Campus THEN and NOW Series - Part 16: DuckWeb

Caitlin H.

November 12, 2009 - 12:43 PM

Last winter I took a class on environmental philosophy that was absolutely fascinating. I remember leaving that classroom so many times with questions pouring out of me and often wondering if my brain was still working or if my head was just lost somewhere on top of my shoulders. Most interesting to me, and what I spent my term paper focusing on, was the philosophy behind the universe we exist in. It has been said that because of the growing digital experience humans can exist in more than reality - the physical space we occupy and the digital one. I remember my professor asking the class when we were talking on our cell phones, where we actually were. If we were on our cell phone, our conversation and our minds were dismissed in some other, alternate location. However our physical being remained fixed somewhere else separate from the conversation. Obviously these claims need more evidence and discussion, but it is something to think about anyway.

The point is: this week I experienced for the first time myself as two beings at the University of Oregon - the Caitlin that walks around campus and goes to classes, and then the Caitlin that exists only as a digitized record.

DuckWeb is the University's ‘interactive web application' that allows students access to a multitude of functions necessary to exist at the University of Oregon. Bills can be paid on DuckWeb, transcripts requested, degree audits reviewed, courses changed from graded to pass/no pass, and of course, class registration.

I understand the benefits to technology; it has improved my life too. But there is something to be said when I realized that all my ‘official' interactions with the University happen over the Internet. Even in a student population of 20 thousand plus, I feel at home. Staff on campus know who I am, students and professors too, but do the people who take my tuition money know who I am? When I declare my intent to graduate or when I register for certain classes, does that mean anything to anyone? Or is it all just processed on a computer? This really is a mini tangent, but I suppose that is what my environmental studies and geography degrees train me to do - assess the environment I interact in and start asking questions.

This all got stirred up because I registered for winter term classes this week on DuckWeb. It is an easy process that requires entering in a series of numbers once I am allowed to register. Registration is broken up into a priority schedule allowing those with the most credits to register first and the students with fewest credits earned to register last. Students search for classes to take a handful of different ways, but I have always used Class Schedule information available from the UO homepage.

Students often worry about ‘getting the classes they need to graduate.' In my experience I have never struggled to enroll in a course I ‘had' to have during a certain term of my academic progress. In fact, I have had quite the opposite experience. Even as a sophomore I can remember one class might fill up, but there was still something else available that I needed to graduate as well. I never felt stuck and without options. There was even a time I enrolled in a business class but preferred to take the course at a different time. The first day of class I went and talked to the professor teaching the class I wanted to be in and he signed whatever forms I needed to allow me to add the class. I'm sure that doesn't happen all the time, I just wish to express that in my opinion registration has always gone relatively smoothly.

The University has also traditionally published a Course Catalog, which I'm assuming some students use for registration purposes. This week I happened to bump into Brian Henley, the Director of Admissions, inside the Student Union building who I know from my position as a Student Ambassador. It was nice to catch up with Brian, he is so wonderful and I'm thrilled that he works in our Admissions Office. He happened to mention to me he was coming from a meeting discussing the future of our Course Catalog, and debated whether or not we would continue to produce one as a University. My first inclination is to think that would be a wonderful way to save resources, and then weighed it against the cost of everyone needing a computer to access the same information, replacing the computer, needing access to the Internet and the costs that would go into creating a society where everyone lives ‘one click away' from everyone else.

I know I'm tying so much into this one post, between thoughts on environmental theories and simply how registration works at the UO. My uncle, a UO alumni, tells me when he registered for classes he used to take some kind of card around to different tables in Mac Court and actually have people sign off on what classes he wanted to enroll in. I can't decide what I think is ‘better.' There are so many things to consider regarding access and resource use.

I have decided my environmental philosophy professor needs a shout-out: well done Steven Brence, I'm still thinking about issues you brought up in class.