What can Acalog do for you?
For the Eastern Michigan University student, a lot.
The new online catalog software will make it easier for
students to find and choose the courses they need. Some
of the advantages of the digital academic catalog management
system include: the catalog is searchable; every page can
be printed, decreasing the need for print catalogs; students
can move online seamlessly from catalog to department,
and back; request more information; and create a personal
portfolio.
 |
CATALOG CONVERSION: Through the use
of
Acalog, an online catalog software
program, Eastern
Michigan University's
course catalog (above) will be online
this
July. The Acalog version, which allows
searchability
of courses and other features,
will replace the
PDF version of the current
catalog that is now
online. |
"When you go to your adviser with printed-out pages of
a couple of programs, you don't need the whole catalog," said
Joy Dockham, manager of program and catalog maintenance,
during a recent presentation at a Graduate Coordinator
Adviser meeting. "From day one, students will be able to
choose between the catalog and programs. How fancy we get
is up to us."
"Students can put their courses in a shopping cart and
come and talk to you (advisers)," said Deb deLaski-Smith,
interim dean of the Graduate School. "This is a dynamic
package you can use for undergraduates and graduates to
help them with planning their courses."
The new online catalog software was chosen because students
have deemed the PDF version — currently online — cumbersome
and unwieldy. Students, by and large, search for schools
and programs via the Internet and, currently, a search
engine cannot be used to find information in EMU's catalog.
In addition, mistakes in the PDF version cannot be fixed,
and changes in the catalog cannot be noted for two years,
Dockham said.
Acalog's software capabilities
User friendly.
Searchable from the internet.
Archives past catalogs.
Provides a master database.
Allows electronic editing.
Works with Banner.
Provides software training during implementation. |
For the first time, a campus
visit was not the reason students chose a college. It
was the college catalog," Dockham said, citing a Jan.
23 article in University Business magazine.
In the article, entitled, "Helicopter Parents Take Flight
in College Recruitment Process," respondents to a TeensTALK
study said they most wanted to see information on majors
and programs when they visited college Websites and that
colleges should structure their Web pages so that such
information is no more than one mouse click away from the
home page.
Dockham said she would continue to visit departments and
make Acalog presentations through April as well as offer
faculty training sessions. A limited, in-house rollout
of Acalog — for faculty and staff only — will
take place in May and June to work out any bugs, Dockham
said.
Acalog will go live and be fully active in July.
For more information, call Dockham at 487-4456 or e-mail
her at jdockham@emich.edu
