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ITS User Services
Index
User
Services: Introduction
ITS User Services provides the primary support for
members of the faculty who use computing in their curricular
applications and their research. In addition, it manages
most campus "smart" classrooms and computer labs.
The group is also the main source of support for all
individuals on campus, in both academic and administrative
departments, who use personal computers for personal productivity
applications.
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Consulting
ITS
User Services provides consulting services to all
faculty and staff for personal productivity applications on
personal computers. In addition, it provides consulting
specifically to faculty for curricular and research applications
on a variety of computing platforms and networks. In this
latter effort, it collaborates with Distance Learning Services to
provide instructional technology support, focusing particularly on
the course management system WebCT.
Information
Technology Services (ITS) staff members do not formally support UNCA students,
although informal consulting between staff and students on a
time-available basis is common. Formally, students receive
consulting services from faculty in computing courses they are
taking or from student lab assistants.
Academic Computing Services'
instructional technology consulting/support consists of WebCT
server maintenance and upgrading; and of close collaboration
with the Distance Learning Service staff member who provides
direct application support of WebCT.
The other consulting efforts of Academic Computing Services may be
divided into two general areas -- (1) personal computer consulting
and (2) central system and external resource consulting.
Personal Computer Consulting
-- Academic Computing
Services helps campus users configure and buy personal computers
(Windows computers and Apple Macintoshes), and
helps them use the software they install on those computers.
Staff members meet on an appointment basis with prospective
personal computer purchasers to assess needs and recommend
hardware and software configurations. Staff are knowledgeable
about the best purchasing arrangements and sources for systems and
software.
Staff members provide complete information for purchase
requisitions for standard hardware and software configurations.
Upon delivery of an ordered system, they unpack it, set it up,
test it, and inventory it. They then install the software and
deliver the system to the user's office.
The most common Windows configuration is a
Dell computer
attached to a personal or networked laser printer. In the
Macintosh area, we have recommended and installed a variety of
Macintosh computers. In addition to system configuration and procurement, Academic
Computing Services also provides software consulting to personal
computer users. We support a variety of packages ... word
processors, spreadsheets, databases, graphics tools ... on both
Windows and Mac platforms. The most prominent supported packages
are the Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, FrontPage) for Windows and Microsoft Word and Excel
for the Macintosh. Internet Explorer is the preferred Internet browser on
both platforms, with Safari gaining popularity on the Macs running
OS X. Web-based IMAP and client-based POP email solutions are
supported on both platforms.
Software consulting involves helping users solve problems with
their personal computer software and suggesting new software
techniques to them for the accomplishment of specific tasks. In
all consulting interactions, our goal is to teach users while we
are helping them, thereby increasing their computing proficiency
and independence.
Central System and External Resource Consulting
-- Staff
provide consulting services to VMS/Unix users, helping them with editors, electronic mail, and other VMS/Unix
software. Users also receive help on accessing external networks
and computers from the VMS and Unix systems as well as from their
desktop systems. TELNET and FTP
software facilitate Internet access to external computing
resources, notable among them the North Carolina Supercomputer
Center.
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Use Management, Academic
Central Systems
Academic Computing Services authorizes accounts on the academic
central computers. All faculty, staff, and students are eligible
for accounts. Bulldog (Digital Equipment Corporation Alpha Server
2000 running Digital Unix) is the main central system for Academic Computing Services.
All new student accounts are created on bulldog.
Faculty and staff by default get an account on our main
administration computer - admin, a VMS system.
Faculty and staff users apply for accounts with the
departmental help desk assistant (Robinson 013, 828/251-6445). They receive accounts that
have no set expiration date and that do not have to be renewed.
All account holders are asked to consent to a
use
agreement that specifies appropriate and inappropriate
computing activities.
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Computing Lab/Classroom Management
Academic Computing Services manages campus computing laboratories
and classrooms. Most facilities are lab/classrooms, some are labs
only, and some are small residence hall labs.
New
Hall 008 is the main lab-only facility on campus. It
contains networked Windows machines and Macs. In addition,
a scanner is available for the PC and Mac in this lab.
Student access to other labs on
campus is dependant upon class schedules as well as decisions of
the individual departments which oversee them. The software in the labs is a mixture of course-specific
software for students in classes and personal productivity
software (word processors, spreadsheets, graphics packages, etc.)
for general student use.
ITS
provides technical support for all
facilities, maintaining software and hardware. In its open use
lab, NH008, it provides lab assistants and furnishes laboratory supplies. The lab assistants
are part-time student employees who provide consulting to student
lab users.
Scheduling of classes, workshops or other events to classroom/labs
are handled by Silke Crombie at 828/250-3832..
After reserving a classroom/lab for a regularly-scheduled
class, faculty should contact User Services to make
arrangements for software installation and laboratory orientation.
User Services should be contacted in the semester
prior to the class, at about the time book orders are being
submitted for the next semester.
The laboratory orientation is designed to teach faculty members
how to use the facility. The faculty members, in turn, are
expected to orient their classes to facility usage.
Faculty wishing to hold a one-time class session in a facility
during open lab hours should contact Silke Crombie at 828/250-3832 at least
one week prior to the proposed class.
See the
UNCA Computer Labs home page
for more information about labs.
ITS
User Services also maintains the Smart Classrooms on
campus. Orientation to the equipment and software installations
can be arranged by calling the ITS HelpDesk at 828/251-6445.
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Hardware Maintenance
and Repair
Information
Technology Services repairs all UNCA-owned personal computers and
peripherals, at no charge to the user department.
Staff will pick up broken equipment and transfer it to the
electronics shop for repair, but service is frequently expedited
if users are able to carry the equipment to the shop themselves.
The shop is located in Robinson 016.
We make every attempt to keep a user with a hardware problem up
and functional, including supplying him/her with shop loaner
equipment if any is available.
To submit a request for repair, assemble relevant details
(service tag #, equipment type, model #, description of problem, etc.), call
the ITS HelpDesk at 828/251-6445, and request that a service
ticket be submitted for
assistance. ITS as a matter of policy does not repair
equipment that is privately-owned by members of the UNCA
community.
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RESNET Management
ITS
User Services manages the residence hall network, RESNET.
RESNET provides a free high speed network port (100 mb switched
ethernet) for every dorm resident. Residents with computers can
connect to the network to access UNCA's central computing
resources and the Internet at large.
ITS
User Services provides support to assist
residents with their networking problems. This support includes
assistance in resolving internet access problems, virus and
spyware issues, and other software matters.
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