Student Guide

This guide is intended to answer some of the most commonly asked questions on how information technology resources are used on campus to enhance the learning environment. The guide is divided into four sections: academic experience, administrative experience, student life, and services and fees.

Academic Experience

Coursework in and out of class

The University of Richmond provides to both faculty and students a myriad of ways to incorporate technology into the academic experience, without losing the close faculty-student interaction that defines a Richmond education.  Most courses (85%) have an online component using our course management system, BlackBoard. Faculty post their syllabi and other course documents and assignments and library materials are placed on e-reserve. This allows students to gain access to course information at any time and from any location. Faculty also use BlackBoard for threaded discussions, a way to keep the vibrancy of the course continuing outside of formal class meetings. Groups of students within a class can also use BlackBoard as a shared space to post notes, project timelines and develop the project content.

Portfolios are being used extensively in our Business School and in individual departments, such as Modern Languages & Literatures, English and Education. They are used both as tools to help students integrate their many academic experiences into one integrated whole, as well as a way for students to present their credentials to potential employers or graduate schools. We provide students with a series of portfolio templates that they may use or students may choose to build their own. The University allows students to maintain their portfolios after they graduate and we help students to create business card CDs of their portfolios to send to potential employers. 

The University of Richmond has many different types of classrooms to meet the needs of faculty and students. These include classrooms in which every student has a computer, multimedia classrooms in which the instructor has a full range of technologies to enhance the classroom experience, and classrooms where equipment, including laptop computers, is brought in upon request. Every classroom on campus is equipped with at least one network jack and a TV/VCR and we are moving towards having wireless access in every classroom. Detailed information is available at: http://is.richmond.edu/classrooms/index.htm.

The technology resources of the University are available to all students, regardless of their major or the course in which they are enrolled. Project work is encouraged by our faculty in courses that span the curriculum. Students will be able to gain access to whatever they need to meet and exceed the professor's expectations.

Any course taken at another institution must be reviewed and approved prior to the credit being accepted by the University. Online courses are treated no differently. 

Support services

The Technology Learning Center, located on the 3rd floor of Boatwright Library, is a premier new media laboratory. Students will find all of the hardware and software they need to develop multimedia projects. This includes digital cameras and videocameras for loan, a photography studio, an audio recording studio, and 5 workstations devoted to digital video editing. The facility is staffed with highly trained student assistants to ensure that students have the help they need to take full advantage of the facility. Detailed information is available at: http://is.richmond.edu/classrooms/tlc.htm

The University of Richmond provides proxy server service which allows UR students to connect to the Libraries' online databases, electronic journals and books, and course reserves through any internet provider service located off-campus. If you are a current student and your username and password has been activated, you just need to enter this information when prompted to use a database.  Online access to Special Collections that have been digitized are also available on the Libraries web site.  The UR Library Catalog does not require a password and is available to any interested user. For more information, see: http://oncampus.richmond.edu/is/library/connecthome.html

Interlibrary Loan Service (ILL) is available to University of Richmond students as an aid to research and study. Students should consult with a reference librarian before relying on interlibrary loan to ensure that the resources are not available locally. Once your item is received, Interlibrary Loan staff will notify you by telephone or email.  If an article arrives electronically, it will be delivered to you via email. While the Libraries subsidize the cost of this service for students, staff and faculty, careful use of this resource is encouraged. For further information on interlibrary loan services, see: http://oncampus.richmond.edu/is/library/access/ill.html

Research Assistance is available in both Boatwright Library and Parsons Music Library.  Reference librarians are available through the Boatwright Main Service Desk from 8 a.m. - 10 p.m., Monday - Thursday; 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Friday; 1-5 p.m.; Saturday, and 1-10 p.m., Sunday.  Librarians are also available via email, telephone and by appointment. For more information on contacting a librarian, see: http://oncampus.richmond.edu/is/library/question.html

Looking toward graduation and a career

All first-year students are required to participate in a Library Skills course that teaches basic information fluency skills. These basic skills are reinforced and deepened through course assignments. Specific competencies are developed within each student's major discipline.

The University offers students the opportunity to develop specific skills through a variety of training opportunities, both formal classes and informal web-based tutorials. Detailed information is available at: http://is.richmond.edu/techsupport/training.htm.

