Error 500 – Internal Server Error.
This is the screen that many students have seen when trying to log into their Wingspan accounts since the start of the semester.
Not being able to access Wingspan has caused issues for students who need to reference their class schedule, check DegreeWorks to see their degree status, add or drop classes and fill out timesheets for students who work for the school.
Students were made aware that changes would be made to the login page of Wingspan on Jan. 6 by an email that was sent out in December. The email informed students that the new login page will allow for “the eventual implementation of modern security features.”
Patrice Bruneau, Assistant Vice President for Computing and Information Technology said in an email to The Johnsonian, “The new authentication method uses Central Authentication Service. It is a standard service used by many software manufacturers. This method is more secure so it is less likely to be hacked. Eventually, this system will also allow us to deploy Multi-Factor Authentication […] which will also improve security.”
He also said that this new system was necessary for the next version of Wingspan to be implemented.
Bruneau explained that the issue was determined to be the result of a session timeout. The error would happen when someone logs in and doesn’t log out, this creates an abandoned session that the system “hangs on to until a predetermined time out.”
“Unfortunately, once the error message is triggered, the user cannot log on again,” Bruneau said. “The only way to “fix” that is to clear the cookies/cache […] or try another browser. Users can also restart their browser, but that is not always practical on a mobile device.”
Bruneau said that students should always log out of Wingspan, both for this issue and security.
The IT department has been working to fix the error. According to Bruneau, it was difficult to recreate the issue as it was “triggered sporadically and could not easily be repeated.” Technicians had to dig deeply into the system to find the bug, but as of Jan. 23 a patch was issued to fix the bug.
Since then, the bug hasn’t been completely solved and students are still experiencing issues logging into Wingspan.
Emptying your cache works, but if your session times out, then you are not able to reaccess Wingspan until you clear your cache. This isn’t always an option, especially if you’re doing research for a class and would like to go back in your history to reaccess a webpage.
This information about clearing your cache has not been communicated to students either, so unless you reach out to the IT Service Desk yourself, you might not know what to do or how you can access Wingspan.
Grace Johnson, sophomore theater major, said that she was unaware that she could reach out to the Service Desk and that “they should do a better job to let students know whats happening with Wingspan.”
“I hesitate to send too many emails to the whole student body because you already receive so much information from Winthrop, and I don’t want to add to your mailboxes. That tends to create “communication overload”.” Bruneau said.
Since the initial patch, Bruneau said that they have not been able to replicate the error and that any students still experiencing it should reach out to the IT Service Desk by phone at 803-323-2400 or via email at servicedesk@winthrop.edu.
Issues with campus-wide technology should be communicated better by both the service desk and students to the service desk. Often times, the service desk is unaware that issues are as widespread as they might be. In response, the service desk should communicate more consistently with students and faculty so that they know how to handle issues like that with Wingspan.
Photo: Olivia Esselman/ The Johnsonian
