Kelsey Donovan, senior from Danvers, Ill., schedules for the spring semester with her adviser Elizabeth Thomas, business lecturer.
With the help of the RACR Audit system, students have more control of the scheduling process.
Students, as well as professors, have largely positive opinions of the audit, saying it helps them access a list of courses they need to take to fulfill the requirements of their major.
Marcie Hinton, professor of journalism and mass communications, said the nearly one-year-old RACR audit system makes it easier to advise students on what they need to do to graduate.
“It acts as a check list and allows us to submit some what ifs, which helps me answer questions for students in areas with which I might be less familiar,” she said.
Hinton said it makes it easier for students to organize classes themselves.
She heard complaints regarding the system as a whole, but she countered that Murray State is the third university she has advised for and the RACR Audit system is the easiest and most intuitive for her.
“Also, it gives students a jumping off point for taking control of their own education,” Hinton said. “It serves as a catalyst for asking questions when they get to an advising meeting. I am glad we all have access to the same information.”
Hinton said the system itself has its flaws. She said it can be unyielding for some new users.
However, with new technology comes the freedom of being able to choose one’s own classes and, as Hinton said, one can assume control of their own education and provide a better base of opportunity for student-adviser relationships.
This allows students to better understand curriculum paths and gives ease of access to the student, the adviser and the Registrar’s office staff. It becomes more about creating a solution to a problem than focusing on the problem alone.
Delia Root from Madisonville, Ky., said the system itself needed to be improved by showing the specific prerequisites that are required to take a certain course.
“It hasn’t given me any trouble and it has made choosing my classes much easier,” she said, despite the need for improvement.
Root said that because the system is designed to be intuitive, she has more contact with people that she would need to talk to.
Story by Teddy Martin, Staff writer