What the Lab Managers Did This Summer - 2009 Edition

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

Ah....another September is upon us and I actually felt some crispness in the air during my jog this morning! Another September also means that it is time for another review of what the lab managers did this summer. During the summer months, the greatly reduced student population allows for the updating of the lab facilities and several of the managers were quite busy doing just this.

The General Access Computer Lab Managers began the summer with the launch of a newly-formatted website. The new clean design offers easy-to-use links to information about all of the labs:

The College of Education (COE) General Access Computer lab dramatically changed its printer setup and management and student patrons seem to be adjusting nicely to the new situation. You may recall that one of the many technological perks that students get at UNT is the free printing of classwork in the labs. This does mean that considerable management of the service is needed to prevent waste (after all, "We Mean Green!"). COE is now using the PaperCut application to control printing. Three print stations are located in Matthews 307 and six stations are located in Matthews 309. All of these printers are Xerox Phaser 6360 color printers with a default setting for duplex color (more green paper savings!). Students send their print jobs to the PaperCut spooler and then go to one of the print stations and key in their EUID and select their documents to print. Multiple copy requests will not queue for printing (but students can take their singles to Eagle Images in the Union for xeroxing services). One of the print stations is located on a small table beside the printer to allow easy access for patrons in wheelchairs. Additionally, COE put a small printer in their hallway to handle small print jobs from the kiosks outside their door. Charlie Andrews, COE lab manager, reports, "The big task at the present is adjusting the students to requesting their own print. They are fast learners and they even instruct each other." Andrews also added that the lab is using SharePoint for a variety of administrative purposes and that discussions have begun to initiate replacement of the facilities' 12-year-old station chairs. Below is a photo of some of the new COE print stations:

The four College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) labs are all getting new machines! Lab manager, James Strawn reports that all Windows-based computers are being replaced by the new Dell small form factor (SFF) systems with the following specs:

Intel 2.66GHz Core2 Quad 9400 Processor

4GB RAM

250GB Hard Drive

8X DVD +/- RW drive

Headphone/speaker jacks and 2 USB ports on front of computer

Additionally, Strawn adds, students in the GAB 330, GAB 550 and Terrill 220 labs will view their work on 24-inch Wide screen LCD monitors with built-in Smart Card readers and 2 USB ports.

Over at the Discovery Park, Sean Flowers, manager of the College of Engineering (ENG) general access computer lab worked with Facilities to pick and place furniture outside of the lab that would enhance the student work area. Sean describes the new area as follows: "We have two tables for 6 adjacent to power outlets, 3 cafe style tables for 2 students each, and 2 circular seating areas with a low coffee-table style feel. Everything was picked to match the ascetics of the building and our space, and to take advantage of our "prime location" in the building. We are fortunate to have a green area directly across from the lab, along with a very large window, as well as a great skylight above. Students regularly congregated outside the lab, and it was my desire that we enhance that space for the students to over better looks and comfort, while keeping it functional." Sean also provided these photos of the new area outside of his lab: 

The ENG lab also now has cubbies for students to park their bags while working on the lab machines:

It is to be hoped that the type of collaborative and informal study space outside the ENG lab serves as a great model for other such spaces for students at UNT.

Finally, the ACUS/Adaptive technology lab was HOPING to move into its new digs this summer but - alas - as anyone who has dealt with remodeling before at their homes well know...delays happen. However, the new facility with its more open work area and its study rooms for students with certain types of learning disabilities should be available for move-in any day now and complete coverage of the new facility will be featured in a future (hopefully, not too FAR future!) issue of Benchmarks Online. For now, you can just gaze at the picture of the ACUS lab's soon-to-be new home:

Other labs were cleaned and new lab images and services updated and added. For example, the 24-hour lab located in Willis Library added Adobe Design premium to both the MacOS and Windows partitions on their dual-boot iMacs. Manager Judy Hunter further reports that bluetooth file transfer options and better foreign language accessibility were added to the machines. Willis was the first facility to offer the dual-boot iMacs and this very popular hardware option has now been deployed in several of the other computer labs as well. Be sure to visit the new lab website mentioned above for a complete review of all lab locations, hours and services.