Short Course Registration Goes Online

The days of lining up, calling in or completing a paper application to register for a short course at the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland are fading quickly

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Today, MI successfully went live with Destiny One™, a software platform that manages online registration and administration processes for non-traditional higher education programs and courses, such as the Institute’s short courses.

Upon the initial launch, the web-based self-service registration system provides students, who avail of the Institute’s short, industrial courses, with the ability to manage their course registrations and financial information, receive reminders for specific courses and have the Institute suggest courses for training certification or re-certification or progress toward a certificate.

As the system rolls out, students will be able to select how the Marine Institute communicates with them and what information they would like to receive.  And with the ability to access registration on a 24/7 basis, students eliminate their need to visit the Institute or call the Registrar’s Office to pay.

Longer term, the new platform will also provide industrial training coordinators with access to their own dynamic private corporate portal to organize and manage long term training programs for their employees.

Industrial courses offered by the Marine Institute and available for registration through Destiny One™ focus on topics such as safety, simulation, regulatory, fisheries and emergency response.

“Our goal is to provide our students and corporate clients, who look to us for their professional development and lifelong learning, with a streamlined, easy-to use registration service that enriches  their overall experience with us,” said Glenn Blackwood, vice-president, Memorial University (Marine Institute). “We are also empowering our staff members with a more efficient tool to efficiently manage relationships with our corporate clients and individual students.”

Trevor Pike, manager, Information and Communications Technologies has been part of a team working to select the new online registration technology for MI’s short courses.

“The platform integrates with our websites and our Banner finance system, making online registration through Destiny One™ immediate, convenient and secure,” said Pike.

Once students find the course they want from the Institute’s extensive industrial course options, they will immediately recognize the “Amazon-like” shopping cart to start the registration process. Upon initial use, students create an account profile to manage their contact, courses and financial information.  From there, students select their course(s), course section and complete their application and choose their payment option. They then receive an email confirmation and future communications leading up to the first day of class. Over time, students can track their learning progress, order transcripts and organize their courses to complete a certificate program.

The new system provides a separate interface for staff that offers more efficient capabilities and creates consistency across the industrial units to manage the registration process. With the ability to access up-to-the-minute data on student accounts and course profiles, staff will eliminate valuable time physically entering student information via phone or in person, manage course enrolments and waitlists, and streamline the confirmation process.

“Our staff have being looking forward to bringing this system online and have been working hard to get it ready for launch. We know that by implementing Destiny One™, the Marine Institute is gaining a competitive advantage by providing students and corporate clients a convenient, engaging and productive experience,” said Blackwood. 

More information about MI's short courses can be found here. To learn about the new registration process, view this short video.