We also encourage students to consider a part-time job within Information Services. We provide extensive on-the-job training and help students to develop skills that will benefit them now and into the future. Employment information is available at: http://is.richmond.edu/aboutis/employment.htm.

Administrative Experience

Managing your personal information

Using a totally web-based system, students are able to view their contact information, class schedule, grades, an unofficial transcript, financial status and any financial holds on their account. 

No, at this time updates to a student's personal information must be made through the Registrar's Office.

Conducting business

Check admissions status: applicants can review a list of items still required to complete their applications.

Register for, add, and drop courses: registration is done completely online

Learn course grades: students can access course grades within 24 hours of when the faculty member has posted the grades

Check progress toward completion of degree requirements: we prefer that students work with their academic advisor to ensure that they are making appropriate progress towards completing their degree

View and print unofficial transcripts: these are accessible online at any time

Make campus bookstore purchases: purchases can be made through the bookstore's website (http://www.urspidershop.com/)

Students are not yet able to pay their bills online nor can they apply for and view financial aid awards.

Students are able to renew Library items online and check on which materials they still have checked out. They may also establish a personalized book bag of items from the catalog for future reference.

The Spidercard is becoming an ever more integral component of campus. The Spidercard serves as the student's ID card, allowing them access to the dorms, to check out books at the Library, and to gain entrance to athletic events. Many departments allow students in their majors to access areas in academic buildings in the evening using the Spidercard. The card also serves as the meal ticket in the Dining Hall. Money may be deposited onto the Spidercard via the Internet and the card used to make purchases at the bookstore, from vending machines and at some off-campus stores.

All of this information is available from the Registrar's homepage: http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/registrar/

Privacy, security, and usage rules

Our Helpdesk staff assists students to ensure that their machines are fully patched and are virus- and spyware-free.

We view good security and privacy practices as the best defense from identity theft and that is why we have so many layers of protection, coupled with an active enforcement policy.

We do not use an individual's social security number as their University ID.

The University of Richmond notifies students annually through a Spiderbyte message to all active students, giving them the URL from the Registrar's page which houses both the FERPA Act and the University's policy statement regarding FERPA.
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/registrar/policy/index.html

Incoming students also receive a card, during orientation, detailing their rights as it relates to their educational record and whether they wish to sign a release to allow their academic advisors or dean to speak with their parents.

The University believes that we must ensure that network resources are available to meet the academic needs of our students and faculty. We do this by limiting the amount of network bandwidth that is available for non-academic pursuits. We guarantee bandwidth availability for normal protocols such as http. While we do not guarantee bandwidth for other applications, our policies of keeping the network clean assist in increasing available bandwidth for all legal uses.
 
We do not filter web-pages, however we will block pages or entire sites if they represent a security issue.

Absolutely. Our Responsible Computing policy can be found at: http://is.richmond.edu/aboutis/policies/responsible.htm.

There are many useful ways that peer-to-peer file sharing can be used to enrich the educational experience and the University of Richmond works to ensure that our community has those advantages. Illegal uses of peer-to-peer file sharing are just that, illegal. The Responsible Computing policy makes this explicit.

The protection of intellectual property is an important issue on university campuses. Our faculty and students are both users and producers of intellectual property, with the creation of new knowledge building on the discoveries and insights of others. The University of Richmond fully complies with all associated laws and guidelines. Information on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act can be found at: http://is.richmond.edu/aboutis/policies/copyright.htm.

The University requires that all students use a specific anti-virus software. We provide that software free-of-charge to all students and our Helpdesk will assist students to ensure that their computers are properly protected (http://is.richmond.edu/techsupport/helpdesk/viruses.htm).

We use a software program (SpamAssasin) to identify spam and provide the user with information on how to set their mail client to filter these messages.

Student Life

Accessing computer services

The University is committed to ensuring that every student has ample access to computers wherever they may be on campus. We have two main public access labs on different sides of campus and all computer classrooms are available for public use when a class is not in session. Our Libraries have 58 desktop and 28 laptop computers, the Student Commons has 10 computers, and many residence halls have academic lounges equipped with 4-6 computers apiece.

