Computer and Network Facilities
Augustana maintains state-of-the-art Information Technology (IT) facilities to support its academic program. Instructional technology labs enable students to complete class assignments, conduct research and develop a high level of computer expertise. ITS (Information Technology Services) maintains more than 1,000 computers for student and faculty use located throughout campus. These computers are connected by the campus network, providing maximum connectivity to common campus resources such as email, a wide variety of leading educational programs, commercial applications and the Internet.
The Franklin W. Olin Center is the main instructional technology center on campus. This center is subdivided into smart classrooms and computer classrooms designed to enrich the learning experience, a general PC access area equipped with networked student computers running Windows XP, and a multi-media lab.
Other resources include word-processing labs in the Augustana Library, technology clusters in each residence hall and several technology clusters administered by various academic departments.
Students in the residence halls also may activate an Ethernet room jack to connect their personal computers to the campus network. Wireless network access is available in the library and most areas of campus.
Students may check out laptops at both the Tredway Library and the Olin Center. Digital cameras, camcorders and other equipment also are available for student checkout at the Olin Center.
Technology supports all areas of instruction at Augustana. Faculty use specially equipped computer classrooms to facilitate teaching. The Olin Center’s 300-seat auditorium is equipped with presentation technology and may be used for audio or video recording of presentations. Olin Center classrooms equipped with large-screen VCR projection and DVD can be used by classes or student academic clubs for meetings.
Faculty and students have a variety of resources and services for accessing and analyzing information in electronic formats. Many library resources are available on the network, including the holdings of the Thomas Tredway Library and several other area libraries, nearly 100 specialized citation databases — many including the full text of the indexed articles — and hundreds of online journals. Faculty and students also can place interlibrary loan requests and ask reference questions via the network.
