Contact:
Leah Seupersad, 404-413-1354
University Relations
ATLANTA—For the first time ever at Georgia State University, students attending Incept: New Student Orientation will register for classes on Apple iPads.
In an effort to make class registration quicker and easier for students, the university has formatted 200 of the portable devices for the freshman class to use when they attend Incept Orientations starting June 14.
“Using iPads for registration provides an aspect that no other school does. It’s truly a unique and contemporary way for students to register for classes and it’s cutting edge when it comes to new student orientation,” said Matthew Robison, Georgia State’s assistant dean of students. “Computers are so ingrained in the daily live of our students, and using iPads helps meet our students ever increasing demands of technology.”
Besides touring the campus, meeting classmates, and learning about various departments and programs at orientation, nearly half of the freshman class, or about 1,500 students, will use the iPads to register for their first semester of classes.
The other half are expected to register for GSU Freshman Learning Communities, through which students are automatically enrolled for courses by the university based on a common theme.
“We have the iPads set up especially for registration, so that it is easier and there are fewer steps,” said Tim Woltering, project director for enrollment services. “We created some buttons on the iPads for students to step through really quickly to get into PAWS and the registration pages that they would normally use to register for courses.”
Using iPads for registration this summer will eliminate the timely process of shifting students in and out of computer labs, Woltering said. Students will use the iPads touch screen keyboard to access the Panther Access Web Services (PAWS) web portal, immediately after receiving academic advisement.
GSU will host more than 20 Incept sessions for freshmen and transfer students this summer. Transfer students were the first to use the iPads to register for classes on May 19.
“The students have thought it was cool to flip through the iPad and to come here and register that way,” Woltering said. “We’re finding they are able to find their way around an iPad very quick and easily.”
Integrating iPads into the registration process at GSU was the result of the hard work of various GSU departments, including Enrollment Services, Student Affairs and the Division of Information Systems and Technology (IS&T).
Vital parts of making the technology work at GSU included, enhancing the university’s wireless system, formatting the iPads to be compatible with the Banner Registration System and creating a method to easily charge and wipe clean up to 200 iPads for each Incept session, said Bill Gruszka, director of production services in IS&T.
“It has been a good example of what can happen when departments work smoothly together to pull off a really cool kind of technology, which is a big step to make registration easier for students,” Woltering said.