Trouble in paradise

Many of my peers and other distance learners boast about the added benefit of being online. You can access class anytime from anywhere that has internet access. That is true if the system hosting your platform doesn't hiccup!

I was contacted via AIM (another technology that has its pro's and con's to be discussed in future posts) by a peer today. He said he wasn't able to log into his class for almost 36 hours and counting. I quickly thought "Oh crap, I have tons to do today online" and checked my course. I was able to login without any problems. I stupidly asked, "Did you contact tech support?" In which he replied, "Yes and they don't know what is wrong. They are working on it."

To those of you that don't attend an online school, those are the dreaded politically correct words for "You are *hit out of luck, dude. Try back later and hopefully it will work for you. I have no idea what is going on." I can say that with confidence because I used to be a level one tech support person for an online school. There is nothing worse than not being able to tell a student what is wrong. At least when there is an estimated time for a resolution, you feel like you have helped them and they feel like they have something to wait for. The ambiguity of not knowing and continually "trying again later" is so frustrating. Luckily our teachers are very understanding and didn't harass my peer too much. They told him to turn in his work via email and/or submit it when he gets back online and to stay in touch.

I hear the thunder a rumbling so before my computer gets fried, I am signing off. Good luck to all of you that are online distance learners and pray that your content management system and hosting platform are always stable.