Bells & Whistles: Features of Our New Web Registration System

As we wrote in our previous post, our Winter/Spring 2010 Impact Short Courses Program registration period is scheduled to begin the first week of January. Our target date to go-live is Tuesday, January 5th. While we've been utilizing online registration for many years now, we felt our course management system was incredibly inflexible and difficult to navigate (and many of you agreed). We will debut our new system when we return in January. Some of the new features include:

• Username/passwords -Students may select their own username, password and update their profiles anytime they wish. No more long online applications to create, or student ID numbers you will never remember.
  

• Email confirmations - Finally, all students who register and provide an email will now receive an email notice when they create a profile, register for a class, and/or receive course start date reminders.

• Quantity registration - Rather than register only one student at a time, all students who enroll online may now include friends or guests they want to enroll as well. No more coordinating with your friends to register; you may simply to do it for them.

• Household profiles - Parents may now keep all of their family information in one place and manage all the courses a spouse, partner, or child is enrolled in.

• eGift Cards - Individuals may now give the gift of a short course. You may purchase eGift cards in any amount and they are good for 24 months from the date of issue. Look for the eGift Card icon at our registration site.
  

• Discounts and promotions - We'll now be able to offer discounts on many of our courses. At the start of the quarter, we'll extend an early-bird discount to anyone who registers in a class before January 22nd. The discount will be applied at checkout.
  

We're excited to begin next quarter - we hope you'll join us!

Community Education Set to Go-Live with New Web Registration System

In January 2010, Community Education will begin utilizing a brand new web registration system. Over the past several years, we have relied on the online enrollment process both Foothill & De Anza Colleges have used to enroll students in for-credit, academic classes.

While we attempted to customize the online registration process as best we could, we clearly recognized there were serious limitations. Over the coming weeks, we will explore some of the new features related to our new system. Most importantly though, our new system will be far more user-friendly. We are extremely excited at taking our new system live in January and sincerely hope it will provide a better student experience for our community.

Ed2go Six Week Online Courses Rise Over 30% in 2009

With over a 30% increase in enrollment from this time last year, the convenience of online learning is clearly taking hold amongst our student community. Over 1,100 students enrolled in an online course through our Community Education - Impact Short Courses program. We plan to grow our online programs as we head into 2010. In March, we will issue a special edition publication dedicated exclusively to online courses and career training programs.