Its not just the cost that is prohibitive, its the logistical nightmare of switching from one infrastructure to another while school is in session. Keep in mind there are 19000+ undergrads, most of which are enrolled in 9+ classes per year, not to mention all the instructors and TA's, setting things up would become astronomically difficult.

That being said, professors individually can use alternatives. Some profs post on their department website, while others don't want google stealing their work haha.

then why didn't they do this over winter break? i guess that's not enough time (stupid hardly two weeks break! ^.^) i'm glad i'm not in first year anymore, where every class had online assignments and quizzes ;D

there could be many reasons why they didnt over the break:

-full year courses
-it did get better, maybe they weren't expecting it to break down again,
-a better option never presented itself

i dunno, it looks like its here to stay, we just need to wait for that team to fix the problem

im sure webct had similar problems when it was first implemented...

Originally Posted by ash0000

im sure webct had similar problems when it was first implemented...

And I have a feeling with dialup...ew

Should've gone with Sakai. Free and used in BIG universities like Cornell and Stanford, it would have fit in much better methinks.

Brock just switched to it, and while they have less enrolled, they've had no problems with speed at all.

I realize that things need to be submitted online, which is why people should be urging their profs to rely on ELM less until it works better.

Originally Posted by ytpos

it's not the notes that are so important, it's the assignments that have to be submitted online. granted, we're given enough time to do them in advance...

how much would it cost to switch away from elm? or blackboard? (i don't really know how these things run) like waterloo has angel, which is also owned by blackboard, but it doesn't suck like elm does.

I agree about the notes. I never use notes posted on ELM unless I randomly miss a class for some reason. My problem is that, in some of my classes, assignment descriptions are posted on ELM and not talked about in class. I also have to post weekly questions on the ELM discussion boards for one of my classes.

They obviously give us enough time to access this stuff. If I try accessing ELM on Sunday, I'm sure I'll be on it sometime by Wednesday night. But it's the hours upon hours of just waiting for it to load. It's such a waste of time. And it's not like I can walk away and do something else because once one page loads, I have to click on the course for another page to load, then click on the assignment for another page to load, etc.

I don't think I'll be taking part in this "cyber protest". I don't think slowing down one online application (MUSS) is going to help fix the problem of another slow online application (ELM), but maybe that's what the F*** ELM group people are going for. I wish they would fix it soon though, I'm so sick of waiting.

Originally Posted by knox

The university is actively trying to fix the problem. For what reason would the university not fix ELM when a majority of classes rely on it?

People need to calm down. If you can't access lecture notes, essay topics, or submit assignments, it's not your fault. It's not like your profs are going to fail you because ELM wasn't working -- and the fact that it's a known issue only helps you.

Spamming the hell out of some poor persons e-mail is only going to make getting to the actual problems more difficult. All you're doing is making someone at work have to read through hundreds of useless e-mails because he or she won't be able to just disregard them all. You're no better than the idiots who held up the 401.

Yes, spamming is just annoying. They are trying to fix the problem.... and there is progress... ELM isn't even at its full potential... its being held back becuase all of these persistant problems. Hopefully by next year they sort everything out. i don't know why people are complaining about notes.. the only problem I have is the online quizzes and online assignments. Stuff thats worth marks is the issue...

I'm a little disappointed with how people go at it the instant there's any form of opinion presented on either side of any discussion...just goes to show you that the world is heading downhill and soon enough apathy/laziness will prevail (like that movie Wall-E), and it's all because people are too worried about offending others / having others at their throats.

1) ELM is garbage...no question. But here's a tip for people having trouble with loading times: Sometimes the logon system gets 'stuck' and takes upwards of 10 minutes to load the page. If you notice it's taking more than a minute to open, refresh and start again, it might load up instantly! Works almost every time I try it, and I wind up on ELM faster than if I would have waited (by a longshot). If you're frustrated, give it a try!

2) What is your spam going to accomplish? Honestly, you think they're going to take down ELM mid-semester and replace it with something better? No, you're just going to create one hell of a headache for those two women, and they will ultimately disregard not only your email, but also anyone else who coincidentally emails about real problems.

Just to clarify...I'm not saying you shouldn't complain about it or anything. But really, what will a mass email accomplish besides ticking off these women? That will hurt your cause far more than it should. If you want to be taken seriously, you need to present yourself professionally...not like a bunch of kids throwing a tantrum.

If everyone in that group sent an email at random times, whenever they were compelled to, the odds of them being read will increase drastically. But no, you've chosen to act as one entity, which defeats the whole purpose of 'strength in numbers.' I sure hope you guys don't spend too much time writing those emails, because you may as well just type "LOL" a billion times...they won't get read, and their only use is the 'annoyance' factor.

3) Put blame where it lies...if ELM is so unreliable, your profs/TAs should make an effort to get the information to you by other means (I post all relevant information/notes/etc. for the course I TA on ELM as well as my personal webpage).

Why don't you all spam your profs to get them to make a website to post the notes on? Oh wait, because it'll accomplish nothing...nevermind.

yea i agree, this email thing won't get anything done but i guess itll make you feel a little better making somebody elses day a little worse