The Paw Print

By Sanaa Taqvi, Features Editor

In previous years, Selenium had been our gateway to managing the enrichment curriculum. However, for the 2023-24 school year, Payton made the transition to a new platform called “Selenium powered by Sched” (referred to as “Sched” hereafter). This introduction has raised numerous questions and concerns about the reasons for the switch and the actual effectiveness of the new platform. Returning students and faculty have grown accustomed to Selenium, while new members of our Payton community have interacted solely with Sched. This has given rise to a diverse range of opinions about the new system.

In a survey conducted by the Paw Print, a striking 89.7% of respondents expressed strong disapproval upon their initial encounter with this new platform, with 65% of these respondents being returning students. These students have labeled Sched as “confusing” and “inefficient,” even after ample time to adapt to the new platform.

One anonymous senior shared, “I think I actually dislike the system even more now. It’s way less user-friendly than Selenium was, and I’ve encountered more enrichment issues within just one month of this inadequate website than I had in [four] entire years using Selenium.”

A common complaint, raised by over 43% of respondents, relates to the “abominable” functionality of the app, especially when used on a mobile device, where it frequently freezes.

One junior who was “sad to see [Selenium] go” voiced frustration with the new system, stating, “You have to scroll down for weeks worth of days to select an enrichment. Every day that passes is more scrolling. The app often lags or freezes, until the app is restarted, where the scrolling process begins again.”

Another contentious issue concerns how students can sign up for enrichments throughout the year.

One sophomore explained, “On Selenium, you could only sign up 2 weeks in advance. Now when I try to sign up 3, even 4, weeks in advance, the enrichment I want to do is usually full. When it would open for everyone at the same time [referring to Selenium], we all had a chance to get into enrichments of our choice sometimes.”

In contrast, sophomore Eloise Khoury expressed gratitude for this feature, as “being able to sign up for programs in advance makes it much easier to coordinate my enrichments with my work schedule.”
Despite the overwhelmingly negative sentiment toward this new system, 30.6% of respondents reported that their experience with Sched was slightly better than their initial impression. Of these, 63% appreciated the platform’s colorful interface. Junior Aiman Imran noted her satisfaction with being able to switch enrichments a minute before they start. Khoury mentioned that her experience had improved as administrators implemented some changes that enhanced the platform’s usability, such as not displaying who is signed up for what and preventing multiple enrichments in one day.

But what about the teachers? 60% of respondents expressed that Sched fell short of their expectations, anticipating that it would be significantly worse than Selenium. Common issues included it not being “user-friendly” and “confusing.”

Ms. Rebecca Annunzio, a physical education and health teacher, commented, “It’s a nightmare. It’s difficult to delete enrichments, and I hate that it defaults to past dates and that it doesn’t tell someone which rooms are taken.”

Another teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, explained, “It is very basic and cumbersome to use. It doesn’t do the majority of things that Selenium did, like indicate which rooms were already taken, allow you to lock in students, check students’ calendars to see what they normally select for enrichment, bulk add students to an enrichment by advisory, etc. The interface is confusing as well, as you have to click page after page after page after page to get to today’s enrichment offerings. It takes a much longer time to create enrichments because you set an enrichment on one page, then have to go to a different page if you want to add students. You also cannot save enrichments, so if you offer the same enrichment weekly, you start from scratch each time.”

On the contrary, an anonymous teacher mentioned, “Like all the new applications and systems, however, it would have been great to introduce and review Sched to teachers toward the end of the last school year. It will take time to become familiar with Sched.” Many faculty respondents expressed gratitude for Mr. Arabie’s ongoing efforts to integrate this platform and manage technical issues. However, the prevailing opinion remains that Sched is simply “inferior [to Selenium] in every way,” as stated by a member of the faculty who preferred to remain anon

The abrupt transition from the beloved Selenium platform to Selenium powered by Sched has left the Walter Payton College Prep community grappling with a complex mix of sentiments. While some have found merit in Sched’s colorful interface and the flexibility it offers, the overwhelming majority, comprising both students and teachers, express deep dissatisfaction with its user-friendliness and functionality. As this new chapter unfolds, it is evident that the road to acceptance will require continuous adaptation, support, and improvements to ensure that the Payton community can once again find their stride in the digital landscape.