notification.

As soon as a student is enrolled in one wait-listed section, he/she will be automatically removed from the other sections’ wait lists for the same course, if they exist.

If all sections of a course do not have seats available, students will be permitted to wait-list any section of that course. Faculty assigned to that class will be permitted to select students off the class waitlist as soon as the class enrollment exceeds the published enrollment limit[FJG2][FJG3].

When viewing their class waitlist, faculty can manually select the student(s) they want to be notified of an available seat. This allows the faculty to over-ride class maximum seat limits.

Automation

System operates under a 24-hour window during both registration and adjustment periods

When/if a seat becomes available (ex: a student enrolled in the class drops it), the system will automatically notify the first student on the waitlist of an available seat (“spot”).

The system will hold the seat (“spot”) in reserve for the student notified for a period of 24 hours from the moment the automated notice is sent.

If no action is taken by student within 24 hours, the available “spot” will expire and the student is taken off the waitlist for the section. The next student on the waitlist will then be notified.

If the student notified wants the available “spot” in the class, the student is responsible to clear any time conflicts or other registration holds and edits to successfully add the class.

If the student does not want or is unable to add the available “spot” in the class, the student will have the option to forfeit the spot before the 24 hour period.

Sorted Waitlist for Faculty

The wait list sort will be prioritized in the following order:

Currently not registered for a section

The student will be able to see how many students currently on the waiting list but not where they are on the waiting list.

At the discretion of the professor, he/she may choose how many ‘special-case’ discretionary ‘add-invitations’ he/she wishes to reserve

This number may be as low as 0, and as great as 50% of the room capacity[FJG4]