This bulletin was issued at 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, almost 18 hours after I began experiencing problems Tuesday. Professors are still able to e-mail students, but where does that leave students? I had an exam Wednesday afternoon. I had no notes because the professor's slides were put on Blackboard. I was able to get the notes from a friend in the class, and I'll even reluctantly admit perhaps I should have been more prepared (although after paying $200 in technology fees, I would expect no problems accessing the site on a night before a full day of classes).
However, students who don't have friends in class didn't have that opportunity. Had I misplaced the syllabus, the only place to read it would have been Blackboard. Teachers who had assigned exams should have canceled them, either by individual choice or university mandate. I might have even been content with receiving an e-mail from the professor that I still needed to prepare for the exam. As far as I'm concerned, however, an exam in this situation should be canceled. Because of Blackboard, students in my class were forced to take an exam worth 25 percent of our grade without notes, access to other students in the class, the syllabus or the professor. Blackboard is championed by the university and most professors as an important tool in our education.
It is ridiculous the university has allowed this to happen, and USC should be held accountable in some way. And maybe if we can't get access to important technological tools, $200 is too much to be paying.