Many instructors find that having software specific to their courses installed in ITC public labs is helpful to students. Students may access this software outside of normal class hours, and work at their own pace on problems. ITC's Labs & Classrooms technical group is ready to assist faculty members with the installation of such software. Read the following prerequisites before filling out the software request form.
- Requests for software to be installed on the public lab computers must be made by faculty, staff, TA, TTSP or a faculty-sponsored student.
- All software installed in public labs must meet the following criteria
- Must have an academic purpose and be needed in at least one lab or classroom of workstations.
- Requestor must have a license agreement or letter from the software vendor stating that the requestor, requestor's department or UVa. has purchased enough licenses to enable the software to be used by your students.
- Must work on the current software build.
- In order to ensure that all courseware is fully tested and will not compromise the availability of software in our standard workstation environments, we have established deadlines. These deadlines are:
| For classes beginning... | Deadline for submission is... |
| Fall | July 1st |
| Spring | November 1st |
| Summer | April 1st |
While we sometimes accommodate requests for software installation at other times, we cannot guarantee that it will be available on a schedule other than the semester schedule listed above. Once the semester is underway, installs are subject to available resources.
We currently have over 200 applications installed in the lab environment. Many of these applications perform similar functions and we need to ensure that we address unique applications required for instruction first. This means that we will install unique course specific applications before we address, for example, installing additional word processors or spreadsheets. As installations are requested that fall into this category, we will provide you with information regarding applications that are already installed and are believed to perform the same functions.
Testing
Once installed, it is the responsibility of the individual who requested the software to test the software in the Chem 411 lab and make sure it works correctly. Software will not be made available for general use until it has been tested. It is not the responsibility of ITC to test the software, teach you how to use the software, or offer day-to-day support of the software.
Additions to Build
Software requests not automatically approved are subject to review by the Unified Build Committee. These include:
- New applications over 2GB in size.
- Program categories that are new to our environment, e.g., Second Life, games, instant messaging programs, etc.
- Programs that have potential security risks; e.g., software which monitors student activities such as SynchonEyes.
- Software upgrades that break the build.
Deletions from Build
Software will be removed from the build when the following criteria are met:
- Software programs that have less than a 10 users in a year.
- Withdrawn by requestor.
Software usage will be reviewed May 1 each year.
Email will be sent to the owner/requestor. If requestor is unknown an effort will be made to determine who the contact person is, otherwise the software will be deactivated as per the next item below.
The to-be-deleted program will be left on the build, but deactivated and hidden for a year.
All faculty members who have requested software or teach in ITC-supported rooms will be notified about software programs that are being deleted from the build.
Miscellaneous
Major system changes will be announced a minimum of one semester in advance of the change.
Changes to themes, desktop, screen saver, icons, etc. must have V.P. level approval.
Any issues involving the Unified Build should be sent to lctech@virginia.edu.