By Shirlett Warren/editor-in-chief

The college has now made a time-saving online tool available to help students plan their classes around their personal schedules.

Class Planner gives students the ability to plan their classes in one sitting, said district associate vice chancellor of student success Kimberly Beatty.

The district invested $12,500 for a renewable one-year licensing fee for the program.

“It’s a convenience for our students to be able to schedule their courses around their life realities and needs,” Beatty said.

Class Planner can be accessed in the registration section through WebAdvisor. The page allows students to select courses. An “add break” button allows students to add times when they don’t want to take classes.

When students finish entering the necessary data, they can click a button to generate a customized schedule based on their criteria. The selected courses on the customized schedule can then be used to officially register.

A total of five help videos are available in Class Planner to explain scheduling basics and customizing options. The videos range from 50 seconds to about three minutes.

“It’s very handy,” said NE vice president for student development services Magdalena de la Teja. “It is hoped that even students who aren’t tech-savvy will find it to be a helpful resource.”

De la Teja said she met a vendor from College Scheduler, the software company for Class Planner, a few years ago at a national advisors conference.

“I knew the software would be useful to students in

an automated way instead of using pencil to paper, which is traditionally how students plan their schedules,” she said.

Before implementing Class Planner, the district held focus groups with students, advisors and counselors to assess the program.

“We also researched other college campuses throughout the state,” de la Teja said. “Students really liked it at other campuses.”

NE student Jeff Neuser said he looks forward to using it.

“I didn’t even know this was here. I think I’m going to do this first before I try to find sections when I register,” Neuser said.

District registrar Gerald Racioppi tested the product and offered one word of caution for students registering on multiple campuses.

“The planner is happy to schedule a student for a class ending at 11 a.m. on Trinity River and sending them to the next class on NW Campus at 11:10 a.m.,” Racioppi said. “There is a warning on the page when this happens, and we hope students are aware of it.”