As WashU transitions to Workday Student, faculty members Amy Eyler, professor at the Brown School, and Chris Gill, professor of computer science and engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering, share their experiences and strategies for navigating this significant shift. Both bring unique perspectives, offering valuable insights on the importance of proactive preparation and adaptability.
Hands-on learning and faculty readiness
Eyler and Gill are both members of the Student Sunrise Faculty Advisory Group, which formed in Spring 2022. These faculty were some of the first to learn about potential changes and offered advice on how best to engage with their colleagues.
Earlier this year, they had the opportunity to practice using Workday Student in a test environment and pilot training materials. Of the experience, Eyler notes that faculty often wait until “crisis mode” to learn new systems, so having dedicated time to explore the platform was especially beneficial.
“It’s funny,” she says, “we expect our students to practice and demonstrate their skills, so this hands-on time for us was like, ‘Oh, it’s not that scary. It’s not that hard.’” Amy sees proactive engagement as essential, allowing faculty to build proficiency and confidence before the system goes live.
Gill echoes the importance of early engagement, noting the advantages of hands-on testing with Workday’s interface. “There’s nothing like getting your hands on the system to get a sense of it,” he explains. This initial interaction allowed him to return to his department with insights that sparked discussion. He emphasizes that a little time invested in becoming familiar with the system now will benefit faculty as they navigate the system later.
All faculty, including those who instruct and advise, will have an opportunity to practice the system as part of Mock enRoll, an event series happening throughout the month of November where students, faculty and staff can preview and practice in the system before it goes live in February 2025. Anyone who attends a Mock enRoll event will get a “backstage pass” to continue exploring a practice version of the system until Jan. 10.
You also can explore the Workday@WashU website for training materials and visit the Instructors and Advising webpages on sunrise.washu.edu for an overview of when you’ll begin using Workday and resources to understand the changes ahead.
Embracing change
Eyler and Gill have a combined 39 years teaching at the university, with Gill also earning his undergraduate degree and Doctor of Science at WashU. They’ve lived through countless transitions during their time here, technological and otherwise, and developed a healthy outlook on what change can mean for our students, faculty and staff.
“My experience over many years,” says Gill, “is we’ve learned to work around all the quirks of all the different ways that we get things done. I think in the long run, this is going to be a real opportunity to optimize and improve that. A lot of it comes down to, can we make this work in ways that maybe we hadn’t even envisioned, and that end up better than what the old thing was?”
He also knows that transitions will have their ups and downs and anticipates the university taking several years to adapt to the new system.
Gill points to current challenges related to managing course enrollment and prerequisites in computer science. His department’s high demand for courses—across majors, minors, and graduate programs—makes effective registration management crucial. He sees Workday’s automatic prerequisite checks as a significant advantage but thinks its reserved capacity functionality may introduce new complexities.
Additionally, he notes that the Workday interface, which is “what most people are going to base their opinions on,” is likely to have the biggest impact on user experience. However, he recognizes that the interface design is beyond WashU’s control, requiring feedback to Workday to help the company improve its product’s usability over time. He looks forward to collaborating with his school’s leadership and the university’s Workday Student support team to promote that continuous improvement.
Looking forward
Both faculty members see potential in Workday Student for streamlining processes that have previously been cumbersome. They look forward to improved efficiency and easier collaboration across departments. Workday can automatically route tasks, reducing and sometimes removing the need for multiple emails, paper forms, or other manual work.
Of note, Eyler is excited about Workday’s waitlist functionality, which she expects will simplify registration processes in her program. Schools can determine which of their courses have waitlists enabled and can set a cap on their waitlists. Additionally, when a seat in a course becomes available, the first student on the waitlist is notified by an email as well as a push notification in their Workday inbox. They will have 72 hours to accept or decline the seat before the system notifies the next student.
“If we didn’t change, we wouldn’t grow. This transition is worth the challenge.”
Amy Eyler, professor at the Brown School
Gill shares a similar optimism, noting that Workday Student will prevent students from enrolling in overlapping classes, a change he believes will help students commit fully to their work.
Reflecting on the transition to Workday Student, Gill points out that “everything has to be new all the time.” As a researcher, he thrives on this challenge, stating, “The excitement and real thrill of newness” is what keeps him going.
Eyler encourages her faculty colleagues to accept that change is challenging but necessary. “If we didn’t change, we wouldn’t grow. This transition is worth the challenge.”