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| SERVING THE ON-LINE RPI COMMUNITY SINCE 1994 |
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| Current Issue: |
Volume 130, Number 1 |
July 14, 2009 |
Ed/Op
Staff Editorial
Paperwork valuable in this electronic age
Posted 04-12-2007 at 6:04PM
At RPI, we have come to expect technology to replace antiquated inconveniences such as class registration and add/drop, which were done by paper only until a few years ago when this functionality was added to SIS. However, sometimes our motivation to change the way we do things has gotten the best of us. In just the past two years, we have seen the disappearance of printed copies of the Student Handbook of Rights and Responsibilities. Shortly thereafter, the bursar—in conjunction with magnets, postcards, and letters—announced that e-bills would now be how students would find out what the damage to their wallets would be for the next semester.
Now, the Institute has decided to make the Academic Catalogs available exclusively online. Despite the cost savings that may be realized, we believe that the convenience of being able to have a printed copy on hand far outweighs this. Not everyone will have access to a computer or the Internet to view the catalogs whenever they may need to. You also cannot simply fold over a page as a bookmark or flip to another section and back to read about and compare different classes. When students are planning out their classes for their next semester, flipping back and forth through dozens of class listings is easy in a book, but extremely annoying and laborious in a PDF. Several academic advisors have already complained that they will find it annoying during advising sessions to not have the templates and class listings right in front of them. Some professors have the catalogs since they’ve been at RPI and pull them out whenever their advisees have questions.
The Academic Catalog lists a student’s requirements for his or her class year. For any student, it is his contract with RPI—from what classes you need to take to how many credits you need to have in order to graduate. When freshmen check-in at the Field House in August and they are handed this book along with their keys, campus card, and NRB t-shirt. It is ultimately their bible for the next however many years they may spend at RPI. Eliminating this vital document in its print format is damaging to student life. Before it is too late, this must be reconsidered. | |
Posted 04-12-2007 at 6:04PM | |
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