Author: Maya Mishra
Maya is a student employee with Technology Services.
When you run into technology issues, your first instinct might be to call the Help Desk. And while that is always an option (and a good one at that), sometimes you just don’t want to wait and would rather like to get your answers right away. Enter the Technology Services Status page. Unlike submitting a ticket or waiting for a response, the status page can give you immediate insight into whether an issue is system-wide or localized to just you. It’s a quick and reliable way to check the status of many university owned services and systems. Did I mention: It’s free! Just another way that the U of I helps make students life just a bit easier.
Found at status.illinois.edu, the status page is essentially a real time dashboard of the university’s IT services. Spanning from Canvas and Zoom to even printing, the status page has got you covered. Students can use it to quickly see if a system is running smoothly or experiencing issues, saving valuable time and stress. A nice feature of the page is being able to sign up for notifications and getting updates delivered straight to your phone. That way, you can know about outages or planned maintance before you have to worry about the dreaded “is Canvas down?” Google searches.
Using the page is very straightforward and user-friendly. Below is what it looks like when you go onto the page.
Here, will see a list of services marked with very clear indicators; Green means that everything is running normally, while yellow or red may signal problems. Clicking on a specific service brings up details on the issue (as can be seen in the description box in the image below), any updates that it may have and estimated resolution times.
If your specific problem doesn’t appear on the page, we encourage you to reach out directly to our Help Desk by emailing consult@illinois.edu or calling 217-244-7000.
The benefits of the status page are clear. It can help you save time by letting you know instantaneously whether an issue is on your end or campuswide. It really can help with reducing stress when assignments are on the line. With advanced notifications about scheduled maintance you can also plan around things to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
So, the next time that your technology seems to fail you at the worst possible moment, don’t panic and don’t waste your time guessing. Just check the status page, stay informed and stay focused on your work. Visit status.illlinois.edu today and sign up for notifications so that you are always one step ahead!