Yes, we do and the email address belongs to the student for life. Students receive an email account as soon as they have been accepted and made their initial deposit. After graduation, students may keep their University email address and forward their email to a new email provider, changing the forwarding address whenever necessary.

Yes, we do. These accounts are automatically created when the student activates their email account.

Connecting with others

The search function off the University homepage provides easy access to faculty and staff on-campus contact information, including their email address. Students have the option of allowing access to this information online or declaring this information confidential.

The University maintains an online Calendar of Events that lists speakers, meetings, performances, athletic events and other special events occurring on campus. Campus Recreation also uses this calendar to post the hours for intramural sports and the health club.

Our student-maintained website can be found at http://thehookup.richmond.edu/. Once a student has activated their account, they have the ability to visit the entire site and make posts to it.

The University radio station can also be heard online at: http://www.student.richmond.edu/~wdce/

All organizations and clubs are given space to create their own website and most do so. The list of these can be found at: http://oncampus.richmond.edu/Student_Affairs/studactiv/orgcat.htm

The students use the student-maintained website to hold un-moderated discussions: http://thehookup.richmond.edu/

The Career Development Center maintains an information-rich web site that includes links to hundreds of publicly available websites. In addition, they subscribe to a number of employment and career resources to which students have online access. Information on all of their services can be found at: http://cdc.richmond.edu/.

Services and Fees

Fees and expenses

We do not charge any technology fees.

We do not require students to purchase a computer. Most of our students (about 96%) do bring a computer with them and more are choosing laptops over desktops. However, if you do not bring a computer, you will find many machines available for your use.

The University has partnered with Attronica Computers to offer students several options when purchasing a new computer system and printers.  Attronica Computers is a local vendor with a location on campus that provides technical support. More information can be found at: http://is.richmond.edu/techsupport/newtorichmond/computer.htm.

No extra fees are charged for network access.

Technical support

We publish our hardware and software standards every April after an extensive review process. Hardware standards are outlined in two categories - recommended and minimum specifications. The recommended specification outlines the specifications associated with the purchase of a new system.  This is also the typical configuration purchased by the University for faculty and staff. The minimum specification outlines the minimum equipment configuration necessary for supported use on the campus network. Information about our hardware standards can be found at: http://is.richmond.edu/techsupport/newtorichmond/recommend.htm.

The standard office productivity software for the University is MS Office XP. The software that is available on every public access machine and in every classroom can be found at: http://is.richmond.edu/classrooms/standard_software.htm. Support is available from the Information Services staff for any of the software that is in our standard and for most of the specialty pieces of software that are found in particular labs.

The University of Richmond Helpdesk will attempt to diagnose hardware problems for students, but the Helpdesk does not replace hardware on student-owned machines.  Students may work with Attronica Computers (on-campus computer vendor) to purchase and repair equipment that may be out of warranty. We also recommend that you check with Attronica if your system is under warranty from the manufacturer, as they do perform warranty work for most PC manufacturers.      
 
Support is available from the Information Services staff for any of the software that is in our standard and for most of the specialty pieces of software that are found in particular labs.
 
The Helpdesk is open between the hours of 8:30 AM and 9:00 PM weekdays during the academic year.  

The University employs a 3-year replacement strategy for all faculty, staff, and lab machines.

The University of Richmond Helpdesk will attempt to diagnose hardware and software problems for students, but the Helpdesk does not replace hardware on student-owned machines. Students may work with Attronica Computers (on-campus computer vendor) to purchase and repair equipment if their system is out of warranty. We also recommend that you check with Attronica if your system is under warranty from the manufacturer, as they do perform warranty work for most PC manufacturers.      

Other services

Printers are available in the Library, computer classrooms and computer labs across campus. Students are given 400 printing units each semester, with black and white copies costing 1 unit and color copies costing 10 units. Additional printing units can be purchased for $0.08/unit.

Higher quality printers and large format printing is available through the Technology Learning Center (http://is.richmond.edu/classrooms/tlc.htm).

Many academic buildings on campus are wireless and the University is undertaking a program to make the entire campus wireless. The Libraries, Dining Hall, Commons, and meeting areas within the residence halls, and several outdoor spaces will have wireless access in the Fall of 2004.