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Maintained by ic@ucsc.edu |
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Computer Labs - Request Labs or Software - Policies
Lab Request Procedures and DeadlinesIn order to best serve UCSC instructional needs amidst growing class sizes, and increasing requests for lab reservations, we will have three lab request deadlines, and prioritize batches of lab requests to match available lab resources. Our lab reservation deadlines will align with the deadlines the Registrar sets for classroom requests. Our deadlines should give you time to meet pertinent Registrar deadlines, such as listings in the schedule of classes, the addendum, etc. You may reserve either a specific number of computer workstations (for office hours or small sections) or an entire lab. You may consider your course or section scheduled when you receive an email confirmation. In addition, your confirmed reservation will be shown on the lab schedule posted in advance on the web. Scheduling a class for the duration of a quarter means that your reservation starts the first week of instruction and continues through the last week of instruction, but does not include Finals week. If you want lab time during Finals week, please submit a separate request. Any University holiday falling within normally scheduled instruction is observed, and all staffed labs are closed. Some unstaffed labs, such as the Sun Unix lab, may be open. Labs often close early the day before major holidays such as Thanksgiving, so please refer to the Special Hours schedule. Note: Short term or one-time lab requests will be reserved and confirmed no earlier than three weeks before the start of instruction for the quarter. Fall 2009 Lab Request Deadlines Deadline #1: January 20, 2009, first cut-off for requests. Schedule posted early February 2009. Deadline #2: March 23, 2009, second cut-off for requests. Schedule posted early April 2009. Deadline #3: May 11, 2009, third cut-off for requests. Schedule posted early June 2009. Labs will continue to be scheduled for Fall 2009 after the final deadline on May 11, 2009, but lab availability could be very limited for new lab requests or changes to existing ones. Winter 2010 Lab Request Deadlines Deadline #1:May 25, 2009, first cut-off for requests. Schedule posted end of May 2009. Deadline #2: August 31, 2009, second cut-off for requests. Schedule posted mid September 2009. Deadline #3: November 6, 2009, third cut-off for requests. Schedule posted end of November 2009. Labs will continue to be scheduled for Winter 2009 after the final deadline on November 6, 2009, but lab availability could be very limited for new lab requests or changes to existing ones. Spring 2010 Lab Request Deadlines Deadline #1: October 19, 2009, first cut-off for requests. Schedule posted end of October 2009. Deadline #2: December 4, 2009, second cut-off for requests. Schedule posted end of December 2009. Deadline #3: February 22, 2010, third cut-off for requests. Schedule posted end of February 2010. Labs will continue to be scheduled for Spring 2010 after the final deadline on February 22, 2010, but lab availability could be very limited for new lab requests or changes to existing ones. Rationale for Assigning Labs and Times to RequestsDue to limited computing resources available, we evaluate each course's hardware and software needs and assign an appropriate lab after comparing the request with other competing requests. If an instructor requests a large lab because of its location, when a smaller lab would suffice, the class is more likely to be scheduled in the smaller lab if a popular timeslot is requested. Class sizes are increasing, and in an effort to optimize limited campus resources, we need to reserve the larger labs with more than 25 workstations for larger classes, or those classes requiring specialized technologies. If a larger lab is reserved for a class which ends up only having 15 or fewer students, this class may be moved to a smaller lab (providing all technical needs of the class can be met elsewhere). For example: A small computer programming class may request the 48-station Sun lab in BE105 because the location is preferred, but that class may be assigned to the smaller 25-station Crown Sun lab instead if there is a competing request from a larger class for the BE105 Sun lab. This policy springs, in part, from the fact that students who have lab sections in a lab are most likely to do their assignments in that lab as well. For every hour of scheduled lab time, students are likely to spend 2 to 5 times as much time on the machines doing homework during open access. It is also possible that you will not get your requested time if there is a conflict with another class. Please be sure to list alternatives to the time you want, and most importantly, please include contact information so that our staff can reach you in case of a conflict we cannot schedule around. If we cannot reach you to resolve a time or lab conflict when we are scheduling a batch of requests, your course will not be scheduled until we can contact you. Course Software in the Labs:Lab software varies from lab to lab and quarter to quarter because of limited licensing. If you are requesting scheduled lab time, you are encouraged to include your software requests at the same time. If your course needs software to be available in our computer labs but you are not scheduling lab time (or already have at an earlier time), please complete the online Lab and Software Request form following the deadlines below. Please note, we no longer support software which requires hardware dongles. (A dongle is a piece of hardware that must be attached to the computer where software is used. Without the dongle, the software will not run.) Deadlines for requesting software so that it can be installed, tested, and working in time for your class are as follows:
If you are unsure which category your software request falls into, please email icrequests@ucsc.edu for assistance. Cancellations, No Shows, and Reserving more time than needed:No Shows: If no instructor shows up at your reserved, scheduled times two or more times in a quarter, your lab reservation may be cancelled for the rest of the quarter to free up the time for other class requests. Please request lab time that you know you will use. If you schedule several sections and then cancel ones you didn't need into the quarter, it makes it difficult to optimally allocate lab resources. Consistently scheduling lab time and then canceling sections may compromise the priority of subsequent requests for that particular class. Classes scheduled in larger labs (more than 25 workstations) that end up having fewer than 15 students attending may be rescheduled in a more appropriately sized class. Cancellations: Please cancel any times you discover you won't need immediately, as another class may need this time. You may email icrequests@ucsc.edu to cancel, or call 459-5651. Non-Quarter Long Classes, Office hours, and Optional Sections:It is important to know the nature of your reservation so we can give accurate space availability data to walk-ins. We can set aside a small, specified number of workstations for your office hours, tutoring sessions or optional sections, but to make the most effective and efficient use of University resources, we will not reserve all workstations in a lab for these purposes. If you know you only need the lab for a portion of the quarter or are unsure if you will have staffing for some sections, please include this information on your lab request or email icrequests@ucsc.edu in advance. Please note that onsite Lab Consultants cannot reschedule or cancel classes. Printing Procedures and Print BillingThe Instructional Computing labs use a printing system that automatically bills your University account for pages you print. UCSC faculty and staff may use the print billing system to print, but they must first enable their account for printing. They can do this by filling out a simple web form available from a link on our Printing Services page. Important note:
Responsibilities of IC Staff and the Requestor:The Instructional Computing staff are responsible for:
The individual requesting the lab is responsible for:
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