After students voiced their complaints of goldmail inboxes being filled daily with mass e-mail messages from ETSU, the policy for sending out university-wide e-mails was changed. The result – PlanIt ETSU, a new Web site that lists all of the upcoming university events in one location.

“We want to have a place students can go to find the information as well as the general public,” said Office of E-Learning Web Manager Michaele Laws in a phone interview. “It is our job to provide the technology. This is just one way to let people know what’s going on. I hope people will utilize this to find out what’s going on both on and off campus.”

PlanIt ETSU can be accessed two ways. One, by typing in www.etsu.edu/planitETSU, or by linking to it through the ETSU home page. This takes the user to the main PlanIt page, where he or she can choose from the list of options or go directly to PlanIt for Students or PlanIt Central.

PlanIt Central provides a detailed calendar with useful information to faculty and staff. PlanIt for Students, on the other hand, is an interactive hub featuring scrolling pictures to advertise big events, a video area that is updated weekly, links to goldmail, goldlink and D2L, and a list of events by category.

These categories include athletics, campus-wide events, campus recreation, student news, etc. Students have the opportunity to subscribe to whichever categories and events they choose via RSS feed or e-mail.

“There was a policy put in place about the e-mails to help with what needed to be sent out and what didn’t,” Laws said. “This is a way that they [students] can subscribe themselves to the things that they are interested in. You will receive e-mails from those things only.”

After the university e-mail policy was changed, a new calendar system was created last spring, Laws said. The Office of E-Learning received some feedback from students, resulting in the new PlanIt ETSU Web site, which was launched on Sept. 8.

Another unique feature to PlanIt ETSU is the ability for students to submit university sponsored events. “We have an online form for events that are to be added to the system,” Laws said. “The event must be approved by calendar administrator and students should at least give a week notice for the approval process.”

If changes need to be made to an event before posting, the student creator will be notified, Laws said.

Now, all that’s left is to get students using PlanIt ETSU. The Office of E-Learning is working with other departments to promote it, Laws said.

“I don’t get on the ETSU site much, but I do like how this is designed,” said freshman pre-med major Logan Jonus as he looked at PlanIt ETSU for the first time.

Senior English major Sabrina Haney said she checks her e-mail more regularly than she would the PlanIt ETSU, but plans to subscribe to it by e-mail.

“This is a really well laid-out Web site,” said graduate student Zach Morris, who also said that he is glad to find a place where he can look for things to do.

As students learn about PlanIt ETSU, Laws hopes they will continue to utilize the site. “We want students to know that concerts, lectures, games etc. because a lot of good things are happing at ETSU,” she said. “We want to put it in one place to make it easier to do their job and keep informed and entertained.

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