Recently, I spent an hour taking an exam in the online testing center in Carver. The computer was slow; scrolling up and down the page was a process in itself. I was there during a busy time so I just accepted that part.

The truly frustrating part was when I hit “submit.” My screen went blank, and I was told “iastate.edu is not responding” before my computer shut down. I raised my hand and explained to the proctor what happened. She responded: “Yeah, that happens a lot.” I had to go file a technical complaint and email my professor. I understand that with technology things like this happen, but if so much of our coursework and exams are going to be reliant on Blackboard, shouldn’t it work the grand majority of the time?

Anatomy, Spanish translation, calculus I, and principles of macroeconomics and microeconomics are just a few examples of the wide variety of subjects offered online this semester. Fifty thousand exams were taken in the testing center last semester. So far this semester, 10,000 exams have been taken in the two locations in Carver and Gilman halls, and that is before midterm week.

Online classes as well as in-classroom courses have online exams. This option does offer flexibility to students when exam time rolls around, especially during times when there are a lot of exams like midterm and final weeks, because students are typically given a larger time frame to take their exam, as opposed to a set time dictated by set class times. It also frees up lecture time for professors that would have otherwise been spent on exams.

I wanted to learn more about the running of the testing centers and Blackboard in general. Through my research I learned quite a bit.

First, I talked to Tom Brumm, professor in-charge of Engineering-LAS Online Learning. He informed me about how many exams have been taken last semester and this semester. He also shared that the budget for operating the testing centers is $240,000. This is the cost of operating the Carver and Gilman locations. The main cost is labor. There are always student proctors working to make sure everything is running smoothly, as well as the people who make sure the computers are functioning. He added that as Iowa State and the popularity of online testing grows, they will have to look at adding a third testing location, but as of now there are no plans.

When I was in the Carver location taking an exam, it was very crowded. When planning on a third location begins, I would like to see a larger location so everybody isn’t right on top of each other. I believe that would make taking an exam much less stressful. Those rooms are already so full of tension, we don’t need any more.

Next I talked to Jim Twetten, director of academic technologies for Iowa State’s Information Technology Services. He said schools nationwide have issues with Blackboard. At Iowa State, it is a problem of Blackboard conflicting with the infrastructure and database. There have been no major issues with Blackboard since Sept. 16. When Blackboard updates, there is always a potential for more problems, but IT Services tries to address most of those before the update occurs.

For those of you who are wondering about what happened to WebCT (the online system Iowa State used prior to Blackboard was phased out last year) and why we changed over to Blackboard in the first place, Blackboard bought WebCT in 2006 and let it die. So WebCT doesn’t even exist anymore. Iowa State is constantly looking at what other programs are out there even though we have a contract with Blackboard.

We have all had our own Blackboard woes. As the school year progresses they become less frequent. I don’t expect technology to always be perfect. As the year goes on I would like to hear even less complaints about Blackboard.

I ended up going into my professor’s office to go over my exam. It turns out I was not the only one who had technical difficulties. Most of my exam did submit and she was gracious enough to let me write out the questions that did not. I will soon be headed back to the testing center for a midterm exam. Now I know I should prepare myself for the environment, the potential disappointments and, of course, my exam.