With the help of a recently-launched student-created website, Creighton students are laying out course schedule options more efficiently than ever.
Faced with the task of completing a semester-long project to demonstrate mastery of computer science skills as part of their senior capstone course, Arts & Sciences students Cole Crawford, Mark Byrne and Matt Estabrook decided to go the extra mile. They focused their collective efforts on creating a feasible and highly applicable tool for their peers.
“We decided to develop a project that could be more than a theoretical exercise,” Crawford said. “If we were going to put a lot of effort into something, why not let people actually use it?”
The seniors saw a need in the student community for a more efficient means of generating potential class schedules. With undergraduate registration just around the corner, thoughts of weighing the pros and cons of dozens of potential schedules loom heavy in students’ minds. So many variables come into play: class time, desired professor, work and internship conflicts, etc., that many students find the task of registration overwhelming. Crawford, Byrne and Estabrook responded to these concerns with their creation of ScheduleMe, a website that streamlines the registration process.
Through the ScheduleMe website (schedule-me.org) students can input courses they are required to and/or want to take into a schedule generator. The site allows students to choose courses simply by selecting the desired course number, or students may add courses based on time offered, section or professor, all of which are listed and easily accessible on the site. If necessary, students can also block out conflict days and times to schedule around internships or work commitments. From there, the site generates all schedule options available to the student, displaying them in a weekly calendar format. Students can then sift through schedule options and decide which one is best for them.
The capstone course instructor, David Reed, offered his opinion of his students’ work:
“I’ve been very impressed with the quality of the tool that these students have created. Not only does it demonstrate serious technical skill, but also a strong design aesthetic. The interface is clear and intuitive, which makes it easy for students to understand and use,” Reed said.
Students are equally as impressed with ScheduleMe. Arts & Sciences freshman Craig Schmerbauch commented on the ease with which he was able to plan out his courses for the fall semester:
“It allowed me to visualize my schedule options and tailor them to my preferences,” Schmerbauch said.
After effectively utilizing ScheduleMe to create his own schedule, Schmerbauch noted that he would recommend it to any
Creighton student.
Other student responses showed a consensus of positivity toward the site, but concerns arose specifically about the scheduling of labs and a few instances of disagreement between courses listed on the site and those available on the NEST course listings page.
Crawford spoke to these issues by saying that he and the other developers hope to work with Creighton to make ScheduleMe a more officially Creighton-sponsored site.
“If we can work with Creighton officially, it would allow us to select course offerings from the registrar databases, which would help with data validation and to ensure we’re offering the most recent and correct information to students,” Crawford said.
In addition, an official relationship with Creighton would allow for site improvements like course enrollment status, such that students would be able to see how quickly courses are filling up.
ScheduleMe’s creators are using feedback from the site’s initial users to gauge the most pressing points of improvement. They hope to find ways to allow for schedule generation based on desired start time each day, time allotted between classes and personalized
preference screens.