Computer Labs
For information about the labs, click on the following links: 
Lab locations and specifications
Lab Guidelines
Oakton Acceptable Technology Use Policy

The following document is available in all the labs but may also be viewed by linking below: 
Logging in on-campus to the Oakton Network (Word format)

myOakton
myOakton is our web interface (portal) with our student record system, as well as a place for campus announcements, student news, and general college information. Applicants have direct access to services like registering online, adding and dropping classes online (within the add/drop period) and students can look up grades, get unofficial transcripts and more. myOakton is also used for access to online or web enhanced classes, email and most other web resources for students. Access to this portal is at my.oakton.edu. The Login ID is constructed from your name and your Oakton-assigned "Banner ID" (details here) and is printed on your bill/schedule.   Your instructor also has your Banner ID on the class roster. An ID Lookup form is available to locate your ID online.

Student Network Login ID
Students who are enrolled in credit classes or non-credit (Alliance) computer classes on-campus have access to on-campus networks and computer labs. When you apply at Oakton you are automatically assigned a computer network account (certain non-credit classes also qualify-- your instructors will let you know). While you are registered for classes and any financial obligations to the College are fulfilled, you may use this account to log into workstations in any of the open or classroom computer labs.  Your account gives you access to the wide variety of application programs available on Oakton's Network and on-campus access to the Internet.  Your login ID for using computers on campus is the same as the login for myOakton; an ID Lookup form is available to locate your ID online.

If you are not currently enrolled your network access account becomes "inactive" though you may still use it at anytime to register for classes online.

Student Email
All student accounts (even those without on campus network access) have an Oakton email address. This address is listed in the student directory/address book and is used for all official Oakton email. If you supplied a non-Oakton email address on your application, mail sent to your Oakton email address is automatically forwarded to the address you provided. If you would like to activate your Oakton email account instead of forwarding your mail, log into my.oakton.edu and select the email icon near the top of the page; directions explaining your options will come up on subsequent pages. Additional options for email can be found in my.oakton.edu under the Register/Pay/Grades tab, in the Personal Information menu.
Once your account is activated (and you have not chosen to forward your mail), you can access your email account on or off campus with our Web Mail system.  On campus you can use the more sophisticated email program, Netscape Messenger.    Students email accounts provide 75MB of storage.

Reading Oakton Email Off-campus with Webmail
Using Oakton Email with Netscape Messenger 

(For the finer points of using Messenger, see the Online Email Guide. )

If you are not currently enrolled in classes, your login/email account becomes "inactive." You may continue to receive Oakton email if forward it is being forwarded to a non-Oakton account. If you wish to set up forwarding, use the my.Oakton.edu to change your mail settings.

Server Space and FTP
Student network accounts have 250 MB of storage space on our servers. When you login into your network account you will see this as your H: drive. Your network space is usually referred to as your home directory. Saving files to your home directory is no more complicated than saving them to a floppy, with the added benefit that files in your home directory are accessible from any college computer as well as from home (if you have an internet connection and use FTP).

Off-campus you can use FTP to retrieve or save your files to your home directory. FTP instructions using Netscape are available at FTP instructions using Netscape - the server information on this site is valid with any FTP client. When you “ftp” to Oakton you will be connecting to your home directory. Within the instructions there is also a link to further steps for downloading and installing the free software program FTPExplorer (FTPX) on your home computer.

Web Pages
Within your home directory is a subfolder called “public.www” where you can store personal web pages. Any files put into your public.www folder are instantly accessible to anyone on the web and are considered published on the web. Before you put or store any files in the public.www folder, please read the web standards at http://www.oakton.edu/resource/it/wbstdrd5.htm. All files that are published (i.e. put into your public.www folder) must follow these guidelines and the Technology use policy. The URL for student web pages published this way is in the form: http://www.oakton.edu/~<loginid>

If you're new to creating web pages, IT has guides and other resources available on the Web Construction pages.

ISPs for Students
Oakton cannot act as an Internet Service Provider for students but there are some free and/or cheap ISP's available. A list of free ISPs is available on our Online course pages. (Note that this information changes more frequently than we can update the list.)

