Course registration will soon take on an online format and leave behind the colorful cards students currently use to pencil in their desired classes for the next year.

RHS is one of several schools to take on this web-based pilot program this upcoming year, and will report back with challenges and suggestions for improvement after students have gone through the process.

In the new registration process, students will be taken to the computer lab during their social studies classes and will be logged into the system. Here, they will be able to go into different subject areas and select courses within them for the next year. They will also see the recommendations their teachers have given them for their next classes, as opposed to verbal recommendations and a signature on the current registration cards.

“This can [be helpful] because you can see what teachers think you’d most likely be challenged in and shows where your level fits in,” freshman Chris Nievera said.

While juniors and seniors will not be part of the pilot program, freshmen and sophomores will be able to compare the paper card experience to the new electronic format. Teachers and counselors will also be trying it out for the first time.

“There are different portals,” assistant principal Galit Zolkower said. Students and parents see one screen, versus the one seen by teachers and that seen by counselors and administrators.

This online system will be beneficial not just for students but for counselors as well, who will have the information for every student on the program, rather than on paper cards. The system is meant to improve the speed and efficiency of registering for classes for everyone involved, by making it quicker and more familiar.

“It skips a lot of steps for everybody,” Zolkower said. “Also, it seems to me that kids–and adults too–are accustomed to seeing things on a screen and it visually makes more sense.”

Since this system is new to students and teachers alike, administrators and counselors will be in the computer labs with the classes to help navigate the program.