Archive for December, 2009

More Info and More Speed for UGAKey.com

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Happy New Year!  We are trying to start the New Year off right by rolling out some new changes!

Today we’ve upgraded UGAKey.com to what we are calling version 2.5 (see the announcement post for version 2.0 and other upgrades).

This upgrade provides more helpful information for students, while optimizing your viewing experience.

First things first.  We’ve added links to the UGA Bulletin’s course descriptions.  Click on Info under “Course Info” and you will see the full course title, a detailed description of the course, any prerequisites, semesters offered, grading system, course objectives, and topical outline.  This is a pretty nifty tool that UGA has recently started offering, and we’re glad to be able to implement it in the grade data.  We hope this will help students make better decisions on their class schedules (the more information the better).  Note, some specialized and old courses do not have course descriptions available.

Second, when you click on a department from a dropdown menu or on the homepage, you’ll notice that the data page is now more compact.  We’ve moved the percentages for individual letter grades on to separate pages for each course.  You can click the ‘More Data’ link on the left side of a course to view detailed course grade data.  We’ve made this change to allow the data pages to load quicker on your screen.  This change will also allow us to better integrate more features in the future, including a possible course review or professor review capability (something we’re currently working on).

Lastly, we’ve done a lot of optimizing and cleanup.  Pages should load  faster than before, which we know is helpful when you are registering for that needed course on Drop/Add (got to beat everyone else to OASIS).

If you used the previous version to do detailed filtering of courses by letter grades or other columns, this upgrade limits your abilities.  But, to compensate, we’re keeping the previous version available for you to use, right here.

If you notice any problems with the upgrade or if you have any problems, questions, feedback, or comments, please use our contact form to let us know.  We want to help you, and if something is broken, we can fix it quickly if you let us know.

~Your UGAKey.com Developers

PS- We are waiting to get the Fall 2009 grade data.  We’re hoping to get that in time for Drop/Add.

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Registration for Spring 2010

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

This week is open registration for spring 2010 classes at the University of Georgia.  We at UGAKey.com want to provide you a few updates which will help you registration experience.

The Red and Black has a good article today that discusses the declining number of classes across campus and the declining number of tenure and tenure-track professors.  Students have always had trouble getting needed classes in some majors (*cough*, International Affairs and Political Science), but this trend is spreading.  The University and individual departments are making continual budget cuts, and keeping professors is hard on a short budget (as is filling vacant professor positions).  So departments are offering fewer classes.

This ultimately means many students are having trouble finding good classes.  That’s where we come in.

UGAKey.com helps you pick the best classes of those being offered.  Need an International Affairs class and none taught by the big name professors are being offered? Check out UGAKey.com and look for good graduate assistants, and make sure to check classes in Political Science and Public Administration (which can fulfill an IA major).  Do you need more classes to stay full-time? Look on UGAKey.com for good courses.  Are you worried about losing the HOPE Scholarship and not being able to cover your tuition bills? Look at UGAKey.com, browse an offered course’s syllabus, and find the classes that will keep you HOPE-eligible.  Drill down through departments and professors, sort classes by GPA or number of withdrawals to find what works best for you.

Remember, we have the most recent grades available (along with many course syllabi) so you can make the best decisions for your class schedule.

But that’s not all.  We are continuing to make improvements at UGAKey.com to help students, including:

  • We are currently testing professor reviews, which will complement the course grades that are already offered.  You will be able to rate professors on the overall course,  homework, exams, and lectures, and provide general feedback.  We really believe this will help students register for classes.
  • We are also waiting for the University to release textbook lists, so we can help you find the cheapest books possible.
  • We will also be obtaining Fall 2009 grade data as soon as it is available.

As you register (and in January during Drop/Add), remember to use UGAKey.com.  And check back, because we hope to have new and helpful features out soon.

~The UGAKey.com Developers

Posted in Tips, Updates | No Comments »