Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Class schedules now online

Class schedules now online Only limited paper copies available in fall

By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor 217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu

Registration for spring 2005 classes is in full swing, and for the first time the venerable Class Schedule, formerly known as the Timetable, is available online only. Paper editions of the schedule were not printed, and students registering for spring classes must refer to the online version, which is part of the Course Information Suite in UI Integrate. Web-savvy students probably won’t even miss the paper publication, according to Keith Marshall, assistant provost and chair of the Catalog Review Committee. “We had informal discussions with faculty members and students and found that students rely on the Web for information, not on paper materials,” Marshall said. “The people who are reliant on paper copies are really those who keep archival copies on their shelves for reference and who may not be as comfortable using computers.” About 108,000 copies were being printed each year and were available at various venues around campus. Marshall said he visited the Illini Union Bookstore and the main library, two of the main distribution points on campus, during the spring semester and discovered that approximately 20 cartons of the Class Schedule had gone unused. Peer schools, such as Michigan State University, have stopped publishing paper versions of their schedules. University administrators began considering eliminating paper copies of the Class Schedule, the Course Catalog and Programs of Study as far back as 1997, when it began to be apparent that students were becoming more reliant on the Internet for information than on printed materials. With the implementation of UI Integrate, and the full-featured Course Information Suite, the timing seemed appropriate for discontinuing the paper versions, Marshall said. Printing costs for the Class Schedule were about $70,000 per year, Marshall said. Although the Class Schedule won’t be printed for spring, about 10,000 copies will be printed for the fall semester for distribution to new students when they come to campus for orientation and registration. Paper copies are needed for those students, Marshall said, because they do not have enough time or the opportunity to go online in order to register when they are on campus.

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