Registering for classes is often one of the most stressful experiences for students. From finding the most suitable course to take, finding a personal preference for which professor’s class they want to be in, or figuring out the amount of credits they would like to take.

Evan Singharaj, a part time second year student at Clackamas Community College, has had his share of issues. Singharaj is studying for a degree in arts, and wants to be a professional artist. He aspires to create his own art for sale and possibly create a manga, a Japanese comic, in the future. 

“Most times my communications with a counselor have been through email asking for help with trying to register for classes and getting incomplete responses while counselors think they are helping me,” he said. 

“My bad experience stems from trying to register for some Art and Bio classes,” he said. Singharaj said this world of college was new to him and the effects of  COVID-19 had hindered him from communicating with any counselors in the school effectively. 

“I had thought I registered for my classes when I pressed, register,” he said. “I didn’t realize there was a second step in the schedule area where you had to complete the registration, by that time I needed an instructor’s consent. I then had to email another instructor for the same course and be let in after two days of waiting.” 

Registering for classes is often one of the most stressful experiences for students. Graphic by Connor McCoy.

This problem seems prevalent with newer students, as they are not able to navigate the school website effectively. Dustin Bare, the Director of Student and Academic Support services, is aware of these ongoing issues. 

“Most of the time these students have their selected classes enrolled, but not actually registered,” Bare said. “There is a final step in the scheduling. It is kind of like having an item in your Amazon cart, but you haven’t bought it yet.” 

Bare said that the current system is not where they want to be, but the administration has been making ongoing changes to try to combat this problem. 

“We eventually want an automatic process of notifying students with reminders and keeping them up to date on their planned classes,” he said. 

Bare noted that they are finding the balance of keeping students up-to-date with more communication with counselors and not sending students too many reminder emails. The goal is they do not want a student to feel bombarded with emails and begin to ignore them.

Instructors are feeling the frustration of registration issues, too, but have found ways to combat this problem.

“Sometimes if they do not see Moodle on their registration, I get them in, using an instructor from the actual web class roster.” Said Judy Hedberg, who is a music professor at CCC.
 Thankfully, there are videos on the website that can help students with registration issues. Students struggling with registering are advised to do the following: 

• On the “Student Home” front page with the link, there is an additional link to videos under the classes submenu under the Academic Support tab labeled: “Academic Support” that link sends you to the majority of videos for help with registration.
• Another way to get there is to visit the “https://www.clackamas.edu” website under “Academic Advising and Education Planning” in the “Academic Support” tab. 

The website states that these videos will help students “decide what classes to take, learn how to use the college’s online registration system and more.” and to also make sure to  “review these videos before you meet with your advisor to make the most out of your advising appointment.”