Students and advisers might have an easier time organizing class schedules and evaluating degree standing with a recent computer tool upgrade.

The Degree Navigator program has been revamped from a setup of colored blocks of separate requirements to a complete text list including degree and university requirements.

Degree Navigator 4 was made available at the end of February and is slowly making its way into university advising appointments.

The large difference between the new and old systems, associate registrar Roberta Kelley said, is the visual layout. The old Degree Navigator program used what advisers call islands, which are blocks of separate requirements that change colors based on the student's completion of the courses.

"The islands reminded me of a video game from the early '80s," said Dawn Hammond, assistant director of Academic Student Affairs for the College of Social Science. "Now, you can see it as a flow chart, but it's very text-based."

Beth Judge, assistant to the dean of the College of Arts & Letters who also worked with the development of Degree Navigator 4, said the new system layout is less confusing.

"It's easier for students to understand, rather than depending if an island turned a certain color, now it says 'This has been met,'" she said.

The Degree Navigator 4 program's full report audit feature lists courses taken for university and major requirements. To indicate a course requirement has been filled, a green check mark is placed next to the heading, and those courses that still need to be completed have red X's next to them. The courses taken also are listed in the report.

History senior Melissa DeFore said a more clear-cut system will help students follow their degrees.

"It was a little confusing," DeFore said of the old system that she used a few times. "If it told straight-out, it would help with degrees a lot."

Hammond's favorite feature of the new system is the screen that shows remaining requirements.