News
Techpocalypse - Our Response
The Students’ Union has written an open letter to the Pro-Vice Chancellor Academic Tom Ward about the I.T failures which affected UEA’s network during the week beginning Monday 15th December. During the week, we received a vast number of comments and complaints from students about the University’s handling of these I.T problems, and about the deadline extensions for coursework which were given to students.
We sent these comments to Tom Ward as well as the Associate Deans for Learning and Teaching in the four Faculties. This letter is intended to follow up this action and act as a formal response from the Students’ Union to the University. The views expressed in this letter have come from the student body and it is hoped that Tom Ward will respond.
The full letter:
6th January 2011
UEA I.T Network Problems
Dear Tom,
During the last week of the autumn semester of 2010 (w/c 13th December), the University’s network experienced significant faults. The problem affected the entirety of the network- including phones, internet access on campus, external access to the Portal, and the University’s website. These problems meant that students were left without access to:
- Their email accounts
- The Portal and e:vision, including Blackboard (hence online lecture notes, and online assessments)
- Journals, especially via the Athens gateway
- The central file-store
- Internet on campus
- Printing on campus
- Ability to phone School and Faculty Offices
These issues persisted throughout the week, with a moderate level of service re-established on Thursday 16th, although certain difficulties still exist.
During this period, School and Faculty offices extended some assessment deadlines for students by varying lengths. Communication and decisions flowed intermittently from staff to students, and were summarised in an open letter from yourself to students at the end of that week.
Across this period, the Union of UEA Students used its online facilities, which were broadly unaffected, to communicate messages as best as possible to its members via our website and various social networking sites.
A number of members contacted us with their criticisms of how they felt the situation was handled, as well as posting comments on social networking sites which we sent these to you at the time. We feel that there were two main problems with the way that the University handled the situation. The main difficulty was that the University failed to adequately communicate with the student body. Clearly, reaching students was problematic because the network problems affected e-mail systems. However, the University has both a Facebook and a Twitter page, both of which students used to try and contact the University to find out information about when the system would work again, and how the problems would affect their deadlines, but neither of which the University used during the worst of this period. As one student stated in an e-mail to the Union; ‘The lack of information is the worst’.
Whilst eventually information such as mobile phone numbers for each Faculty was posted, it came very late and also seemed to students to be insufficient. To avoid confusion, it would have helped if there had been one place where all the information was posted so that students could be directed to one particular site. As one student commented on the University’s Facebook page;
‘Somebody needs to go round the teaching offices and find out exactly what each of them plans to do with extensions and then post it here. There are many rumours circulating but we need it in black and white from a reputable source’.
Moreover, the Union had the ability to contact a large amount of students through our various Facebook groups and through our website itself which was unaffected by the network failure. We took the initiative from Tuesday afternoon and began conveying the message to students on our website, when it became clear that the network problems were significant and potentially long-lasting. However, it is disappointing that the University did not think to contact us directly to ask for help, so that we could work together to reach as many students as possible.
We recognise that the University attempted to get the message out to students through the use of posters around campus. However, again these measures came fairly late on in the period of difficulties, and wouldn’t have reached students who were unable to be on campus. Furthermore, when the problems originally started on Monday 13th, there seemed to be no member of I.T staff who could give out any information to students.
The second problem flagged up by students regards deadlines. The deadline extensions which were given to students were as follows; in the Faculty of Science all deadlines were extended to January 20th, in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities all deadlines were extended to 3pm on December 17th, and in the Faculty of Social Sciences deadlines were all extended by 48 hours, mostly until 5pm on December 17th. Those assignments due in later than Wednesday 15th were accordingly extended by 48 hours from the original deadline. There was a lot of distress caused by both the timing of the deadlines themselves and the way in which they were conveyed to students.
Many felt that as all students had faced a 48 hour period in which the UEA network was inaccessible, all students should be given at least a 48 hour extension on any work which had to be handed in that week. The fact that the Faculty of Arts and Humanities only gave what was a 24 hour extension on coursework due in on the Thursday was seen as unfair by some students;
‘To be given 24 hours compensation for a 48 hour problem is unacceptable. I was unable to access resources vital for my work, so I am therefore at a disadvantage.’
Deadlines for students in the Faculty of Social Sciences were all extended by 48 hours. However, there was confusion amongst students in the Faculty, as information about these extensions was not disclosed until late in the afternoon on Wednesday 15th December. The Faculty of Science declared on the morning of Wednesday 15th that all deadlines for students in that Faculty would be extended until January 20th.
Differing deadlines across Faculties led to confusion and distress among students as conveyed in an e-mail the Union received;
‘Students from across the faculties pay the same tuition fees… therefore, we should be treated equally. No student is more important than the other… students from HUM and SSF have the same needs regarding access to the library as those students from SCI.’
It seems that students who study humanities degrees felt particularly unfairly treated by these deadlines, as one student stated on the University’s Facebook page;
‘This is a disgrace, now we know that UEA values its Science students over its Humanities students. Give us the same extensions, it’s only fair’.
Whilst the Union appreciates the reasons behind HUM and SSF’s decisions not to extend deadlines beyond the autumn semester, a blanket deadline extension would have avoided confusion about different deadlines and ensured an equitable outcome for all students.
It was not only the disparity between deadlines for students in different Faculties which caused anger, but the lack of effective communication of these deadlines to students. The Students’ Union was not contacted with this information directly, though we constantly were trying to gather up to date information to distribute to irate students. One student commented;
‘The only e-mail I've got giving the deadline… was from the Students’ Union… We're getting updates from friends on Facebook. That's appalling. I want some semblance of official information from the University.’
Considering the extent to which the University is dependent upon the core server to function properly, it seems astounding that there seemed to be no back-up system both in terms of temporarily replacing some functionality on the network, as well as in terms of contacting students without the ability to send e-mails. The University has such a capability through Facebook and Twitter, but it was used both inadequately and insufficiently. We would be greatly reassured if it was clear that in the future there was going to be an contingency plan for such I.T failures.
We appreciate that the network problems were unexpected and caused disruption and distress for all involved. It was clear that in School and Faculty Offices staff did all they could to help students. However, the Union believes that clearer leadership was needed throughout the period of technical failure in order to allay students’ fears, as many were unsure of who was making decisions about deadlines and who they should contact to find out when they were. The relationship between the University and the Faculties was unclear and this led to further confusion.
The flexibility built into the new deadlines which were conveyed to students by Faculties is much appreciated, and we hope that this will continue into this semester in the light of on-going network problems over the Christmas holidays. It is hard to believe that the University have still not communicated with students about these system failures. Students with dissertations which are due in this month have been severely disadvantaged.
Over the period of technical difficulties in December the Union sent the University a wealth of student opinion on the network failures and subsequent deadline extensions, and we believe that our members would appreciate a response from these comments, and this open letter.
Yours,
Rachel Handforth Dan Youmans
Academic Officer Community and Student Rights Officer