Issue date: 3/6/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Courtesy Photo Students will use the Howdy web portal for fall registration instead of MyRecord. The site offers additional features such as a search engine that can locate courses by time, professor or degree requirement. [Click to enlarge]

Fall 2009 will be the first time since students have been registering for classes online that they won't be using the medium of www.myrecord.tamu.edu.

Registration will be through the Howdy web portal from now on, at www.howdy.tamu.edu.

Acting Associate Registrar Andy Armstrong said the system will provide students with a better registration system.

"Our current system is older than the student population at A&M," Armstrong said. "It was debuted in 1985."

"The Howdy web portal will have the same features and a lot more," Armstrong said. "That's the beauty of moving to a new system."

Some of the features will include: an advanced search system, automatic course selection based on unmade requirements in students' degree plans and degree specific course requirements.

MyRecord allowed students to search based on course number, then by section number.

The Howdy web portal will allow Aggies to search courses based on professor, time slot and course number.

"I think [the new search options] are a great idea," said Joshua Rikard, a freshman business major. "It's such a pain to search through every class when you already know which one you want, it will definitely be more convenient."

The site will show students what uncompleted core curriculum requirements they still have, show what classes can fulfill that requirement and where they fit in a student's schedule.

"I think the new feature is great because I once took a class that I thought met a requirement I needed," said Lauren Ghinelli, a sophomore meteorology major. "Come to find out, I wasted effort and money because that requirement was filled from a class I took in high school that I didn't even know it transferred over."

Though the system does provide students with helpful information, Armstrong said students should not rely on technology alone.

"You're still going to need to be in contact with your academic advisers," Armstrong said. "This is not a substitute for your academic advising."

The next round of registration for students using the Howdy portal will not be the complete version of the portal, as more features will be added.

One such feature is going to be specific degree requirements. Eventually, the Howdy portal will include major specific classes in its system when stating which classes should be considered.

Armstrong said the Howdy portal has more in store in the future.

"Think of it as your Yahoo home page," Armstrong said. "This is going to be your direct access to everything A&M, including your registration."

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