By Ben Bolton and Holly Sweat

University of Georgia students and faculty will use two online systems to communicate about their courses this fall.

A new management system, conveniently referred to as eLC New, is replacing eLearning Commons. eLC new was introduced in limited classes during this past summer. However, some teacher will still be using the old system during the fall semester.

Student Penny Vettraino finds the transition between the two systems to be quite confusing. “I have teachers using both the new eLC and the old one. It makes it harder having to use two websites to do my work,” Vettraino told us. She believes the change will also be difficult for instructors to adjust to as well.

Some of the new features for students include the option for SMS reminders for upcoming assignments. Also, users will have the ability to have multiple eLC New windows open at one time, unlike the old system.

The upgrade appears to be receiving mixed reviews among students. We spoke with political science
major Dillan Edwards who believes the change will only be helpful if communication between students
and instructors is readily available. Edwards transferred from University of Iowa, and he says even
eLearning Commons was an upgrade from Iowa’s management system referred to as ICON. “We couldn’t
communicate with classmates like you can on eLC,” Edwards said.

We contacted the several UGA EITS  employees for further comment, but they were not available for interviews today.

Students and faculty will have the option of accessing the old learning commons until next January. You
can find eLC New at https://uga.view.usg.edu/.