Students accessing oZONE, the OU network portal which allows for access to grades, enrollment, pay and other services, may notice some changes this fall to the look and feel of the website.

Working through phase II of the project, the oZONE team has worked all summer on administrative improvements, upgrading the visual aspects of the site and the implementation of Flexible Registration, a shopping cart feature which will allow students to create multiple trial schedules, said Nicholas Key, OU IT spokesman.

While the flexible registration system will not be ready for back-to-school enrollment, this feature is scheduled to be made available later this fall.

“‘Flex Reg’ will give students the ability to create multiple shopping carts, streamline the enrollment ‘checkout’ process, and improve the overall look of the enrollment service,” Key said in an e-mail. “We also don’t want any changes to negatively impact enrollment accuracy or availability. The implementation is very complex, and we won’t roll until it is completely ready.”

Key advises students to prepare for their enrollment window by making a list of course numbers for desired classes. It will save valuable time in trying to get into the highly sought-after courses, he said.

The news of a flexible registration system is a relief for many students who did not enjoy the transition between enroll.ou.edu and oZONE.ou.edu this past school year.

Michael Vivian, communications senior, was opposed to the functionality of oZONE when it came out last year, but welcomes any changes or improvements that will make navigating the site easier.

“It is too confusing to search for classes,” he said. “If you hit back it refreshes everything, and it also seems to run slower on Macs.”

Key said one thing students often have trouble with when navigating oZONE is finding where to click on the course reference number in the course search results list to access a better view of the course description and details. The amount of data in the course search results list can sometimes make it difficult to read the course description.

Many of the problems can be avoided by simply navigating the site before the enrollment windows up and making sure you know how it works. This will make sure you’re prepared to get the classes you want, Key said.