Oncourse gets an overhaul

Some of the 73,000-plus users of Oncourse may have noticed the popular site went offline this morning from midnight to 6 a.m. while it receives replacement hardware.\nOncourse, which has been widely adopted by faculty and students, has received additional software every year for the past three years. During the third week of this semester, UITS noticed major slow downs in the system and began making efforts to correct the problem.\n"What has changed is that faculty are putting richer and deeper material on Oncourse. They are doing exactly what they are supposed to do," said Bradley Wheeler, associate dean for teaching and learning technologies. "Because the faculty are using it in much larger ways, the students are using it in the same fashion."\nAccording to Wheeler, UITS data shows the average login time has doubled since last spring.\n"When we observed this we took steps to increase efficiency, but we hit a wall," Wheeler said. "The hardware was maxed out. It was scheduled to be replaced at the end of the spring, but usage behavior accelerated faster and we needed to replace the hardware more quickly."\nThe database hardware is being replaced at a cost of approximately $200,000.\n"This is not a band-aid, this is a new storage area network," Wheeler said. "By orders of magnitude it will have greater speed and storage capabilities.\nAccording to UITS data, 74 percent of students have logged in multiple times to Oncourse this semester.\n"The faculty are just using it in extraordinarily creative ways," Wheeler said. "Our adoption of Oncourse is unparallel with any other major state university. Our faculty and students have embraced it for creative ways of teaching and learning."\nProblems ranging from slow downs to a user mistakenly accessing secure information have prompted the change.\nFreshman Chase Potter logged onto his user name and typed in his password last week, only to discover another user account on the screen.\nPotter said he didn't try to see how far he could go and how much information he could access, instead he decided to send UITS an e-mail.\n"I've got another student's name and class listed in my Oncourse area," the e-mail reads. "This seems to be a major violation of his privacy."\nA standard response was issued regarding Potter's e-mail.\nChristine Fitzpatrick, deputy communications officer for UITS said once a suggestion comes in the system tracks them and passes them along to individuals who can address them.\n"When the incident was called in, it was escalated through the chain of command," Wheeler said. According to a UITS report, an incorrect social security number had been entered by the faculty member for a course and resulted in the release of secure information.\nSenior Stephen Whatley has encountered minor problems with the Oncourse system but said he doesn't feel his academic security is threatened.\n"Oncourse always has minor problems," he said. "But I've never had problems with my account information."\nLast year IU ranked seventh among Yahoo Internet Life Magazine's most wired universities. Oncourse's updated hardware is only the most recent step in maintaining this title.\n"So many people are using the system and that requires the addition of more hardware," Fitzpatrick said. "Other than this isolated incident, there have been some slow downs but that is being corrected with the installation of this additional hardware"