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From: bhilden@druxj.UUCP (HildenbrandBE)
Newsgroups: net.college
Subject: Re- C.S. Department woes -- University of Wisconsin-Madison
Message-ID: <788@druxj.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 20-Apr-84 12:09:09 EST
Article-I.D.: druxj.788
Posted: Fri Apr 20 12:09:09 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Apr-84 01:46:45 EST
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver
Lines: 56

I feel compelled to respond to the flames I have been receiving on my
note about life in Madtown.  I am not making any personal attacks
just stating their origin.

First off, Mr. Horton left UW-Madison over 5 years ago, needless to 
say a few things have changed since then.  Secondly, I was addressing
the registration problems faced by undergraduates not graduate 
students who 1) usually take most of their courses from one or
two departments 2) have high enough priority to get any class they want.
Mr. Perlow incorrectly stated that registration was "on-line".  He 
obviously never took any courses outside the Comp Sci or EE departments
as they are the only departments on campus that use computers for
registration.  Incidentally, these "on line" systems are not linked
to the administrations computers and are thus only a more glorified
means of bookeeping.
OK, why do I know all this information?  Because I was involved
in the spring of 1983 in a task force formed by the Chancellor's
office to study current registration procedures and to address
the $64,000 question of whether the UW should go to a computerized
system.  Also, I worked registration week for the Comp Sci 
department as part of my TA obligations.  You should see the
look of utter hopelessness on underclassmen when you inform them
that their eigth choice for a given course has been closed.

As far as registration for undergraduates are concerned, it can be
a total nightmare for freshman and sophmore students.  Why?,
because they must visit each department to get enrolled in
a course taught by that department.  If they have a time conflict
because a choice of theirs was closed, they must revisit that
department or several department to sort it all out.  Add the
fact that the campus is 2 miles long by 1 mile wide and that
long lines exist at many departments and you can have a mean
and ugly situation for underclassmen.

With regards to Mr. Perlow's comments about the 11/750
he probably doesn't remember the 4 hour compiles or the 
summer when the machine was so slow that you couldn't 
login because the login procedure would time out before you 
could complete it.

Hey, I'm not trying to read you guys the riot act, UW-Madison
is an OK school and all indications are that its getting
better, I guess I feel sensitive to the needs of the
undergraduates, after all I was one twice.

           Bruce Hildenbrand
           ATT ISL Denver
          
p.s. - with regards to registration methods, I favor a pre registration
performed the previous semester where students are guaranteed the
courses they desire but, NOT necessarily the time slots.  It has been
my observation that many students decide on which courses to take
by the times they are offerred rather than the content of the courses
themselves.  

is available