51.0
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Online service Pick-a-Prof becomes MyEdu, expands options

Friday, November 6, 2009

The online student service Pick-a-Prof recently changed its name to MyEdu and expanded the services it provides for students. While OU students who are starting to enroll may notice a change in Pick-a-Prof, they will have complete access to the new MyEdu Web site.

Pick-A-Prof gave students the ability to create schedules, read and write professor reviews, and look at grade distributions for different classes.

“I used it to look at professor grades and reviews,” said Morgan Foreman, microbiology sophomore. “It was extremely helpful because I got a feel for what the professor was like before taking a class.”

MyEdu offers the same services as Pick-A-Prof, as well as other features to help students stay on track with their academics, according to its Web site information section.

Although the Web site’s home page initially listed how much MyEdu would cost, OU students do not have to pay these fees. The University of Oklahoma Student Association allots a portion of its budget to providing students access to the Web site. The organization did not respond to e-mails about whether the new service would cost more.

According to a greeting message on the site, UOSA decided to partner with MyEdu and it “hopes that [the site] will be a tool to help [students] plan for success throughout the year.”

The new services focus on helping students organize their academics, both short-term and long-term.

Students will still be able to create semester schedules and look at professor reviews. They will also be able to choose what kinds of classes they would like to take, based off of how important they think different factors are, such as grades, withdraw rates and workload.

To plan ahead, students can also look at degree requirements and design four-year degree plans on the Web site. MyEdu graphs the workload for each semester so students can visualize the information and shift courses around if they want a more balanced distribution.

OU students had mixed feelings about whether they would use these services.

Jeff Craighead, human relations senior, said he used Pick-A-Prof services, such as looking at grades and reviews, but he would not use the MyEdu programs.

“I graduate next semester, so it is not very useful to me,” Craighead said. “It might be helpful to freshmen if they take the time to actually use it.”

Kristjan Melders, University College freshman, said he could see how MyEdu’s services would be useful and he might use them if they are easy to navigate and user-friendly.

Other additions to Pick-A-Prof include ways to cross-reference the courses required for different majors and minors, in case a student wants to switch majors or add a minor and does not want to lose credits.

Comments

Waste of money. Don't spend my student activity fee on this nonsense please.

Posted by anonymous / soonerboomers on November 6, 2009 at 12:07 a.m.

Yeah - planning your degree is such a waste. Who wants to graduate on time?

Posted by anonymous / ourules on November 6, 2009 at 5:48 a.m.

Great program. Thanks UOSA.

Posted by anonymous / Tank on November 6, 2009 at 1:24 p.m.

Personally, I'm planning at least two victory laps.

Posted by anonymous / TheJR on November 6, 2009 at 3:23 p.m.

We have degree sheets already.

Posted by anonymous / soonerboomers on November 6, 2009 at 3:55 p.m.

HMMMM...it still won't let me use it, says I need to pay!

Posted by anonymous / snilian on November 11, 2009 at 7:48 p.m.

I don't even see University of Oklahoma on their list of schools. I see Oklahoma State and the Health Sciences Center. I must be doing something wrong... :(

Posted by anonymous / soonertiger2012 on November 18, 2009 at 4:06 p.m.

It's hard to find University of Oklahoma on their list because it's under THE University of Oklahoma. You would think a website about education would know you are supposed to put the article ("the") after the name!

Posted by anonymous / soonertiger2012 on November 18, 2009 at 4:12 p.m.

Post a comment

Commenting requires registration.

Username:
Password: (Forgotten your password?)

Comment:

Share