Campus Connection

The new university online catalogs are much more than online course descriptions. The new catalogs provide easy access to a variety of college courses, degree options and requirements, academic policies, and student resources for both undergraduates and graduates. And the software also allows easy access for departments and other catalog content providers to quickly and easily edit and update sections of the catalogs. “We’re very excited about the new catalogs,” says Registrar Chris Bakkum. “These catalogs will look completely different from any previous catalogs we’ve published and are much more user-friendly.” You can access the new catalogs through the "Quick Links" drop-down menu on the UW-L homepage, or directly at the Catalog Home Page at catalog.uwlax.edu/. Bakkum worked with Records and Registration Office staff Sue Knudson, Victoria Rahn and Ming Cheng, and Information Technology Services (ITS) Project Manager TJ Teegen, to launch the new catalogs. They have been working with the new software called Leepfrog from Courseleaf, for nearly a year. Along with customizing it to UW-L’s offerings, the team has been ensuring the integrity of the new site’s data by thoroughly proofing and checking the material. They also worked closely with Maren Walz and Jake Speer from iComm in University Communications to ensure that the new catalogs were consistent with the UW-L publication guidelines. The site featuring both the undergraduate and graduate catalogs went live June 2. Bakkum is asking faculty and staff to look at the catalog pages they are most familiar with and to let the catalog team know if there are errors. Users will have until Wednesday, June 25, to alert the Records Office of errors. After that time, the catalogs will be published and archived for the year and no further changes can be made. Suggestions for corrections should be directed to catalog@uwlax.edu prior to the June 25 deadline. Users should also check any links they have to the catalogs that might appear on department or unit websites. These links will have to be re-set by the users to the new catalogs. Bakkum says the reason to change to an interactive site was to make it easier to navigate. “In all, the ease of use was really the main driver for us,” she explains. The changeover also allows the Records and Registration Office to use shared content so it doesn’t have to be re-written. When curriculum needs to be updated, it will automatically be updated throughout the entire catalog using the Leepfrog software. In the past, the catalogs were updated on alternate years. Now, both online versions will be updated annually. Catalogs will be initially published every June, with time for corrections until they are archived in early July. The Records and Registration Office last printed a catalog for the 2009-11 academic year. No copies of the new catalogs will be printed, but portions of the catalogs can be downloaded and printed or requested from DigiCopy once the PDF of the new catalogs is completed. Bakkum says the catalog website update is one of a number of software implementations that have been worked on in the Records and Registration Office since 2008. The list includes:

• Peoplesoft (WINGS student information system)
• Advisement Report (student advising reports, formerly SNAP)
• Diplomas on Demand (automated diploma service)
• Electronic transcripts
• College Scheduler (helps students with course planning)
• Catalog (implemented June 2)
• Curriculum Management (roll out planned this fall)

“We’ve had wonderful partners in Information Technology Services to help with all of these implementations,” she notes. Bakkum hopes other paper-based procedures like the “Grade Change Form” will be automated soon as well. First, they plan to implement the curriculum change management software, scheduled to be completed this summer.