Amanda Holliday likened Wednesday’s ConnectCarolina user forum to the first day of class.
It was the beginning of a discussion about what to address in the future. Holliday led students, staff and faculty in exploring how users can suggest improvements for the system.
Discussion at the forum — the first of several — was based on a feedback message board initiated by senior computer science majors Max Beckman-Harned and Ben Hawks. As co-chairmen of the technology and web services committee of student government, Beckman-Harned and Hawks have been working closely with students and their ConnectCarolina issues for the past two years.
“We could immediately get feedback to the users,” Beckman-Harned said. “No one besides students use it right now, but it sounds like they want to use it, so we’re going to talk with the user’s chair and see what we can do about that.”
Debra Beller, Information Technology Services communications specialist, said the user forum is a way for users initiate improvements to ConnectCarolina.
“The point is to basically allow people who use the system and are impacted most to provide guidance and feedback for enhancement requests,” Beller said. “This is something that will hopefully be a lot more governed and prioritized by users.”
During the past three years, University officials have gradually implemented the ConnectCarolina system for many purposes. Whether students are applying to Carolina, registering for classes or calculating GPA, students increasingly use ConnectCarolina.
But students also criticized ConnectCarolina. Many said they found the interface clunky in its early stages. Beller said that while some kinks have been worked out, any new program can be difficult to adjust to at first.
“Always with any new system, there is that period of time when people are frustrated because they know how to use the old system,” Beller said. “It’s a mixed bag, but people are figuring out how to get work done.”
