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By Claudia
Lynch, Benchmarks Online Editor
Various versions of this article are published each semester. -- Ed.
Welcome,
or welcome back, to UNT! If you're new, or if you've just been away for
awhile, it is our hope that this article will serve as a handy starting
point to get you acquainted (or re-acquainted) with the resources that
are available to you here at the University. Students, faculty and/or
staff members should all benefit from the information that follows.
When all else fails ...
If you have a computing question and/or problem and
can't think of who to contact or where to look for a solution, just
remember this: Contact the Helpdesk
The Computing and Information Technology Center (CITC)
Helpdesk is located in room 119 of the Information Sciences Building (ISB),
directly beside the Science and Technology Library. Their hours are
listed on the Helpdesk website:
http://www.unt.edu/helpdesk. Besides stopping by or searching for
answers on the website, you can call the Helpdesk at 940-565-2324 or
send mail to helpdesk@unt.edu.
Speaking of the Helpdesk, Benchmarks Online,
publishes a column each month called "Helpdesk FYI." This month's
article is
Activating Your EUID account.
Following is a selection of articles published this year.
Perhaps one of these topics is something you've been wondering about:
New students are probably familiar with the Tour of
Student Computing Services at UNT. There are lots of
topics touched on that are of interest to non-students also. Check out
the website:
http://www.unt.edu/helpdesk/studenttour/
In addition to this article, faculty members can find
lots of helpful information
here
(Please note that CDL
is
now CLEAR). The Bits -n- Bytes article in this
issue also has some handy links that may be of interest.
General Access Computer Lab System
The UNT General Access Computer Lab System is a collection of 14
computer labs spread across the UNT Denton campus, with one lab in
Dallas. They have been set up to provide computing to the University
community. The GACL website
states:
The labs are intended to meet the general academic computing needs of UNT
students. These labs are supported and maintained primarily through a portion
of the Technology Use Fee.
Students with a valid UNT photo ID card may use any General Access Lab except
where noted.
A list of labs and their locations and operating hours
is available from the GACL website.
The lab in ISB 110 is an Adaptive Lab. As the
website states:
The University of North Texas Academic Computing
Services General Access Lab is located in the Science and Technology
Library in ISB 110. The mission of this lab is to provide general
services to the UNT community with an emphasis on the special features
that Academic Computing Services has to offer including helpdesk support
and research assistance. Additionally the ACS lab is the designated
adaptive lab on campus providing state-of-the-art adaptive equipment for
those who need it. For more information about adaptive services on the
UNT campus visit the Office of Disability Accommodation at
http://www.unt.edu/oda.
Computer Based Training
Due to the rising costs of training, shrinking budgets
and changing technology, computer-based training at UNT is in a state of
transition. The Computer-Based Training
website has a list of training resources currently available to the
UNT community.
Online Learning/UNTeCampus
For students, a good starting place is found on the
student
tour. Faculty will want to visit the Center for Learning
Enhancement, Assessment, and Redesign (CLEAR) website and/or the Center
itself. The recent Benchmarks Online article,
How Green is Our Learning?, about, in part, Blackboard Vista (our
centrally-supported learning management system), may be of interest to
faculty members.
Other Items of Interest
-
Statistical and Research Support Services -- "The
mission of the Research and Statistical Support (RSS) group at the
University of North Texas (UNT) is to facilitate access to current
research tools and statistical methodologies and to promote these
methods to the research, instructional, and administrative communities
at UNT; to encourage a collaborative research environment for
researchers through the development and use of innovative computing
technologies; to provide training and consultation in the appropriate
use of statistical methodologies and computer software; and to
facilitate access to data collection and data management
technologies." [From the Research and
Statistical Support website]. The RSS Group publishes a monthly
column in Benchmarks Online. This month's column is:
Moving On Up: SPSS 15 Bids Adieu, PASW Statistics 17
Waves Hello.
1. Exam Grading/Analysis: NCS
Forms 4521 & NCS Form 106173. Exams can be processed within 15 minutes while
you wait, or you can drop off and have results e-mailed for your
convenience. Analyses’ include Detailed Item Analysis, Frequency
Distribution, and General Test Analysis (indicates which question(s) missed
most).
2. Departmental Course Evaluation Processing: Departmental
evaluations processed using NCS scantrons. Reports are produced using
customized SAS programs, and delivered electronically in Excel and text
format.
3. Research Projects: Key-Entry of survey or
research projects (grad student dissertation research allowed!) into a
custom data file, ready for analysis.
4. Scannable Form Design:
Customized survey or evaluation “bubble” forms created using any current
form, or just a new idea! Our service includes scanning the completed
forms into a data file, ready for analysis, quick and easy! For more
information on this service:
Joann.Luksich@unt.edu
-
Information Security -- "The UNT Information
Security Team's purpose is to provide support to University academic and
administrative departments for the protection of UNT computing
information resources from misuse, abuse, unauthorized access or
unauthorized disclosure. Computing information resources include all
equipment, facilities, software, data and procedures which are designed,
built, operated and maintained to collect, record, process, store,
retrieve, display and transmit information. The mission of the
Information Security Team is to educate and assist administrators and
users of the UNT computing community in assessing, implementing, and
maintaining their information security needs." [From the
Information Security Website].
If you are a faculty or staff member, please read this article on
Information Security Awareness.
-
Free or cheap software
-
McAfee VirusScan --
Free download
or $3 purchase.
-
Microsoft Campus Agreement -- UNT has had an
agreement with Microsoft for a number of years that allows us to
distribute various Microsoft products to employees of the
University. According to the agreement, you can "use the software
for school-related purposes on a personally-owned computer or an
institution-owned computer designated for your exclusive use" and
you must remove the software from your home machine if you leave
UNT. This agreement does not cover students unless those
students are also UNT employees. UNT Health Science Center employees
CAN purchase their software on the HSC campus via the
ITS
Helpdesk.
Employees wishing to install these products on
University-owned computers should contact their
Network Manager
for further instructions. Contact the UNT Bookstore at 940-565-3185
for additional information about the Microsoft products available to
faculty and staff and/or visit
www.unt.bkstr.com.
-
The Microsoft Home Use Program -- Reduced
price software for faculty/staff
home use.
-
Student discounts in the UNT Bookstore - As
described on the
StudentTour.
-
DreamSpark -- UNT
students can take advantage of DreamSpark, Microsoft's program that
provides free development software to students. Click
here for more
information.
-
Free/Open Source software -- Two articles on
that topic from the RSS staff:
-
Free ! = Cheap: Open Source
and/or Free Alternatives in Statistical Analysis.
-
Free your research: Open source and other alternatives to
cut your costs and improve productivity as a graduate student.
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