What the New Students are Learning about Computing this Summer

By Dr. Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner, Assistant Director - Academic Computing and User Services

It is that time of year again -- no, not "high air conditioning bill time" -- ORIENTATION TIME! As always, this is a great time for everyone to review the computing services that are offered to UNT students and which we will be discussing with new students and their parents during orientation. New students receive so much information while on campus for the two-day orientation event that they may not remember everything so it is quite helpful to them for all of us to know what services and opportunities they have in the computing realm. Advisors and faculty are especially encouraged to study the information in this article and impart it to the students.

All aboard for the Student Tour!

To assist students in finding all their computing resources in one place and also to cut down on paper use, Academic Computing and User Services launched the 'Student Tour' several years ago and continuously updates this site making it the most reliable "one stop shop" for UNT community members to learn about and link to technology services. The Student Tour is located at http://helpdesk.unt.edu/studenttour. For this article, I will be your "tour guide" on the site and point out the highlights along the way.

First Stop, UNT CITC Helpdesk.

The first stop on the tour discusses the UNT CITC Helpdesk and reminds everyone that whenever a computing issue or questions arises, the Helpdesk should be contacted. The Helpdesk staff has an up-to-the-minute website: http://helpdesk.unt.edu with an exhaustive array of information resources on using campus computing services, reporting problems, configuring email, buying a computer and much, much more. The Helpdesk can be contacted via phone at 940-565-2324, by email -- helpdesk@unt.edu , or during their extensive walk-in hours at their physical location, ISB 119. Some of the most common issues that the Helpdesk deals with are resetting passwords and helping UNT community members configure their machines for the wireless network and for receiving email.

Next Stop, Account Management.

The next stop on the tour discusses student accounts and is one of the most important pages on the site as it assists students in configuring their usernames and passwords, accessing the student email system, and creating web pages. Most online account configuration and modification occurs by using the account management system, located at http://ams.unt.edu . The new student digital communication system (featuring email, texting, chat, calendaring and much more--) is EagleConnect and a link to all pertinent EagleConnect information is included here. Finally, if a student wants to build a website to post their resume or other non-commercial information, they can use the people.unt.edu service to do this.

Up Next: My.unt.edu, General Access Labs ...

Next on the tour is a page with links to http://my.unt.edu where students pay their bills, check out their financial information, find their grades and so much more. After this stop we move on to the page about the General Access Computer Labs. Though almost 100 percent of students will come to campus with a personal computer, the labs get quite a workout and their use continues to increase. UNT has 14 general access computer labs spread across the main Denton campus, at the Discovery Park and at the Dallas campus. These labs feature PCs, Macs, outstanding printing facilities and a host of general software (Office 2007, internet browsers, Adobe Acrobat etc.) as well as a lot of specialty hardware and software that students may need to utilize for their major study but cannot afford to purchase individually (Photoshop, slide scanners, large-format printers, advanced statistics software etc.). There is one 24/7 lab (Willis) and one 24/5 lab (Chilton) as well as an adaptive technology lab (ACS/ISB) with hardware and software for students with special needs. A detailed map of the lab locations is found here. All students need to present a valid picture ID to enter the labs.

On to Safety and Security Information

The next stop on the tour features safety and security information and links. Students are reminded to back up their data regularly which they can do by burning CDs and DVDs or by uploading their stuff to the SkyDrive student storage portion of EagleConnect which gives them 25 GB of storage space. Students are reminded to regularly patch their computers and keep their virus protection up to date. McAfee virus protection software is offered free to students and a link for downloading and installing this application is included. Other links to the UNT CITC security website are given for further information about protecting data, configuring strong passwords and the like.

Continuing on to the dorms, watch those legal issues!

Following the important security page is a description of ResNet -- the computer network used in the dorms. This service is provided by an off-site provider, Apogee, and links to their information are found here. After this page, the tour takes you to important information about copyright and fair use of materials. Not only are links to extensive and thorough information about legal and illegal use of copyrighted materials found but on the next tour page a lengthy section outlining free or low-charge, LEGAL distributors of copyrighted materials for use is featured. These services include the iTunes store, Napster, and the many media offerings by the UNT Library System.

Eaglenet Wireless up ahead, software and hardware around the corner.

After exploring the world of legal downloads, the student tourist next travels to a page detailing use and availability of the Eaglenet Wireless Network which is available in all the buildings on campus. Following this information is a page outlining the many discounted software and hardware items available at the UNT bookstores located in the Union. Students can purchase a variety of computing products for far less than they would pay at the "big box stores". Additionally links to the educational stores of Apple and Dell are featured.

Online learning, next to the last stop.

Finally, a page with extensive information about the many online course offerings at UNT is featured. UNT has one of the largest online programs in the country and their online offerings have won regional and national recognition. This page gets students started on searching for classes, logging into classes, and finding flexible online degree programs to suit their needs. Nearly every student at UNT will be interacting with our online Blackboard Vista system so this page is one of the most informative and important on the tour.

Final Stop, PDF junction.

The tour closes with a page linking students to PDFs of our most popular and informative brochures. As mentioned earlier UNT is "going green" and the CITC is contributing to these environmental efforts by doing less paper publication and more online publication. These PDFs are of brochures we used to print out by the thousands. Now we have students look at them online so they get the same great information and save a tree at the same time!

All information on the student tour is compiled and maintained by CITC Documentation Services Manager, Claudia Lynch, and if you have information to include here you can contact Claudia at lynch@unt.edu . Any questions about the content of the pages especially as it relates to students" needs and issues should be referred to me, Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner, Assistant Director of Academic Computing and User Services at ehinkle@unt.edu .

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