Heartland Community College classes are back online, but the school still hasn't resolved all of its tech issues following a cyberattack last week.
Public Information Director Steve Fast said Heartland has created a temporary access for its online instruction program so that students can resume online classes.
Most of Heartland's classes are online this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s not unlike when we had to pick up and change everything around back in March for the pandemic,” Fast said. “We had to find a new way to support the students and this interruption didn’t stop any work to do that.”
Fast said some students may face minor disruptions, or may have to enter in a new password.
“I think that we have made a major improvement in getting things back on track,” Fast said. “I know it’s been a huge frustration for folks, especially students that have been trying to access us through support.”
Fast said instructors are working with students to make up for a week of lost class time. Some eight-week courses begin Monday.
“Every instructor is addressing that as it applies to their individual class, because it's certainly not the fault of ... students that they couldn’t get access during that time any more than it would be if we had a giant blizzard and they couldn’t drive to an in-person class,” Fast said.
At the same time, Heartland's website and phone system also are down as the school continues IT repairs. He said they were lower priority to getting online classes resumed.
Fast said Heartland has a text hotline students can use to report problems: (309) 392-4012. He cautioned it could take time for Heartland to respond to each inquiry as messages “are piling up.”
Fast described the cyberattack as "malicious" and "designed to disrupt Heartland’s services." He said the incident remains under investigation.
He added there’s no indication any personal information has been compromised.
There’s no subscription fee to listen or read our stories. Everyone can access this essential public service thanks to community support. Donate now, and help fund your public media.
