Since I Can’t Access DrexelOne, I’ll Spend This Time Blogging
Posted by Karl Kuchs on 10 Dec 2008 at 11:40 pm | in: Your Corner Soapbox
The end of a term is a stressful time for students as there are many things that must be attended to. Aside from studying for finals, students must register for classes, check schedules, stay on top of important e-mails to professors, submit projects and view their final grades. In order to assist students in these activities, Drexel offers their DrexelOne system that, for the most part, easily accesses all of the previous mentioned activities. However, it only adds to the stress when you attempt to log into the DrexelOne server to find this:
I first noticed this issue during DrexelOne’s last reserved maintenance window, which seemed to last longer than usual, and I now find that on the login page a message stating that “DrexelOne is currently operating at reduced capacity.”
Now as far as I know there has been no official announcement regarding the cause for this reduced server capacity. Personally I hope it is due to some sort of system crash and not the IT guys deciding that now would be a nice time for extended system maintenance. I cannot think of a worse possible time to schedule extensive system maintenance than week 10 or finals week. Although most of the services mentioned earlier are still accessible through direct logins, it is quite annoying to have to change the way you’ve been using a system during such stressful times.
I like the way I’ve been using the system and a number of things I do a certain way for a reason. For example, a few years back I would view my e-mail through DrexelOne and Webmail interchangeability, however an issue developed where when trashing e-mails they would get sent to different trash bins depending on which system I was using. As a result, only one trash bin would ever get emptied and I would suddenly find myself using 100% of my e-mail capacity and not knowing why I couldn’t reduce it. Since then I haven’t trusted or used Webmail, well until I was forced to this week.
Aside from a disturbance to our normal Internet routines, there are a handful of services that cannot be accessed without going onto DrexelOne, most notably anything dealing with class schedules or final grades. There are still students that are tweaking their schedules for next term, and aside from everyone wanting to see their final grades, there will be a handful of cases where there may be an error in the grade submitted and will need to be attended to as soon as possible. The loss of easy access to these services will not only lead to increased stress to students, but also hold potential to lead to more serious issues down the road.
As mentioned before, I’m not sure if the reduced capacity is due to some sort of system error or scheduled system maintenance. If a system error has occurred then I feel sorry for the people working to fix the problem while dealing with the frustration from Drexel students, and congratulate them for at least getting some usability of the DrexelOne server. However, if this is just some sort of scheduled system maintenance, you better be working hard to get us back our full system as soon as possible and in the future don’t be stupid enough to schedule anything during the end of the term.
Triangle Graphic by Karl Kuchs
Plus 1 for this. I went to try and print my schedule for my parents and girlfriend. I told my parents I couldn’t because of an error with DrexelOne and they said, “oh, what else is new.”
Sad.
I’m glad someone wrote about this! Its been this way for years, but no one stands up and says anything. Great post Karl.
As a Drexel grad (three times - two masters and an undergrad degree), be thankful for what you have at the university. I’ve been teaching as an adjunct at Neumann College this past semester. The email system was not working a better part of the semester. Student’s don’t read their college email at Neumann. The college uses Drexel’s Blackboard Visa - and a small fraction uses it! There is a tiny area of the college campus that is wireless but it doesn’t work most of the time. It’s frustrating to go from Drexel to a place that is years behind. Appreciate what you have now….
BTW…especially today and tomorrow, you’re going to get that error message. Students are looking for their grades as well as professors/instructors are still putting in grades. There’s an overload on the system. Be patient and you’ll get through. Go on at an odd time, like after midnight. You might find less traffic trying to log in. I experienced the very same problem when I was at Drexel….patience…..
Good luck…I hope you earn all A’s!