Bring back NetAcad - It Worked!
Why Cisco has killed off a system that was working reliably and moved us all to a complex and definately unreliable system is beyond me. I am so over NetSpace.
A negative statement that I shouldn't make but really NetSpace so far as given me nothing but trouble.
Paul Nielsen
shared this idea
Paul,
Again, I apologize for your frustration and thanks for your patience. We know that the move to NetSpace has taken extra effort on your part and has been a significant change.
We also apologize for the performance issues that you and your students experienced last week. There were some capacity issues with the assessment system that have been identified and are being resolved. In addition, to the resolution of those issues, there is a release scheduled in the next few months that will address some of the other issues you have raised. These include:
1. Load in a new window button being removed
2. The security messages should be gone
3. Being able to see the questions they got right and/or wrong, depending on the instructor’s preference
Thanks again for your feedback and patience. Please keep it coming. The system is certainly not perfect, nor are we, but we’re committed to improving it.
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Hi Kimberly, Sorry to have such a grumpy attack but I must say I have seen no improvement in the Cisco Academy delivery system since we have been migrated kicking and screaming to NetSpace. I am told NetSpace had gone as far as it could go. Personally I was happy with it as it was. I didn’t see any need to go anywhere else. Maybe I’m in a minority but I think I am not the only person who is unimpressed with the change. I expect I will learn to live with it and get over my grumpy attitude but at the time of posting I was really unimpressed. My class was trying to do final exams for CCNA2 and getting into the assessment screen was timing out frequently. That was on Monday July 1st around 6:30pm Australian EST. I got grumpier when I realised that our next class was on Wednesday July 3rd when the outage was schedule until 5pm. Our class starts at 5pm so I am pleased to say there were no issues with access for that class. Here are some of the things that make me Grumpy about NetSpace:
NetSpace is slow
I am finding NetSpace significantly slower in screen transitions compared to NetAcad (which wasn't fast). Particularly when transitioning from Liferay to Canvas for assessments. Oh and there something I don't understand, why have we started calling “Assessments” “Assignments”?NetSpace was released too early
NetSpace seemed and still seems at times to be a Beta version. Early on we had debacle getting vouchers due to the transition to NetSpace. NetSpace was released with useful NetAcad features missing e.g. the batch activation of assessments. I know this has since been included but we had 3 months of manual activations. Thank goodness for the longer activation periods.NetSpace is complicated and a pain to Navigate.
The worst example I can think of for this is simply taking an assessment. Students have to click "Assignments" , Click the specific Assessment, Wait for the “Load Activity in a new screen” button to appear after clicking “Continue” for the security warning, Click the “Load Activity in a new screen” button and wait and hope that the Canvas assessment screen opens. This process was so much easier in NetAcad. In NetAcad students could see only active assessments. In NetSpace they need to go through the above process to find out if the assessment is active. I think this is just dumb and quite frustrating.NetAcad Assessments students could easily check answers.
This is a minor annoyance. I may be in a minority but for my students the Cisco Academy allows them to learn. We use assessments as part of the learning process (Formative Assessments). My view is that the true final exam is the Cisco CCNA Certification. After an assessment I like students to be able to see the questions they got wrong and right (self-assess). Of course this was possible in NetAcad but not NetSpace which only displays the questions they get wrong. One question at a time is a pain too! (I know the CCNA Cert is one way, one question at a time).PS I am about to turn 51. Sad but true as we get older change gets ****** and many of us get a bit grumpier. I try to fight it and try to think like a 20 year old it ain’t easy. My apologies for my bad attitude about NetSpace.