University websites

[Insectoid]

Are they all as terrible as Lakehead's?

Seriously, I looked around the site for literally hours before I found a page saying the link to the course registration page didn't show up until a $100 acceptance fee I was never notified about was paid. I didn't even find the page that told me that through the lakehead site; I had to google it to find it. It's ridiculous! I STILL haven't found any information on registering for residence!

Really, Lakehead should hire a CS student to completely rework the website. It's a university, not a small business. There is no excuse for this kind of sloppiness.

[Tony]

Insectoid @ Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:53 pm wrote:

[University websites] Are they all as terrible as Lakehead's?

Yes.

Insectoid @ Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:53 pm wrote:

It's a university, not a small business.

Universities are a business.

[Insectoid]

Tony wrote:

Insectoid @ Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:53 pm wrote:

It's a university, not a small business.

Universities are a business.

Yes, but universities are not small businesses. Note that I made the distinction.

I notice they DO have a link to antivirus recommendations in the 'personal profile' section. Don't know quite what it's doing there...

[Tony]

They want you to stay safe. Wrap the tool.

[Dan]

Insectoid @ 28th July 2010, 6:53 pm wrote:

Are they all as terrible as Lakehead's?

Seriously, I looked around the site for literally hours before I found a page saying the link to the course registration page didn't show up until a $100 acceptance fee I was never notified about was paid. I didn't even find the page that told me that through the lakehead site; I had to google it to find it. It's ridiculous! I STILL haven't found any information on registering for residence!

There is a big link to myinfo on the front page, it's normally hard to miss.

I do agree that the site could be laid out better (the drop down menus suck), however the course registration stuff is rather easy to find once you figure out it is in myinfo (with all your student account stuff). Why you need to pay first is rather obvious, you can't register for courses with out an account and you need to be a student to have an account....

If you are simply looking for course information, you should be look at the course calendar and if you want the times when a course is offered you should be looking at the course timetable.

The best way to find something fast on the lakehead site is to go to the A-Z Index (there is a big link on the front page to it), every magor page on the site should be listed there.

Quote:

Really, Lakehead should hire a CS student to completely rework the website. It's a university, not a small business. There is no excuse for this kind of sloppiness.

Computer Science has nothing to do with website design, and in fact i do know of some CS students that worked on parts of the web page (tho not the front page). As far as uni websites go lakehead's is aucataly rather good if you don't count the drop down menus. There are links to critical pages such as the courses calendar, course time table, exam time table, myinfo and webct/moodle on the front page which is prity much all you will need.



Now if you are just talking about myinfo being crap, then i adgree with you but that is the fault of webct and we are slowly moving to moodle. Also if you need to know where to find any info on the site or about lakehead just ask as i know of (and have taken most of) the courses required for CS.

[Dan]

Obligatory:

[Insectoid]

Haha, that's amazingly accurate. Then again, it is XKCD.

Anyway, I managed to register for all my courses, but there isn't a downloadable version of the residence application for high school students (at least, there's enough evidence to assume so). Hopefully my copy shows up in the mail before term starts >.>

[DemonWasp]

Clearly, someone's never tried to use UWaterloo's student-facing software. Summary: Quest is awful, its upgrade is worse; Jobmine is awful but is also being "upgraded"; UW-Ace is awful and may or may not be in the process of an "upgrade".

Oh, and the main website is horrendously disorganized.

[Insectoid]

Dan, do you know where I can find my lakehead student ID?

[Dan]

Insectoid @ 29th July 2010, 11:33 pm wrote:

Anyway, I managed to register for all my courses, but there isn't a downloadable version of the residence application for high school students (at least, there's enough evidence to assume so). Hopefully my copy shows up in the mail before term starts >.>

Your too late, they had to be in, in may. Your best bet now is to call the Residence Office ((807) 343-8060) and hope that some one drops out very soon in the term. The application should have been sent to you in your admissions package, if you did not you where supposed to contact the Residence Office ASAP (see http://residence.lakeheadu.ca/high-school-applicants/).

Your best bet now (assuming you called the office and they could not help) is to look for off campus housing: http://offcampus.lakeheadu.ca/default.aspx

[Dan]

Insectoid @ 30th July 2010, 12:56 pm wrote:

Dan, do you know where I can find my lakehead student ID?

Once you get here they will have signs up for where to go to have you picture taken and your ID printed. If you get here late or you lose the pysical id during the year you can go to the libbary to get a new one for a small cost.

If you just mean the ID number, it should be on some paper they sent you however you can look it up in myinfo:

Step one: http://myinfo.lakeheadu.ca/
Step two: Log in
Step three: Go to the "For Students" tab
Step four: Go to "My Profile" under the "ACADEMIC PROFILE" section.
Step five: You should see it under "Personal Information" just under your full name and preferred name. It should be a 7 digit number starting with a 0, 1 or 2.