Software Procedures and Policies
Overview and Need for Standards
The College uses some 200 different programs, ranging from
standardized word processing to a variety of curriculum-specific
programs. The IT Department centrally purchases all software
(except programs that come with textbooks). IT manages the
licenses and maintains a library of programs and source media
the programs come on.
Standards are critical for
empowering campus computer users. Without standards, it would
be very difficult to diagnose bugs or help users in doing
basic or advanced functions. Standards allow Assumption to
build a body of knowledge across the campus community about
the functions of common software. Administrators and faculty,
except in very unusual circumstances, must use the institutional
standard software. The fact that we use standards does not
imply that there is only one standardized program in a named
area. An example of this is that of statistical programs.
Over the last decade we've gone from using a dozen different
programs to four. One, SPSS, is our standard for research
statistics with publishable integrity. We have 27 licenses
for this program. The other two, Data Desk and Syststat are
standards for instructional use. The fourth program TSP is
our institutional standard program for time-series analysis.
Each of these fills a quite different role in the curriculum
or research. It would not be appropriate to "standardize" on
only one of these.
Getting software for a course
Faculty can expect any machine the College owns to have the
following software available:
Web Browser (for general web, Blackboard, e-mail etc.)
Acrobat Reaader
Microsoft Word
Microoft Excel
Microsoft PowerPoint
A complete operating system
Anti-virus software
Call the Help Desk at x7060 if you need one of these and it
is not available where you need it. We buy a site license for
these.
For other programs, Assumption supports many programs for academic
or office use. We have multi-user licenses for some two hundred
different programs. The number of licenses varies from program
to program. It is very important to contact IT Bob Lavner (x7006)
if you will use software in any class other than those above
that we license for the whole campus. Do this well before the
term starts. This way the licenses or rooms can be adjusted
as needed.
If you're "shopping for software," it
is likely that we have a program that you can use. If not,
we usually budget to buy one-of copies for pilot use. Contact
Ron Bishop (x7544) or Mimi Royston (X7167) or Bob Fry (x7300)
for info or help.
Software for open-access labs
Again, make sure IT knows about software you will use in the
Open Access labs. These machines have many programs, but
may not have what you need. IT can help.
The computers in the IT center run programs ranging from Word
for word processing, to Photoshop for graphics, to Avid for
digital video editing. All software must be installed and maintained
by the IT staff. We use an automated system to restore these
machines to a standard configuration regularly and software
that someone else has installed will be deleted in this process.
Contact Bob Lavner (x7006) or Mimi Royston (x7167) or Bob Fry
(x7300) with questions.
Software for Research
Assumption owns some licences for a number of advanced programs
that are often used for research including Mathematica, SPSS,
and Visual Studio. The Library also licensees a number of
database systems for research. Contact Lynn Cooke (x7156)
or Mimi Royston (x7167) in IT or Dawn Thistle (x7272) in
the Library for info.
Database Systems
The College makes heavy use of database systems. There is a separate
policy concerning the database standards and support.
Non-inclusive list of standardized desktop programs (excluding
databases). Most have limited numbers of licenses:
Standard Office Suite:
Microsoft Word: word processing (Win/Mac)
Microsoft Excel: spreadsheet work (Win/Mac)
Microsoft Powerpoint: presentation program (Win/Mac)
Other Standards for browse/reading
Internet Explorer: web browser (Win/Mac)
Netscape: web browser (Win/Mac)
Safari (Mac)
Firefox (Win/Mac)
Acrobat Reader: show pdf files (Mac/Win)
e-Mail
Microsoft Outlook and Exchange
Microsoft Entourage and Exchange
Graphics
Adobe Photoshop: graphics editing/scanning(Win/Mac)
Adobe Illistrator: Drawing (Win/Mac)
iPhoto: graphics management (Mac)
Adobe Elements (Win) graphics management
Corel Painter (Win/Mac)
Web Authoring
Blackboard: Instrucional Management System (Win/Mac)
Dreamweaver: web authoring (Win/Mac)
Flash: web graphic/anim (Win/Mac)
Director: complex interactive anim (Mac/Win)
Authorware: Web Course Design (Win)
Desktop Publishing
Adobe InDesign: basic desktop publishing (Mac/Win)
Adobe PageMaker: basic desktop publish (Mac/Win)
Quark: Advandced desktop publishing (Mac)
Multimedia
Avid Xpress: Digital Video (Win/Mac)
iMovie: Digital Video (Mac)
Final Cut Pro (Mac)
Adobe After Effects (Mac)
Premiere: Digital Video (Win/Mac)
DigiDesign: Digital Audio (Mac)
Sound Forge: Digital Audio (Win)
Broadcaster: Streaming Video/Audio (Mac)
QTSS Quicktime Streaming Server (Mac/Win)
Math/Stat
Mathematica: math algebra/graph (Win/Mac)
SPSS: Statistics - researc/learning(Win/Mac)
SysStat: Statistics learning(Win)
TSP: statistics - time series (Win)
Data Desk: Statistics (visual) (Mac)
Calandar/Contacts/PDA
Outlook: Calandar (Win)
Entourage: Calandar (Mac)
Authored: Bob Fry April 2003
Updated: Mimi Royston July 2005
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