Y2K error slows release of fall grades at Tufts U.

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(U-WIRE) MEDFORD, Mass. -- The departments responsible for distributing fall semester grades earned an F for frustration from students eager to get their grades. Malfunctions on the Student Information Services (SIS) Online Web site the day grades were to be posted and the discontinuation of 800-number service previously used to provide grades by phone fueled student angst.

The SIS Online problem was the result of a residule Y2K defect, and although Tufts Computing and Communications Services (TCCS) tested for failures last year, an error occurred with the change to 2001 and the mainframe was unable to restart in the new year. It took TCCS over 10 hours to recover the network connection for the following day. TCCS ultimately acquired a patch from the software vendors to fix the problem.

Information Technology Director Tricia Sheehan called the Web-server incident "unfortunate," but said that the problem was completely technical. Nonetheless, it caused much frustration among students who were already dissatisfied with the amount of time it took Tufts to post grades on SIS.

"I went through a depression!" said senior Jonathan Brown, who woke up at 8 a.m. on Jan. 8 -- the day Student Services told students that grades would be available -- to check his final grade for a class on which he said his entire GPA and subsequent job application depended.

While the use of SIS Online to notify students of their grades is not new, this is the first time that students have not been given another means -- other than printed grade reports, which do not arrive until after students return for the spring semester -- to receive them. Previously, Academic Services and Student Affairs enrolled in an 800-number service for students to call toll-free and obtain their academic information.

The administration feels that two ways to access grades are sufficient, according to Registrar Jean Herbert. "The online version is a less expensive deal," she said. "This is why the 800-number was suspended after last year's transition period."

And, many students prefer viewing grades online, according to Herbert. Accessing the grade information through the SIS Online Web site provides students with a printable version of their final academic record, lets them view the information as many times as they desire, and is a secure method of display.

"You have [the grades] in front of you to view, and also, you don't have to pay a long distance fee this way," sophomore Andrea Araujo said.

The online system poses an obstacle for students who do not have Internet access. "I was in the southernmost city of the world and had no Internet access," sophomore Rodolfo Alborelli said.

Although the online option is generally popular, the time between the day grades are handed in to the administration and when they are published on the web is widely believed to be excessive. Many students have compared the Tufts system to that of other universities with quicker grade distribution systems.

While there are schools with quicker processes, Tufts is somewhere in the middle of pack. At Cornell, where students also get grades online, updated transcripts were posted at the beginning of January. Other universities have no online system whatsoever. Swarthmore University, for instance, relies exclusively on traditional mail for the delivery of the final grades.

Herbert stressed that grades are not immediately available because great care is exhibited in the entire grade uploading process. "We don't begin scanning until grades are checked, double-checked, and checked yet again," she said.

She said the meticulous process is lengthy, and the time period depends on the number of people checking grades and the rate at which the pages containing the grades can be scanned. That means that the 800-number system did not bring grades to students any faster than would a functioning SIS Online.

Professors have recently begun to send e-mails to notify students of their grades, and Herbert said that this delivery system seems to be the most successful. Students can thus receive their final grades, and often a more in-depth explanation of their entire semester, only days after the final exam.

"Faculty members are doing this more and more," she said.

But Herbert insisted that the University would never make it mandatory for professors to email every single student.

(C) 2001 Tufts Daily via U-WIRE

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