North Texas Daily

J.P. Lugo / Staff Writer

New software may be applied in the registration system that will allow students to see all their schedule possibilities in a new visual form when registering for courses.

With the software titled Visual Schedule Builder, students can select classes they want to take and the program will show all the possible schedules for those choices. Students will also have the option to view virtual schedules based on preferences, such as favoring all morning or afternoon classes.

The vendor of the software presented the idea last month to the registrar, where various deans, advisors and students saw a demonstration of it. Business and technology systems associate Keitha Robertson said it left a good impression and that the university wishes to implement the feature as soon as possible.

“The feedback that we’ve been getting is that it’ll be an overall great product for the university and it’s something that students are wanting,” Robinson said. “They feel like it’ll be a huge improvement on the current class search process.”

The university will investigate other similar software before a decision is made, and will go through the contractual process when a verdict has been reached. The software may be put into place as soon as the upcoming fall semester.

The  focus is to apply the basic class search as soon as possible. Other features such as viewing previous schedules and highlighting where each course can fulfill a requirement in a student’s degree plan will hopefully be added in time for next spring.

SGA Vice President Justin Wood, who brought the idea to the university, said he began planning the presentation in mid-March after he got support from SGA on behalf of the student body. The CEO of the company presented the software to the university when he was a sophomore, and Wood saw an opportunity to bring up the idea again as vice president.

“We want it specifically customized for UNT, so they’re going to get back in touch with Visual Schedule Builder and tell them our customizations,” Wood said. “This is just the first step. They’re trying to get a road map going with the software.”

Philosophy junior Austin Cecil said that since he has to take his work schedule into account when selecting classes, this new feature could make it easier on him the next time he registers.

“I think being able to customize the class schedules is a great idea,” Cecil said. “With my job I need mornings off, so being able to select no mornings on the new format would very helpful to me in that situation.”

An online demo of the software can be seen on YouTube here.