Web service to help Wharton MBAs

Understanding that Wharton MBA students need to spend time learning instead of waiting in lines and trying to access disparate information, Wharton Computing and Information Technology has developed a new World Wide Web service to make life simpler for a graduate business student. The result, "Spike 3," is a program -- scheduled for a fall release on the World Wide Web -- that packages the most important functions an average MBA student will need to use on a daily basis, according to WCIT Chief Information Officer Gerry McCartney. Spike and Spike 2 -- the program's older versions --were developed and written on software. But Spike 3 is written specifically for the Web, allowing any Wharton student to access it. The program can be updated and improved at any time. While it is technically a Web page, it's practically an interactive program. With Spike 3, McCartney explained, there will be an increased focus on broadcasting information. Students can search a calendar for topics or dates of interest, and coursepack availabilities and order forms will be available online. While MBA students currently register using PARIS, they will soon be able to register for courses through Spike. Spike 3 is a "push" technology, according to McCartney. Unlike e-mail, the user does not have to access it -- it is readily available. "The difference is most places elsewhere are using the Web for information," said Associate Director for Wharton Computing Kendall Whitehouse, adding that with Spike, "you're doing stuff." With many personal options, students create a personalized program on the site. The focus is on "increased customizability," Whitehouse said. Spike's purpose is "to add to the richness of what goes on in the classroom -- not to replace it in some way," McCartney added. When students decide to enroll in Wharton, they will receive access to Spike, so they can familiarize themselves with the administrative aspects of the University and concentrate on academics once they arrive on campus. Students are a key part of the process. "We resist pretending to think we know what the students want," McCartney said. And second-year Wharton MBA student Julius Sarkozy -- who helped create Spike 3 -- added that "WCIT's been phenomenal" about responding to student input. Wharton undergraduates will most likely get their own version of Spike after it successfully meets the needs of graduate students, according to Sarkozy. And, noting that this is the first graduating class to receive lifelong e-mail accounts, Sarkozy said Spike will continue to be a useful tool after graduation. First-year Wharton MBA student Kurt Didier, who will take over for Sarkozy in the fall, explained, "I believe technology should be seamless to the students and provide a function that enables them to increase learning, cooperation, coordination and community. "I only hope that I can match the high expectations [Sarkozy] is leaving behind," Didier added.