Some ISPs such as ATT-Yahoo DSL can alter your existing home computer setups in such a way that some of Oakton's interactive services, including myOakton, will be adversely affected. For details and solutions, see http://my.oakton.edu/cp/site/loginhelp.html.

AOL users note: In addition to WebMail, many of your classes may involve accessing web-based material. The AOL default browser has traditionally been limited in functionality, with problems occuring in filling out online forms or quizzes. If you use AOL to connect to the Internet off-campus, you should use another browser such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, or Opera. For details, see the instructions for using other browsers with AOL.

Other Network Resources:
Instructor Public Files and F:/Samples

Your instructor may also have placed files on the network for your access. If they saved files to their own Oakton public.www folder, those files would be available at http://www.oakton.edu/~<the instructor's login ID>. Note that many instructors have non-Oakton web accounts and email addresses so they may have used those servers to store class files. They should alert you to this when your class begins.

Many instructors also save files to the Oakton network "samples directory" which is mapped to your F: drive. Items there range from class notes to project materials to textbook supplements. In most cases you will be able to read files stored there but unless your instructor has arranged it, you will not have rights to save there. In addition, many files can only be opened and used by one person at a time. To avoid most problems with editing, saving and sharing samples files, (unless you are told to do otherwise) you should first copy the file from samples to your H: drive or a floppy disk and then work with that new copy.

You may also access the samples drive off-campus via FTP. The ftp server is samples.oakton.edu. 

Some resources in the samples directory may also be available as web pages. Your instructor will alert you to the URL(s). 

Wireless Networking
Oakton allows users to connect to its wireless network using their own laptops and cards. Wireless access is available in most public areas of the college but is limited to Internet accessible resources only. Wireless users must still adhere to the Technology Use Policy. Students must go to a computer lab to use licensed software applications. For more information on how to access Oakton’s wireless network, please see Accessing Oakton's Wireless Network using your PC's wireless network card. 

Instructor Contact Information
You can look up an instructor's Oakton email address, web URL, and other contact information by clicking the Search button on the college home page (or in the navigation bar on many of the college site sub-pages). This will take you to the Oakton site's search page. Follow the directions for searching when you arrive there. You can search on as much or as little data-- including partial names-- as you wish. The Current Student portal page also has a search feature for locating faculty.

Please be aware that not all faculty use their Oakton email accounts. When you begin a class, the instructor should tell you the best way to contact him.

Online and web-enhanced classes
The majority of Oakton online courses use WebCT for course management; in addition, many instructors use WebCT to web-enhance their courses. Many resources about online courses at Oakton are available at http://www.oakton.edu/online; if you have registered for an online course and want to know “what’s next,” please see http://www.oakton.edu/online/GetStarted.htm for more information.
If you are in a course that is online see the "Courses Offered" listings (http://www.oakton.edu/online/coursesc.htm) for a link to your class's Welcome page or log into myOakton and try your My Courses links. Instructors enhancing their face-to-face classes with web materials will let you know in class where to find them.

What do you do if you have technology trouble at Oakton?

During class your first stop should be your instructor for any class-related difficulties. Your instructor will either be able to solve the problem or elevate it to the correct person in the college.

As your network account is tied to registration, if you are dropped from class for non-payment your network account is immediately disabled. At that point you will have to work with Registration and Records, the cashier’s office and the instructor to re-register for the class. Once you are re-registered your account will be re-enabled.

When working in an Open Lab outside of class, the Lab Staff should be able to help. They are skilled in all student access issues and versed in general computer use. If the problem is directly related to using an application program, as opposed to a network or user account problem, you may be referred to either your instructor or a tutor. Tutoring information can be found at http://www.oakton.edu/learn/tutoring.htm.

You may in some instances be referred to The IT Help desk for further assistance. The IT Help Desk’s main function is to support administrative/employee programs, as well as select student issues.

While the lab staff and Help Desk personnel are available to assist with Oakton’s network services and general applications, they are not able to help with home computer problems.