Students who need to make submissions to the electronic writing portfolio will no longer be able to do so via e-mail, but they will still need the Internet to retrieve submission forms.

Students reported difficulty trying to submit writing samples through e-mail because of network problems, which were “exacerbated” by the slow server on campus, Karla Sanders, director of the Academic Support and Achievement Center said Tuesday.

Understanding how to attach documents to the e-mails proved especially difficult for many students. As a result, the Center for Academic Support and Achievement decided to discontinue the electronic submission option until a more efficient process could be found.

“Many students ended up coming in anyway and asking for help,” Debra Hopgood, assistant director of Academic Advising and Testing said Tuesday.

Compatibility problems also arose from students sending e-mails from a wide variety of e-mail systems such as Yahoo, Hotmail and Eudora, Hopgood said.

“Because so many people were running into problems with this pilot system, it was decided that the technology and technical knowledge was not yet at a place where a fully electronic submission process would work,” Sanders said.

Hopgood said that while students will no longer be able to submit their writing sample over the Internet, they will still have go online to retrieve submission forms for their writing portfolio. Previously, students would have to get a form from their instructor, but now they must fill out the form and print it from either the Academic Advising, Academic Assessment or Writing Across the Curriculum Web sites.

“This gets students into the habit of accessing information off these sites,” Hopgood said. “It gives them information they need to know concerning things such as submission deadlines.”

Students who were first-time freshman in Fall 2000 and all students following the 2001-02 and later catalogs submit to the portfolio rather than taking the Writing Competency Exam

After the portfolio began to replace the Writing Competency Exam as a way to assess upperclassmen’s writing skills, the electronic writing portfolio committee tried to find software to make the process fully electronic, so students would not have to personally drop off disks and submission forms at Ninth Street Hall. However, after looking at a number of software packages, they could not find a package that “met Eastern’s needs,” Sanders said.

As an alternative, the center piloted an electronic submission process through which students could submit writing samples from class through their e-mail accounts instead having to personally drop off disks and submission forms.

Hopgood said the e-mail option was dropped to better serve students.

“We want this to be as smooth as possible for students. Many were getting frustrated so this was the best way for the time being,” she said.

Sanders said that while the center still wants to improve the process, right now making submissions in person is most efficient method.

“We will continue to look for appropriate software and will continue to explore other electronic options,” she said. “But this is the system that we believe will work best for our students and faculty at this time.”