This morning we went live with Mesa Online, a website for students taking Spanish courses in the World Languages department. The idea behind the Mesa program is that students sign-up for a time to have lunch or dinner with a small group of students and one faculty member. During the lunch or dinner, all conversation must be in Spanish. The previous sign-up system involved a large list of timeslots posted on the wall. My Fall 2008 software engineering class took upon themselves the task of converting the paper-based system to an online system. I helped the students bring the project to a conclusion just in time for it to go live today for the Spring 2009 semester. As of 3:00PM, exactly 100 students have created their Mesa accounts. There is still work left to be done on the administrative part of the website, but I will post updates as the semester progresses and as we see whether the system effectively meets the needs of the World Languages Department here at Samford.