Introduction to University Computing Facilities
School of GeoSciences
Crew Building MSc Programmes
Level 3 PC Lab, KB Centre, Wednesday 15 September 2010, 10:30-12:00
Tutor: Simon Allen
Demonstrators: Chi Chan, Reza Mohammadkhani
Introduction
The Learning and Teaching Spaces Technology Section (LTSTS) provides computers
in open-access areas, across four locations on campus, for use by students, staff and
visitors to the University. Full information about the open-access computers is
provided online at: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/informationservices/services/computing/desktop-personal/open-access
This 1.5 hour training session is designed to introduce you to the open-access
computing facilities at the University of Edinburgh. It will explain the specifics of the
open-access computer facilities and key software systems that are essential for
communication, accessing information resources and course materials.
The tutor will provide verbal explanations of each of the items 1 to 11 listed below.
Two demonstrators are on-hand to help any students who experience difficulties with
the instructions provided. So that you can click on the active URLs to access relevant
websites, please download the on-line version of this document from:
http://xweb.geos.ed.ac.uk/~sallen/.
1. Computer Lab Login
To enable your password to allow you to log into one of the computers in any openaccess computer lab, you need to:
•
Log into http://www.myed.ed.ac.uk/ using your matriculation number
(s10xxxxx) as your username and your EASE password (same as your
EUCLID password). To get access to the internet to do this you can either use
one on the ‘kiosk’ machines on level 2 (they don’t need a password to start a
web-browser) or borrow your neighbour’s computer if they are already logged
in.
•
Once you are into MyEd, find the ‘Information Services’ channel and follow
the link asking you to confirm your password for computer lab access. Enter
your current EASE password. Once you have done this you will be able to log
into any PC in the computer lab using your matriculation number and EASE
password.
Once you are logged into your one of the lab PCs, it is good practice to change your
password to something secure yet memorable. Guidance on the choice of suitably
secure passwords is provided at: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schoolsdepartments/information-services/services/help-consultancy/help-services/onlinehelp-guidance/staff/it-help/user-guides/passwords
2. Saving you work
How to avoid losing hours of work spent typing that overdue essay will be explained.
Work can be saved to your personal space on a fileserver, or to removable media
(such as compact disk) or memory stick.
3. Your printing account
How to pay for printing your documents will be explained.
4. Student mail system (SMS)
How to use the student email system will be explained.
5. Looking up student and staff email addresses
How to find your own "user friendly" email address and those of your friends (and
University staff) will be explained.
•
An email address and phone number search facility for university staff can be
found at: http://www.ed.ac.uk/search/.
•
For staff in the School of GeoSciences, email addresses, room numbers etc can
be found in the ‘people’ section: http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/people.
•
Emails of staff in the Scottish Agricultural College, who organise some of the
ecology and environment MSc courses, can be found in the alphabetical
contact list at: http://www.sac.ac.uk/contacts/.
•
To search for student email address use either the ‘Search’ tab in MyEd or the
addressbook in the Student Mail System.
6. Autoforwarding your email
Email is a very important means of communication between students and staff. Staff
will only be able to look up your University email address. If you plan to use a
different address (e.g. an existing hotmail or yahoo address) it is essential to set up
autoforwarding from your University email address (unless you are going to also
check your university address every day). How to set up autoforwarding will be
explained (choose ‘Filter’ from the mail menu, then ‘Forward’, and complete the
dialogue box).
7. Sending emails to groups of students
Each GeoSciences MSc programme has an email distribution list of all students
attending that programme To send an email to all students on the programme, send
your message to the group email address for your programme. The names of the
address lists can be found at: https://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/it/maillists/degree_lists.html
For example the MSc Environmental Sustainability list is:
ptmscenvss1f@lists.geos.ed.ac.uk
These are used by staff for information related to lectures and courses, job and
seminar announcements and may also be used by students to announce social and
other events likely to be of interest to fellow students on their programme. Please use
these lists carefully: only send appropriate messages; be careful with your
language; do not annoy people with trivial and unnecessary messages.
You can send an email to everyone attending one of your courses by using the email
facility within WebCT.
8. Access WebCT
WebCT is an on-line learning environment, used to give you access to lecture notes
and reading and to collect assignments and dissertations electronically.
You can access it via the MyEd portal: http://www.myed.ed.ac.uk/. WebCT is located
on the ‘Studies’ tab of your portal. Try clicking on one of the courses shown, to see if
the organiser has uploaded any interesting course materials yet.
9. Sources of information and training in use of computer software
How to get more detailed information, self-paced training materials and attend
training courses.
Web Help Desk
http://www.students.ucs.ed.ac.uk/helpdesk/student/system/show.cfm?topicID=0
The ‘Information for … New students’ section is especially useful.
eLearning and Information Services Skills Development
http://www.ucs.ed.ac.uk/usd/cts/courses/
Learning Resource Centre (Main Library) and
Graphics & Multimedia Resource Centre (Darwin Library, KB)
http://www.lrc.ed.ac.uk/
10. Useful web-based information sources in the University
Pointers to some useful web-sites within the university:
Code of Practice for Taught Postgraduate Programmes
http://www.acaffairs.ed.ac.uk/Regulations/CoP/PGT/Index.htm
University Search page
http://www.ed.ac.uk/search/
University Library
http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/
University Library Catalogue
http://catalogue.lib.ed.ac.uk/
General information on Computing Services
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/information-services/computing
School of GeoSciences
http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/
University Schools and Departments
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments
Edinburgh Research and Innovation
(provides useful information on staff research interests – this may help you to
identify your dissertation supervisor)
http://www.research-innovation.ed.ac.uk/expertise/
11. Demonstration of how to use heading styles in Word documents
Use of heading styles is fundamental to the proper structuring of long documents,
such as MSc dissertations. Once set up in your document, they make it easy to change
the hierarchy of headings, number them automatically, move entire sections and
generate the Table of Contents automatically, saving a great deal of time. You can
practise on the Programme Handbook available at: http://xweb.geos.ed.ac.uk/~sallen/.