Advising Advancements
FrogNet applies new methods to online advising for business, education, science schools

By Alisha Brown
Staff Reporter

A new feature of FrogNet could eliminate the guessing game of enrollment for certain majors on campus.

An online advising transcript for majors in the M.J. Neeley School of Business, the School of Education and the College of Health and Human Sciences can tell students which courses they need to take next, registrar Pat Miller said.

The form can be found online under Academic Summary through FrogNet, Miller said. It tells a student where each completed course fits into his or her degree plan.

Tim Cox/SKIFF STAFF Jason Thomas, a senior psychology major, gets class advise from Gary Boehm, assistant professor of psychology, Thursday afternoon.

“I think this would be particularly helpful for students at this time who are trying to figure out their schedules,” he said.

In preparation for enrollment, a student traditionally speaks with an adviser in the department about course selection. The new feature can help clarify the decision-making process, Miller said.

“I think it will change student and faculty complaints about course selection,” he said. “The adviser can spend more time with the students by dealing with career decisions and talking about more meaningful things.”

Ashley Brown, a sophomore marketing major, used the new feature this semester in choosing her courses.

“All you have to do is look at the page and see what you need to take,” she said. “I didn’t want to get stuck taking a class I wasn’t going to use.”

Last semester Brown had to meet with an adviser to sort out her spring schedule.

“This is especially helpful in the business school, because you have so many students, you have to schedule an appointment at least two weeks in advance,” she said. “And if you miss your appointment, you just have to hope you figured it out right yourself.”

The Neeley school is one of the three schools that has access to the feature, Miller said.

“The installation process has taken longer than expected,” he said.

Miller said each school in the university should have the advising transcript available to them by fall in time to register for spring 2002 courses.

“Right now we’re working on the College of Communication and the College of Fine Arts,” Miller said. “Hopefully, we’ll have that completed by the end of the semester and can go onto Add Ran College of Humanities and Social Sciences.”

The registrar’s office will soon be adding another feature to FrogNet which is designed to check a student’s record for prerequisites before allowing registration for a course.

Prerequisite-checking software on FrogNet disallows the student electronically to sign up for courses if the student has not taken the correct sequenced courses previously, Miller said.

“We’re still installing the program,” he said. “It’s a slow process because it is so tedious.”

Once completed, the added features should ease stress and worry for students during the enrollment process, he said.

Alisha Brown
a.k.brown2@student.tcu.edu