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Show U STUDENT LIFE FORUMFORTNIGHTLY.COM o 5 z 3 The Waitlist Solution S 5 3 Waitlisting woes and how to overcome them April Torres Staff Reporter Every semester, students are placed on waitlists and do not get the classes that they need. waitlisted students may end up taking classes that are not needed. This can postpone future classes because many need to be taken in a specific order. A waitlist lists names of students that want to be in a class that is already at capacity. If a student drops the class, the first person on the waitlist takes their place. Do waitlists really affect every student? Shradha Gyawali, a junior economics major, was placed on a waitlist last semester. I had all difficult, classes, and usually I try to balance out my schedule between difficult and easy Contrary-wis- e, full-cre- dit classes, "Gyawali said. Being placed on a waitlist creates a sense of frustration and adds to the stress of be- ing a college student. Upper-divisiclasses are the most difficult to get into, according to Gyawali. Westminster needs to plan more. The plan right now is not working, Gyawali said. Fathom Croteau, a sophomore communication major, has not yet been waitlisted for on a class. There are so many resources on campus that can provide you with information, Croteau said. It is simply a matter of seeking them out. Dr. Gary Daynes, vice president for strategic outreach and enrollment, said some students may have been waitlisted because they chose busy class times. Its true, more students have busier lives now, Daynes said, Students have jobs and commutes that can impact to scheduling, according Daynes. Are students placed on waitlists because of the way Westminsters classes are set up, or because of the lack of planning on their part? According to Gyawali, the problem might be the class sizes. I like that the class sizes are small, but if Westminster .tries to keep them small than we cant take the classes that we need, Gyawali said. The college needs to increase the number of classes if not the class sizes. Thats what college is about. Taking all the classes you want and need. According to Croteau, the solution depends on the students. You have to begin with stubeing a dent. We have the luxury of a small campus with staff and faculty... but we cannot expect that the work will be done for us, Croteau said. The number of classes offered is decided while being responsible with the colleges budget, Daynes said. It is my sense that deans and faculty pay close attention to demands for classes. Faculty offer a similar number of the classes that were in demand the previous year, according to Daynes. Waitlists may always be part of the college life and though being on a waitlist is not fun, there may be some self-motivat- Liberal Education Continued from pg. 1 ed The size of the school is a key aspect, because students from different disciplines can meet and engage, she said. To help realize that potential, the school has developed the ePortfolio program, which offers an look at students overall in-de- pth experience. EPortfolios, which became a part of the LE curriculum in fall of 2011, are digital projects through which freshmen can present their passions and academic interests. They serve another purpose as well, in that college faculty can evalu- ate students learning and ing experiences at Westminster. So, students may be asking, what changes are in store for this year? The truth is that nobody knows yet. Students in the ePortfolio program will be producing their first final products this semester. This is going to be a piece of the assessment for our LE program, says Smith. In that sense, these ePort-foliare a form of hard data collection for the committee, a useful tool that they never had in the past. Before ePortfolios, the only kind of assessment that we did of our LE is what grade you get in a certain course, so it doesnt really help us achieve what we wanted out of it, said Smith. Aside from student involvement through ePortfolios and learning communities, the LE Committee has conducted , literature reviews and comparisons with other liberal arts institutions across the coun- try. They have also conducted liv- solutions. The best thing to do is to oversee your degree planning process yourself, according to Croteau. Go to the START center and ask for someone to explain how to read a degree audit, Croteau said. It is essential to understand that planning and mapping your degree is an ongoing process. The best thing to do is to get up early to register and try classes with new professors, according to Gyawali. Everyone tries to take a class with one specific professor, Gyawali said. Email the professor of the class you want to take to try to get in to it. Planning and advising are important. The key is to get students and faculty to sit down and plan it all out, said Daynes. I dont know of any faculty who wouldnt try to help students. While planning may not guarantee being waitlist-freit will get you one step closer. small course evaluations and reflec- tions from incoming freshman and outgoing senior students. Not ,only is the committee concerned with course content, but also with who is teaching the courses. One potentially problematic issue with the current state of Westminsters liberal education requirements is that of faculty adjuncts. One thing thats happened in the past few years, said Smith, is an increasing number of adjunct faculty teaching our LEs. Smith said that this raises a key debate. If more adjuncts are teaching LEs, then how many students are getting an .? ' f could be. . . Professor Barbara Smith, chair rr'X. under-- utilizing os e, sv education interdisciplinary and cultivating meaningful relationships with the schools professors early on? These are the sort of questions that Barbara Smith and her team of faculty representatives are concerned with. Whether or not students appreciate the fact that they have to take that one extra history or diversity requirement, the LE Committee is working to make that experience as beneficial as possible. I dont want LEs to be something that is just checked off, said Smith. We are how powerful it '.. ofthe LE Committee. |