The purpose of the Oakton Community College computer labs is to provide a vocational and technical environment that will guide, develop, and encourage students toward their educational goals. Academic work always has priority over other uses.

Computer labs are available to support students and faculty in carrying out the educational, instructional and academic objectives established by the College. As you use our technology resources, please follow the established policies and guidelines.

The College also offers wireless internet access in most public areas and cybercafés at both campus locations allow non-academic use of computers. All users of any computing facility must follow our Technology Use Policy.

These policies and guidelines are intended to insure efficient safe and ethical use of Oakton’s computer facilities and systems. By following these policies you help safeguard the college’s systems and labs and preserve your continued right to access the equipment and networks that keep the college connected.

How IT can help you

Information technology staff members are available to help with general computer use. They are also responsible for ensuring a supportive working environment for all lab users and the care of the College’s equipment. If you need help with specialized applications, please see the Learning Center’s tutoring schedule, posted in all open labs, or contact the Learning Center, ext. 1658 at Des Plaines, ext. 1434 at Ray Hartstein Campus (Skokie)..

Our Guidelines
Users of Oakton’s computing have the following responsibilities:

Know and follow our policies – Users are responsible for knowing our policies; please read through all policies, including the Technology Use policy, and let Information Technology personnel know if you have any questions.

Keep the labs clean – In order to protect our equipment, please keep food or drinks outside the lab. Clean up any papers in your lab area before you leave.

Keep the labs a productive work environment – The labs are quiet work places, so please use a soft voice, turn off your cell phones and try not to disturb other lab users. Only IT employees should install software, or move, repair, reconfigure, or modify Oakton’s computer systems.

Protect your work – Unplanned, accidental, and occasional system failures may occur. Students are advised to frequently save their work and make back-up copies as appropriate.

Please report any software and/or hardware malfunctions to the computer lab staff for repair.

General Policies
(see also Technology Use Policy):

• Each user is provided with a unique login ID and password that may not be used by anyone other user.
• The academic computing facilities (including Internet access) are to be used for Academic purposes. Use for gambling or pornography is not allowed; gaming and chatting are only allowed in the cybercafés.
• Users are expected to limit their use of resources by only printing necessary documents and using copy machines for additional copies.
• Users should be conscientious of others who may need to use the computing facilities, limiting time if others are waiting and not generating excessive network traffic by downloading non-academic material.
• Use of network resources to harass, offend, or annoy other network users is forbidden.
• Material that is obscene, dfamatory, or in any way violates College non-discrimination and sexual harassment policies will not be allowed.

Copyright

Software and other digital media is protected by copyright law. Copying of software and other digital media is in violation of Federal Law and College policies. Suspected violations will be vigorously investigated and, if warranted, appropriate penalties applied. Specifically, users do not have the right to:
• Make copies of software for yourselves or others;
• Receive and use unauthorized copies of software;
• Make copies of copyrighted digital media for yourself or others
• Receive and use unauthorized copies of digital media
• Create file sharing areas for distribution of unauthorized software or other digital media
(Link to academic dishonesty text) 

The full Technology Acceptable Use Policy (Board Policy #8330.2) can be viewed in the IT Policies section. 

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