Thousands of Utah students and instructors lost grades, assignments, and other information when the state’s Blackboard Vista database crashed as a result of corrupt data.
The Utah Statesman reported that the crash erased all information entered in the statewide database between November 13 and 16 at Utah State University. The information is permanently lost. Many students will have to resubmit assignments, and faculty members will have to re-enter grades.
The database is run by the Utah Education Network, which operates the Blackboard system for colleges and schools across the state. To what extent various institutions were affected by the crash depends on how much they relied on the Blackboard system for classwork.
Scott Allen, learning systems administrator at the Utah Education Network, said in an interview that the crash was not caused by a defect in the Blackboard product but most likely by a problem with a computer network port. —Dan Carnevale
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