I’m not what you would call a ‘things were better back then’ sort of guy. That may be because I’m under the age of 70, but mostly it’s because I generally value progress and moving forward.

This university system has tried to move forward with a new student information and registration system. UW-Eau Claire iteration is called MyBlugold CampS, of course. It’s definitely moving forward, but I think there are some issues with its progress.

My initial problem with the system involves the interface. I feel like I have to click forever to find anything I’m looking for. Whether this is to search for a course or to see my financial aid information, my index finger dexterity is tested.

Seriously though, it feels like much of the information is buried under a pile of links, which can take awhile to sift through.

A second issue is related to the amount of information. There is a lot contained in the system. This is not to say that MyBlugold didn’t have the same level of information – it just doesn’t feel as overwhelming as CampS.

It doesn’t help matters when some of the information is repeated in various places on the site. After the initial log-in, you click your way (hooray!) to a screen with several icons such as “view bill” and “search for courses” and student center.

If you click on student center, all of these options appear on the sidebar on the left. They also all appear on the screen as well. If you go to view financial aid you will get a screen where you can accept and decline your loans. This is nice, but there is also another button on the screen that gets you to the same point.

This is just one of the examples.

It gets overwhelming at the plethora of options available on one screen especially when many of the links get you to the same point.

Another major problem is finding your registration time. You need to click on enrollment, which provides a confusing screen with another button to select so you can switch to the term you want.

This provides a screen with several long lists of repeated dates and when you scroll down you can finally discern when to register by looking at one of the long lists. I just got a sharp pain in my head and a little nausea from typing that up.

This needs to be put on the home screen. Instead, all I get is a reminder that I can register for winterim on October 5 when we’re in the middle of November.

Thanks for the heads-up, CampS!

A final point I want to make is the current sabotage of the degree audit. Maybe this is just a problem with me, but after receiving your audit, and you choose a course number to actually see what it is, you get a 404 error. This makes the degree audit only sort of useful.

I then need to go to course search and wade my way through the system to find a list of courses and compare that to what I need on the audit.

Obviously I’m not a tremendous fan of the system, but I don’t want to make it seem like it’s complete crap. There are many great things about it such as the shopping cart, which makes the actual registering for courses much easier and the ability to accept financial aid online now instead of through a letter is welcome.

The problem is that it is mired in confusing amounts of repeated information and large amounts of searching for what you need.

I realize that there is a learning curve to anything and it may seem like I haven’t given this enough time, but it wasn’t this difficult with the previous system.

The university is not wholly liable for this as it is a UW system mandate, but I’m hoping something can be done to streamline the system.

Progress is a bumpy road, but it’s not usually a sinkhole.