IAM FACILITIES

IAM Faculty Handbook

IAM Auditorium

The 40-seat auditorium ([Room 150]) is available for lectures, movies, presentations, and critiques. It is available on a sign up basis, usually a week in advance. Please use space.colum.edu to checkout any space across campus.

See the IAM Facilities Page for more information on specific rooms.

Fire and Evacuation Safety

Example - Exit Plan from Room 122

Please familiarize yourself with the “Exit Plan” safety map posted in each room. Make note of the planned route of evacuation for your classroom and other areas of the building *you inhabit. In the event of a fire alarm and or notification by the Fire Safety staff, proceed according to the map out of the building, or proceed according to the special instructions given by the Fire Safety staff. While imminent danger will naturally prioritize your actions, please take coats and valuables when exiting, especially during inclement weather.

Classroom and Lab Facilities Policy

First and foremost, individual faculty members are responsible for the classroom lab while their class is in session.

Classroom Policy

• Students are not to be left alone in classrooms.

• All students should leave the class during break time and the door should be securely locked.

• Students will not be allowed into a classroom until the instructor has arrived and is ready to start class.

• Students may not be left in a classroom when the class session is over.

• Lab Managers tour the facilities at class start times to open doors.

• Students may not be left alone in a classroom when the class is in session. We recommend taking your class break half way through the class time.

• Please make sure that all equipment is turned off when you leave the classroom and allow ample time for the projectors to power down as the bulbs for the projectors are expensive.

• Cell phone usage is at the discretion of the instructor. Set a good example for your students by turning off your cell phone during class.

• Usage of Laptops, PDA’s, Palms, Beepers, etc is again at the discretion of the instructor. A teacher may use a laptop or allow a student to use a laptop, but they are at no time to be plugged into our Ethernet network. We do provide free wireless networking to both faculty and students (See “About our Intranet”). However, the department will not install any software and or drivers on a student’s personal computer.

• The following people are available to open doors:

916 Wabash – 1st Fl.: Mark Quilhot - Student Workers 
1104 Wabash – 4th Fl.: Jim Abrams - Student Workers  

For security, reasons the only people who should be in your classroom are you, the students on the official roster, and the occasional Interactive Arts and Media staff or faculty member. Do not let any unauthorized people or people “claiming to be students:” into your classroom. If a student is not on your class roster, do not allow them in your classroom. Close the classroom door when using the overhead with the lights off. Even with these precautions, please warn your students to watch their personal belongings in the classroom and the open labs.

In addition, it is important that you monitor your students during the class. Most of the problems we have in class labs involves reloading trashed software, restoring goofed up system settings or undoing the glitches caused by students trying to download software from the internet onto the lab computers. The best solution to this problem is to prevent students from doing it in the first place.

Repair

If there is a problem with malfunctioning hardware or software in your classroom, please remember to complete a Repair/Request form and drop it off in the front office or complete the online form located at: http://iam.colum.edu/resources/trouble.aspx

If there is a technical emergency, please send a student to the office to report the problem to Mark Quilhot, the Facilities Manager.

Homework Labs

The Interactive Arts and Media labs are ONLY open to students currently enrolled in a class offered in the department. Students, staff and full or part-time faculty members of the Interactive Arts and Media Department with a current Columbia College ID card may use the lab. Please stress the importance of students always bringing their student ID with them to the lab. The lab is for homework and research use only, classes may not be held in the lab.

Lab hours are posted here -

916 Open Lab/Homework Room : RM 122

1104 Room 415 Computer Lab

1104 Room 413 Cintiq Lab - Not always available, check with the Equipment Cage for availability

1104 Room 410 Stop Motion Lab

1104 Room 406 Advanced Stop Motion Lab - Not always available due to long term projects

Lab Policy

Please emphasize to your students that they must abide by the rules of conduct in labs and in the classrooms. The rules are clearly posted in every room.

ANYONE who violates the policies will be barred from using the labs for the remainder of the semester. We ask that the faculty set a good example for the students.

• Students must have an active IAM Domain Account to use the Labs. Accounts are created when a students registers for an IAM class.

• Black and white prints are free – the lab assistants may disallow multiple copies or any significant abuse of this free printing.

• Color printers are available in the college’s library – to all students at a small cost.

IAM Student Workers

The student workers are responsible for the following: supervise the computer labs, monitor and record student access to the labs, assist students with basic questions, maintain and report disabled equipment, and monitor printing.

Student workers are not allowed to watch a class or proctor exams. If you need an alternative testing location for a student(s) please contact the department office directly. If you must leave your class or are absent, please make appropriate arrangements for a substitute teacher (see section on Faculty Absenteeism).

Tutoring

Tutoring is available in the homework lab (Wabash 916 RM122) beginning the second week of each semester on a walk-in basis. The tutor schedule and their list of skills are posted on the department website. We make every attempt to hire tutors with a broad base of knowledge. However, not all tutors are available at all times, nor have they taken the same exact classes. Tutors are peer students who have demonstrated strong proficiency in various skill sets taught by the department. Students who need extra help with specific skills can use the services of a tutor. They are not homework robots that do students' homework for them.Tutors can be identified by this tag on a lanyard. The tag may be a different color/ material but will be this shape with information regarding the name of the tutor and their major within IAM.

Instructors may assign credit or extra credit for students who have engaged a tutor outside of class time. The instructor should assign credit based on his/her further evaluation of the student's work. The student may also provide the instructor with copies of completed tutor request forms. However, it is strongly encouraged that instructors assign credit based on the students improved learning, not on paper shuffling of forms.

Three Steps to engage the services of a tutor (for students):

• 1. Students must have a current Columbia College Student ID Card to enter the computer lab.
• 2. Consult the tutor schedule posted on iam.colum.edu/support/publicallschedule.aspx for tutor skills and availability.
• 3. Request the tutor's Columbia provided email, and send an email to the tutor to set up a time for a tutoring session

If you are interested in becoming a tutor, please contact Mark Quilhot in Suite 101 for further details.

Some Guy

If you meet the mysterious “some guy”, detain him and call a Lab Manager immediately. Every semester this person — some guy — sends hundreds of students into our department with utterly false expectations of what they can and cannot do.

…Some guy told me I could come into the lab and a TA would help me with my homework

…Some guy told me that I could print out my 400-page screenplay and I don’t need to pay for it

…Some guy told me I didn’t need to take the prerequisite for this class

…Some guy told me my friend could use this lab even though he’s not a student here

…Some guy told me the labs are open 24 hours a day and I can come in any time I want to

…Some guy told me…

You get the idea. Some guy is closely related to the “I pay my tuition so I am entitled to…” character, but that’s another story.