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Technology Update on Simmons Vista Migration
Filed under Technology Announcements
Posted by Technology, September 18, 2006
View all posts for September 2006
During the month of August, Technology migrated more than 600 course sections from both “old” WebCT and learning.simmons.edu to a new cluster of Simmons Vista servers hosted by UMass Online. While more than 95% of the sections were moved without incident, several issues were encountered during this major migration, each of which we believe to now be resolved.
Should faculty and students have any difficulty accessing any fall materials from my.simmons.edu/elearning we strongly encouraged them to contact the Helpdesk at 617-521-2222, or e-mail webct@simmons.edu so we can assist you, and also document and address the problem. The following is a technical update on known issues and their resolutions… (More)
Issues Encountered and Current Status:
1) Missing Course Materials: In approximately a dozen instances, after courses were moved and checked a system error caused course contents to be replaced with a blank Vista template, deleting all migrated course materials.
Resolution: In all known instances, course materials have been restored, and the problem has not recurred. However, faculty who have a migrated course with missing materials, should contact the Helpdesk ASAP.
2) Students Can’t Access Course: In approximately 35 course sections, students were unable to access their course materials due to settings which were corrupted during the migration process.
Resolution: On September 12th and 13th, all Simmons Vista courses were checked and the settings changed for each course section where needed. Any students who cannot access their enrolled courses at this time should contact the Helpdesk ASAP to report the problem so it may be resolved.
3) Access Issues with MacOS and Safari Browser: On Friday, September 8th, we received reports that users with Macs could not access Vista using the Safari browser from my.simmons.edu/elearning.
Resolution: A problem with the login script was identified, and this problem was resolved on Monday, September 11th.
4) Expired Certificate: Over the weekend of September 9th, a security certificate on the UMass Online server expired, resulting in some users receiving security warnings on their browers when logging into Simmons Vista.
Resolution: UMass Online corrected this issue by updating the certificate on Monday, September 11th.
Important Reminder to Faculty and Students
While all Simmons faculty, staff and general access computers should be properly configured for Vista, when using an on-campus computer for the first time, or accessing Vista from a home or other off-campus computer, it’s very important to use the Check Browser feature in Vista.
If the Check shows any red “X’s” that computer is not properly setup to work with Vista, and it is likely you will encounter problems. The Helpdesk is prepared to offer assistance on browser and other issues related to Vista at 617-521-2222.
Future Updates
Additional updates will be posted as warranted to Campus Announcements and are also available on the Simmons Vista login page at http://my.simmons.edu/elearning