Double check finals schedule

Students should double check their final exam schedules because teachers may have given the wrong times in their class syllabuses.

The Registrar’s Office accidentally placed the wrong finals times in the printed class schedules in November, said Registrar David Micus. It was the finals schedule for a previous spring semester, he said.

The Registrar’s Office e-mailed professors in January to warn them about the mix up, and they sent another reminder about two weeks ago, Micus said. The office has posted the correct finals schedule on its Web site at http://www.umt.edu/registrar.

“This is just one more reason why we need to get away from this printed stuff,” Micus said.

Micus said this is a problem because class schedules are printed six months before finals. It’s difficult to plan something that far in advance, and changes might happen even if mistakes aren’t made, he said.

“Next semester, we’re not going to even put the finals times in the printed schedules,” Micus said.

And few schedules are even being printed anymore. Starting last semester UM stopped printing class schedules for students. Teachers and advisers are still getting printed schedules, but students have to look on the Web for class listings and finals times.

This is a needed transition, Micus said. So much of what’s printed in schedules becomes obsolete the minute they’re printed. Class times change, and students can’t see what classes are full.

With the Internet version of the class schedule, things like this finals schedule mishap can be corrected immediately for every student to see. And the University doesn’t have to worry about notifying students because updates are instantaneous on the Web site, Micus said.

“Again, this is why we want to do away with printed schedules,” he said.