The University of New Mexico-Gallup has joined the ranks of colleges nationwide in going paperless with its summer/fall 2008 schedule of classes.
The course schedule will now be exclusively available online at UNM Gallup or Gallup Course Schedule.
The principal advantage, noted Student Services Director Paul Kraft, was that the online schedule is continuously updated in real time, whereas the paper schedule was out of date as soon as it was published.
“Information on courses, such as time, location and instructor, changes continuously. Further, courses are added and dropped between the time the schedule would be printed and the first day of class,” Kraft said. “By getting into the habit of accessing the course online, students will have the most up-to-date information available and less frustration in planning their schedules.”
UNM-Gallup is showing its commitment to reducing the use of paper by this move. College officials estimate they will save $23,000 by going paperless.
Kraft acknowledged some students may find the move to an online schedule a bit inconvenient at first, but said he was confident they would adjust to it, just as students have nationwide, including those at UNM in Albuquerque.
“For those without Internet connections at home, it will mean using a computer here at the college or elsewhere to access the course schedule,” Kraft said. “But access to the Internet is increasingly an expectation for students as far as the learning experience, and also increasingly a necessity as far as the enrollment process. In the end, the real-time schedule should help eliminate a lot of the confusion that occurs on the first day of classes as students try to find classrooms.”
Media Contact: Linda Thornton, (505) 863-7565; lthornton@gallup.unm.edu