Haley Everson, Associate Director, Student Services (Advising, Appeals, and Academic Consideration), works with Orli Rich (l), Jana Rae (preferred to omit last name), and Sophia Coens during PATH user testing.
Charting their own PATH
Following the recent completion of Phase 2 of the Academic Calendar Project in the Faculty of Arts and Science which saw the launch of Course Learning Outcomes within the Calendar, a group of student leaders from the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS) gathered to perform user testing on the PATH interface.
PATH is the final phase of the Academic Calendar Project. It is a complete transformation of the student registration experience and will further Queen’s uniqueness in Canada. PATH will improve integration with PeopleSoft, enabling students to quickly see courses most relevant to their requirements and interests, while combining degree audit functionality with personalized course selection and advising reports. It will also show students their timetable graphically in real time as they build it.
Jenn Stephenson, Associate Dean (Academic) was joined at the user testing event by Kevin O’Brien, Associate Director, Student Services (Registration, Admissions, and Service) and Project Lead, and Haley Everson, Associate Director, Student Services (Advising, Appeals, and Academic Consideration).
“The PATH interface is being developed and customized for Queen’s and it was useful to have students try it out and get their feedback about what makes sense to them,” says Dr. Stephenson. “We can make adjustments based on their input before PATH is launched later this academic year.”
In addition to furthering the development of Queen’s digital infrastructure, completion of phase two and the launch of phase three of the project are major milestones towards supporting the FAS Strategic Plan priorities of Enriching the Student Experience and Supporting our People.
During the user testing, several students were asked to give their opinions of PATH – what works well and what could also be improved.
“Overall, I think this is much better than SOLUS,” says Orli Rich. “My favourite feature that SOLUS didn’t have is the whole calendar feature where you can see all the classes that are available. You are also able to block off time if you are working, which is great. You can customize it for your needs and having that visual makes it much clearer.”
Silas Tamlyn says his favourite function of PATH is the advance search features, commenting they are more effective than the SOLUS version.
Jana Rae Hickman was very impressed with the platform's ability to enrol by requirement. “That’s helpful so you don’t need to keep going to other pages to see if you are eligible for the course. I also like being able to see the reserved seats list to see how many spots are being held for people with a major.”
PATH is an institution-wide project being led by FAS, and supported by Smith Commerce, Smith Engineering, QHS, ITS and the Office of the University Registrar.