J. Ann Tipton
Copy Editor
Beginning this semester, students’ grades are no
longer sent to their home addresses. Instead, midterm and final grades can be
accessed anywhere in the world via the Internet on a service called IQ.Web.
Students were informed of the change in the 2003 Summer Sizzler and at
registration in August. Most students, however, have not been formally taught
how to use IQ.Web.
“I remember getting a paper at the beginning of the year,” junior Rachel Jones
said, “but all it said was that grades weren’t going to be sent home. It didn't
explain how to check my grades on the Internet.”
In fact, many students are learning how to use the service because they were
taught by a friend or by simply browsing the Web site for themselves.
“(My roommate) and I remembered hearing something about being able to check our
grades on the Internet,” Jones said. “So we just looked around (the Milligan Web
site) until we figured it out.”
Even though the link to IQ.Web has been on the Milligan homepage for over a
year, the service was not made available to students until this semester.
Students can log on to the service by using their campus network logon name and
password.
Database Administrator Tracee Johnson said that 625 students have accessed
IQ.Web so far this semester. That means that almost 75 percent of the student
body has been successful in logging into the service at least once. Johnson said
there have been very few problems with the service and has been pleased with the
positive student response.
“Some students did have trouble logging on the first time which was all part of
the initial setup of the accounts,” Johnson said. “The students made no negative
comments but seemed to be excited when they did get logged in.”
The Registrar’s Office has received very little feedback about the change in
procedure. Registrar Sue Skidmore admits that she is unsure if this lack of
response means students have embraced the new software or if no one really
understands it.
“Our attempts to publicize IQ.Web were probably inadequate,” Skidmore said. “I
keep thinking that maybe everyone caught on because nobody came in to ask me
about midterm grades.”
Skidmore said that using IQ.Web is one way for Milligan to make sure students'
privacy rights are not violated as explained in the Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). The legislation gives any student or former
student the right to inspect, review and copy his or her permanent records.
At Milligan, the permanent records covered by FERPA include the student's
application for admission, high school and previous college transcripts, SAT/ACT
scores, correspondence with the Office of Admissions, documents pertaining to
grade reports, dates of attendance, approval of leaves of absence,
correspondence with the Deans, senior class status, course distribution summary
forms and the materials contained in the student's career planning file.
“It is permissible for us to release written reports of midterm and final grades
to the parents of dependent students,” Skidmore said. "(The administration)
decided it was very hard to determine who was a dependent student, so the safer
route was to let you and your parents work this out."
Skidmore said that students can request that grades be mailed home, but that a
new request must be made every semester. The necessary form can be found at the
front desk of the Registrar’s Office. So far this semester, no requests have
been made for grades to be mailed home.
Faculty and staff have been using the service for the last four years. Through
IQ.Web, professors submit grades to the Registrar's Office as well as access
their advisees' academic records to help assist in class scheduling.
Other records a student can access on IQ.Web include an unofficial transcript,
course catalog, student account balance and history, financial aid and
individual course schedules for every semester enrolled at Milligan. Students
can also alert the Registrar’s Office of a change of address through IQ.Web.
In the future, students will be able to register for classes on the service. The
Registrar's Office and Director of Academic Advising John-Paul Abner have also
been working on a feature called “Academic Plan” that will help students map out
every credit hour needed in order to graduate.
It is still unclear when these services will be added for student use.
“Unfortunately, that system is a bit user-hostile to get started,” Abner said.
“There is some pretty extensive programming that has to be done (before these
features can be implemented.)”