Fragmented update

My thinking is a little fragmented today, so here’s an update on 8 aspects of my life in one or two sentences each:

In my rush to get home this weekend, I forgot my webcam, so I won’t have any video updates this break.

I’m a little disappointed that my investigative report on Blackboard didn’t generate the response that I would have liked it to.  Maybe all those outages frustrated me a lot more than everyone else.

I was given an old book of the writings of Kahlil Gibran by my aunt Mary Ellen for Christmas, and I am really excited about reading them!  She didn’t know I read The Prophet over the summer, so how’s that for an amazing coincidence?

I knew the new Classic Crime CD The Silver Cord would be good, but it turned out to be more than I expected!  I’m really enjoying listening to it (thanks Isaac).

I am going to Kylee B. and Tim S.’s wedding tomorrow in Washington, IN with Amanda.  It will be good to reconnect with a bunch of my old alumni friends.

I’m psyched about meeting up with my high school friend Brandon P. on Tuesday.  I’ve got a feeling it will be the highlight of break.

The pharmacy where I used to work has asked my grandma twice this week to have me call them when I get into town.  I’m avoiding calling them for a while, because I know they’ll put me to work on a holiday.

Looking ahead, this break, spring break, and most of February 2010 are the last breaks I will have for a very long time.  I need to be putting them to better use.

Blackboard down 28 hours in fall semester

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – In a report issued today from Gerry McCartney, Purdue’s Vice President for Information Technology & CIO, Blackboard was out of commission for nearly 28 hours during the fall 2008 semester at the West Lafayette campus.

Blackboard is an online system allowing instructors to distribute course materials, communicate with students, post grades and administer online quizzes, among other things.  However, when the website is down, these materials are inaccessible, leaving many students and instructors frustrated with the loss of productivity.

Ben Holmes, a Purdue IT support specialist who works with Blackboard, wrote in an e-mail in mid-November that the system “has been less reliable lately than we would wish.  We are in direct contact with the company [Blackboard Inc.] by phone in an effort to prevent future problems.”

McCartney's report on Blackboard outages total nearly 28 hours of lost productivity during the fall 2008 semester (click to enlarge)

The source of these problems is the sheer number of students trying to access the site.  Purdue, with over 50,000 students and instructors across four campuses, is the largest client of Blackboard.  McCartney explains that “as is the case with much system-level software, scale is an important determinant of stability.”

What is being done to address the problem?  McCartney has spoken frankly with the CEO of Blackboard, Inc. about the university’s need for a reliable service.  “Our issues are not yet resolved but we expect Blackboard to be fully engaged in the resolution of issues as they continue to emerge,” he said in an e-mail.

McCartney has an annual salary of $264,000.

COMMENTARY:  McCartney, since his hire in 2006 has pressed too hard for the implementation of a fully integrated system across the four campuses.  I do not understand his desire for everyone to be on the same system.  There are many unique challenges faced by a computer system when 50,000 people try to gain access, and Blackboard is not capable of delivering the reliability we need, as evidenced by this most recent outage report.

I do not believe that uniformity should be placed before reliability.  If Blackboard continues to have reliability issues (and McCartney has given no reason to believe this will change any time soon), the IT department at Purdue (ITaP) should not push instructors away from the smaller systems they’re used to.  This pressure to get all courses onto Blackboard seems to be coming through the dislocation of resources which helped instructors learn other available course management systems such as YACS, a system used by several departments at Purdue including agriculture, pharmacy, nursing and health sciences, which has no reliability issues that I am aware of.  I am a strong opponent of the integration of systems when the chosen system to use does not have the resources to adequately meet our needs.

The full Fall 2008 Vista Outage Report can be found here in PDF format.  For the report formatted in Microsoft Excel, please e-mail me.

Ode to 7:30s

 Note:  Most of this was written on Thursday, December 11.

Yesterday was a milestone day in my college experience:  I had my last 7:30.  And now, I would like to take this time to reflect upon my many 7:30 experiences and say a few words.

For those who may not know, it is common Purdue jargon to refer to your classes by the time they start.  The sentence “I have a 7:30 tomorrow,” is sure to illicit a sympathetic response from almost anyone.  They are dreaded and feared.  No one wants them, not even professors, so they are more commonly freshman level courses.  This semester, that is, my ninth semester, I had three.

Nothing is ever learned at 7:30 in the morning.  It is simply impossible.  Please refer to the chart below.

As you can see from the chart, the typical college brain doesn’t turn on for learning until after a late lunch, and shuts off proptly before dinner.  Brain function remains at zero throughout primetime television sitcoms and sporting events.  Optimal time for learning takes place at the end of the day and well into morning when it is realized that, “Crap, I actually have to get stuff done today.”

Not gonna lie, it was a pretty big drag having a 7:30 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  But what was a bigger drag was the 6 hour break following that before my next class.  I took a nap every day except two and never got anything done during that break.  Next semester should be much better with 8:30s every day with continuous classes until 2:20 or 3:20.

But I never let it cramp my style.  Most people probably didn’t even know I had 7:30s because I would still participate in all the late night events and deal with being tired the next day.

This really isn’t as much of an ode as I thought it was going to be.  Oh well, it is what it is.  I’m just putting it up here because I promised I would.  I wanted to think back to how many 7:30s I’ve had before, but honestly there’s no way I could ever remember that.  It’s been a lot, and now they’re all over!

…until I have to start going into work at 6:00 AM!

Seriously?

WARNING: I’m in one of my ranting and raving moods.  Just got this e-mail from a professor:

Hi all! It was brought to my attention that I misentered some of the MDS scores – I wish I was told sooner instead of this last week. If you have an incorrect score entered, please let me know. I changed some already but would prefer not to check all of the semester scores. Thanks, Dr. Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxx

SINCE WHEN IS IT OUR JOB TO ENTER SCORES CORRECTLY?  SOUNDS LIKE YOUR JOB TO ME.  BUT I WILL GLADLY TAKE OVER THAT ROLE AND GIVE MYSELF 100% ON EVERYTHING!  DO YOUR DAMN JOB AND SHUT UP ABOUT IT!!!!  IT’S YOUR OWN FAULT YOU ENTERED THEM INCORRECTLY; DON’T GO BLAMING ME FOR IT.

I feel better now.  Going back to studying.

Vioxx

Okay, I’m studying peptic ulcer disease right now and I am reminded of this hilarious website I found back in 2004 when Vioxx was withdrawn from the market.  I wish pharmacy school were this entertaining!

A new post is on its way soon:  An Ode to 7:30s.