By: Najla King, Lion’s Eye staff writer, nxk5136@psu.edu
As the end of the semester approaches, Penn State students are already getting ready for the fall semester.
Scheduling classes is the first step and this year, students are using new software to do it. Lion Path was introduced to students to replace eLion, and adjusting to the new software may take a little time for some.
Since the beginning of fall 2015, news about a new platform for students to register for classes circulated around campus. Although registration for summer 2016 classes is still through eLion, scheduling for the fall semester has begun, and some speculation about the new platform concerns some students.
“I’m just still a bit confused, I guess,” Launa Andrews, a soon-to-be senior at Penn State Brandywine, said. “It’s still new, and this is everyone’s first time using it, so we just need to be patient and get familiar with navigating the website and using its functions correctly.”
Lion Path features a new way to search and save classes students wish to take the following semester. Similar to shopping at one’s favorite store online, courses are chosen and added into a student’s shopping cart, where then, students are registered into the classes that are in their cart. It sounds fairly simple.
With the majority of Penn State Brandywine’s student population millennials, it can become a challenge to explain a new online platform to students who are accustomed to things running quickly and smoothly. Also, most students have previous knowledge of how eLion worked and they expected Lion Path to operate the same, if not better.
Change may not come easy to some but for others, the new system doesn’t seem to cause them much concern.
“I haven’t even looked at the website yet,” Ayesha Smith, another Penn State student said. “I know I should because I need to schedule my classes but I’m not in a rush. Pretty much all of my teachers have been reminding us about it but I don’t think it’ll be that difficult to use.”
Whether the change is accepted right away or not, Lion Path is here to stay and some students are working on familiarizing themselves with the new site. Although others are adjusting more slowly than others, scheduling for fall 2016 semester is well under way.