WebAssign, the online instructional tool used by many faculty and students at the University, has experienced service slow-downs during peak usage hours — 8 p.m.to 11 p.m. — over the past few weeks, caused by the increased influx of students using the tool to complete assignments.   

Many students and faculty have experienced sluggish response times, and even reported an inability to log into the system.   

Adam Forcum, a freshman in mechanical engineering, said WebAssign’s server issues have significantly impacted his chemistry lab, which ends at 9:30 p.m.   

“It’s been giving my chem lab nearly constant problems,” Forcum said.  “Most people seem to do Webassign at night which causes slow-downs for us. Several times our instructor was forced to extend our in-lab assignment on WebAssign — which is supposed to be finished in class — for several days to allow us to finish.”

Forcum said he and others in his lab are irritated by having to complete the assignment out of class, as they are inundated with other assignments and responsibilities.

“This means extra time spent outside of class doing something that we should already have done. Extra time that I don’t have,” Forcum said.   

Jerry Bettis, a graduate student in chemistry and lab teacher assistant, said WebAssign’s server issues have given him issues as a first time instructor.

“As a first year graduate student, it adds an extra weight.  I have to constantly check my mail, making sure students get extensions. It gives people an excuse not to do them, and that’s what really bothers me,” Bettis said.  

Jennifer Bell, a mathematics instructor, said she has experienced similar problems.   

“It’s gone from maybe receiving a handful of e-mails a day to receiving a tons of e-mails because students can’t make [WebAssign] work,” Bell said. “I’ve had to do things I’ve never have had to before, and it’s frustrating.”

John Risley, the CEO of Advanced Instructional Systems, the creators of WebAssign, released a statement to WebAssign’s users soon after the problems arose, apologizing for the tool’s poor performance and stating how the situation would be fixed.

Risley said they have doubled the server count, adding a dozen new servers to increase efficiency.  WebAssign also has an additional twelve servers on order to be configured and installed immediately upon receipt. 

“This has resolved some of the slow-down issues,” Risley said. 

Bell said WebAssign, when it is working and not giving students problems, is very beneficial.   

“It is too difficult in a class of 100 or 200 to assign and take up homework for a grade,” Bell said.  “With WebAssign, they can see what they are doing wrong, what they are doing right.  It monitors the students well.”

While Forcum acknowledges that his class has experienced fewer problems with the increased number of servers, he said there are still problems.  

“Since the people at WebAssign have increased their load capacity, we have experienced [fewer] problems but it continues to mess up once in a while, either kicking you off or even changing answers as you submit them,” Forcum said. 

According to Risley’s statement, the company is fine-tuning the application to increase efficiency and is consulting with database experts to further mitigate the disruption.

He also said they expect to experience continuing slow-downs from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday to Thursday for the next couple of weeks.   

Bettis said he remembers WebAssign’s performance when he was in his undergraduate studies.

“I remember a time when WebAssign was free.  Then they started charging for it, and it was going well.  Then they started charging more, and it stopped working,” Bettis said.   

As it seems the worst of the slow-downs have been resolved, Bell said she questions whether the staff at WebAssign will be ready for student influx in the future.