Computing Services: Software
Computer Software
Software of general interest to the college community is budgeted for and provided by the Technology Services department. Software that is of departmental or individual interest must be acquired using departmental or individual funds, but the Technology Services staff does the purchasing to ensure interoperability within our networked environment and to facilitate accurate record keeping of software licenses the college owns.
Instructors may request the Technology Services staff to install personally-owned software on the college-owned computer assigned to them, but they must verify in writing that the software is not installed on another computer in violation of the end user licensing terms associated with the product.
Classroom Software Requests
The Technology Services department installs nearly 40 different computer applications in the classrooms and Computer Lab to support the instructional needs of classes. Many applications supported were designed for simpler computing environments or older operating systems. Occasionally, installing an application will make other software already installed inoperable. In order to provide a reliable and predictable computing environment, the Technology Services technical staff install new applications in a test environment to try and discover problems before installing the software in a classroom where it could create a disruption for others. The testing process can take a considerable amount of time if problems appear so please make your interests known as soon as possible.
Another important consideration is that it generally takes approximately two hours to complete the installation of the software for a computer classroom. Every effort is made to complete that work before the academic term begins because once classes start there are very few blocks of time big enough to allow the technicians to complete the work of installing a new application so installing applications during the term may be delayed. The technicians will not risk disrupting one class for the convenience of another.
