MyCSULB experienced “sporadic slowness” and inaccessibility for a few hours yesterday, according to an email sent to all faculty by Associate Vice President of Information Technology Services Janet Foster.
The problems were caused by “increased semester start-up traffic, along with a combination of web server factors,” Foster said in another email.
ITS was able to restore MyCSULB yesterday afternoon, but not before the technical hiccup reminded faculty members of last semester’s BeachBoard crash.
According to one philosophy professor, Alexander Klein, the problems with MyCSULB were a minor headache compared to the three-day migraine caused by BeachBoard’s blackout.
“It was more of an annoyance than anything,” Klein said. “I mean, when BeachBoard went down last year, that was a much bigger deal. I administer quizzes, and I have reading assignments and all kinds of stuff on [BeachBoard], which made that episode a complete disaster for me.”
Multiple professors said they were unable to access up-to-date class rosters because they couldn’t access MyCSULB.
“I tried to go on to get the latest enrollment roster but couldn’t log on at all,” said English professor Stephen Cooper. “I had one I printed out a few days ago but not having an up-to-date roster on the first day doesn’t look good.”
Another English professor, Geri Lawson, had already printed out her course materials so that she wouldn’t have to worry about possible issues with technology.
“I didn’t even check it at all today,” Lawson said.
According to Klein, many faculty members realize that the sudden increase of web traffic at the beginning of the semester and the week before finals oftentimes leads to delayed and inconsistent access to campus technology.
“I kind of love to hate the technology here because the administration is very keen on having professors use technology as much as possible in the classroom,” Klein said. “At least that’s the impression that I get, and when the technology doesn’t work well, it’s very annoying.”
Yesterday’s problems with MyCSULB were not directly connected with last semester’s BeachBoard crash, according to Director for Academic Technology Services Leslie Kennedy. She said the programs are provided by two different companies.
MyCSULB is a part of the Chancellor’s Office’s contract with Oracle’s PeopleSoft Applications. The contract has been in effect since March 2012, and it allows the entire 23-campus system and the Chancellor’s Office to consolidate its financial processes into one system.
If anyone on campus experiences additional service issues with MyCSULB, they are encouraged to contact ITS at [email protected].