University of Wisconsin students getting their “ducks in a row” with web-based enrollment for the spring semester are far removed from the experiences of their counterparts from previous eras.

Using the My UW portal, contemporary UW students register with the click of a mouse, enabling them almost instantaneous class-schedule confirmation.

In the past, students were forced to scramble from building to building on their assigned registration date and wait in long lines to register for their classes in person.

Jeanne Tyree-Francis, who was an undergraduate at UW from 1973 to 1977, recalls the difficulty of registering in person on Madison’s large campus.

“It was pretty Mickey Mouse when you consider the size of the campus and the number of students they had to register, but I don’t think they really had a choice,” she said.

Before registration began, Tyree-Francis said, students were given a printed timetable listing the campus buildings in which you could sign up for courses. Tyree-Francis said she and her friends would try to plan the courses they wanted to take and map out where they would go on registration day.

“If the classes you needed most were on opposite ends of the campus, you had a problem,” she said. “If you didn’t get into a class, you were out of luck, so we rode our bikes around campus.”

Tom Johnson, associate registrar at the university since 1959, said the old system relied on departmental assignment committees where students reported to sign up for classes. “You did this in all kinds of weather,” Johnson said.

The assignment committees were set up in classrooms, staffed by teaching assistants and supervised by a faculty member.

Before students could report to the departmental assignment committees to sign up for classes, however, every student had to pick up registration forms to bring to the committees. Throughout the history of the school, students have waited in lines to pick up these forms in different locations. The pickup location was originally Bascom Hall classrooms but kept moving around, to locations including 6210 Social Science, the Commerce Building, the Fieldhouse and finally the Stock Pavilion.

“The Stock Pavilion worked well because, unlike the other sites that had been used, we could exercise total control of that facility for the days we were there,” Johnson said.

The registration forms were 3-by-5-inch data punch cards until the 1940s, when they were changed to a 4-by-6-inch card. In 1970, UW switched the forms to an 11-by-17-inch size.

Johnson said students were given registration dates based on number of credits and an alternating system of alphabetical preference to distinguish between students with equal standing. However, far more students registered at once using this system than today.

Tyree-Francis remembered being part of a large mass of students trying to get into a limited number of courses.

“Everyone was scrambling around on the same day,” she said. “Often, courses were filled. If you didn’t get into a class, you had to have a backup.”

“It seems like it got easier to get classes as you got up in school,” she added.

Johnson said this type of registration was frustrating to both students and UW administration.

“In the ’70s, there was a high level of frustration about not getting into classes,” Johnson said. “And from a management standpoint, we didn’t have any way of collecting data.”

It wasn’t until 1988 that the system was changed to touchtone enrollment. While other schools made an earlier switch, Johnson said he felt a lack of funds made the university lag behind.

In February 1987, then-governor Tommy Thompson announced his recommendation to the Legislature to put money towards automated touchtone registration. This proposal got the ball rolling for its implementation the next year.

The touchtone system was easier than the assignment committees because it was faster, could be accessed from anywhere and allowed for easier administrative data collection.

“That was one of the most popular things we’ve ever done,” Johnson said. “We’ve moved beyond that now, but going back 15 years, that was state-of-the-art.”

The touchtone system involved calling an enrollment line at a predetermined date and time, based on a student’s credits. All else being equal, a random computer selection determined which students enrolled first.

Students used class numbers from the student timetable to request desired courses using their telephone keypad. It interfaced with a mainframe computer through software from a company called Periphonics, which was later bought out by Nortel Networks.

A female voice guided students through the system, offering choices for dropping and adding classes and checking class schedules. Affectionately referred to as the “Touchtone Lady” by UW students, the recorded voice students heard when they dialed the enrollment line did not belong to a university employee.

Karen Hanson, assistant registrar for enrollment services, said the voice of the Touchtone Lady came from the Nortel Networks software. She said the voice came from a real woman, but the software spliced together sound bytes to create the audio effects.

“That’s why it always sounded sort of choppy,” Hanson said.

While part of a software package, the university had some choice as to what voice would be used. From the implementation of touchtone enrollment in 1988 until March 1999, they used the same woman’s voice. In 1999, UW selected a new voice when they updated the system to a new software program called People Soft.

Hanson said approximately 100 UW students, including non-native English speakers, were involved in the voice selection process. Students listened to three male and three female voices and chose the female voice most current UW students remember as the Touchtone Lady.

Interim registrar Joanne Berg said although the touchtone system was popular, initially it did have some problems. First of all, the system excluded rotary phones, and later, new phone technology allowed disruptive cell-phone registration during classes. Furthermore, it was difficult to listen to the Touchtone Lady and look up courses in the timetable at the same time.

Berg said the university was planning to simultaneously offer touchtone and Web enrollment until the phone system could be slowly phased out. Instead, however, UW was forced to abandon the phase-out process for a total touchtone elimination this August because of incompatible software.

The My UW system

Division of Information Technology communications director Brian Rust, who was a UW student during the late 1970s, said the current Web-based enrollment system is far technologically superior to older methods. Nevertheless, he said he feels nostalgia for some aspects of the departmental assignment committee registration he used as a student.

“It’s miles better now than it was then,” he said. “But the old system had its own charm to it. You met people in line. In fact, the crew coach used to recruit athletes by talking to the tallest students in line.”

Rust said the current system is technologically complicated.

The basic idea is that the online timetable, a separate database of courses and a student’s schedule are all linked. When a student registers, all three elements work together for the class information to simultaneously show that a student has added a class and for class space to be removed from the database and the timetable. The system updates itself every 15 minutes.

“I think that registering online is pretty easy,” said Allison Morgan, a UW junior transfer student from Green Mountain College, a 650-student school in Poutney, Vt. “The hardest thing about the system is that I’m trying to match up requirements for my major, my school, general school requirements and my certificate. It’s just that the school is so big; it’s complicated, but I don’t think there is any way around it. There are 40,000 students. What are you going to do?”

While Morgan had an easier time getting into the courses she wanted at her old school, she said the increased resources at UW override any frustrations she has with the registration system. Her old school required her to visit with an advisor and register through that person.

Jenny Pendroy, a graduate student who transferred this year from the University of Minnesota-Morris, another small school, said she used a similar system at her former school.

“It’s a piece of cake,” she said. “I think it’s real nice and easy. It’s very, very similar to what I am used to.”

Though quick and convenient, the current Web enrollment system is not without its faults.

Rust said problems can occur with the server, the network and the user when using the Web-based enrollment system.

“As with any electronic system, there are chances of failure,” he said. “As we make it easier to see what classes are available and register online instantly, technological failures can occur. With any kind of complicated system like that, there is a potential for failure.”

Berg said the system is not perfect, but said students have generally reacted positively to the switch from touchtone to online enrollment. Berg said the registrar’s office is trying use student suggestions to improve the system. These ideas can be submitted through a link on the My UW page.

“With 40,000 students, there are 40,000 opinions about how it should work, so we’re just trying to find a common denominator,” Berg said. “I think feedback is the key. Students need to tell us what is working and what is not.”