Computing Services

The College hosts a range of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) facilities, almost exclusively PC-based, and as a whole the College reflects the PC setups that BEd, PGCE, MEd students will find in schools and that BA students will find further afield.

The ICT facilities are used by staff and students for document preparation, communication and information exchange, data handling, control technology, by BEd students for the exploration of ICT in schools, and for College administration.

Who may use the ICT Facilities?

All College staff and students, plus teachers on in-service courses, may use the open access ICT facilities. However, within a particular subject department, precedence is given to students requiring access to specific software for their coursework.

Queen’s Computing Facilities

As students of Queen’s, St Mary’s students are also entitled to use the Computing Facilities provided by QUB. This includes access to the PCs in the Student Computer Centres, but also to facilities accessible outside Queen’s, especially Queen’s Online, the University’s Virtual Learning Environment.

College Network

All users of the College ICT facilities are required to read the College Computer Rules of Use (PDF format) document and also to sign the Computer User’s Agreement (PDF format) before being issued with a username and password to log on to the College network.

New accounts are allocated by the Computer Support Staff at the start of term. When you login for the first time, you will be prompted to reset your password. Computing Services recommends that you reset your password to match your Queen’s Online password (issued at Registration).

Files are saved centrally and can be accessed from any PC. They are backed up nightly, but responsibility for files remains at all times with the account holder. Therefore Computing Services recommends saving copies of important files to external storage.

Also please note that it is IMPORTANT to log off when leaving a computer. If you do not log off, you are potentially allowing other students to access your work on your personal storage space, read or send emails from your account, or print for free using your print quota. Always ensure that you have finished saving any files that you have been working on and have closed any open applications before logging off.

Internet and Printing

Internet access is available from all PCs via a 1GB/s connection.

All student areas have access to both black & white and colour laser printing. Students are provided with an initial allocation of printing credit, after which they must top up their credit using the kiosks provided. The main printers in the Open Access Area (which also serve the Teaching Lab) cost 3p per sheet. Other black & white lasers cost 4p per sheet. Colour laser printing costs 15p per sheet.

Software

The following table summarises the main software packages in use in the college.