University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Computer Usage Guidelines
July 7, 2009
Mission Statement and Introduction
The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (UPSOM) is responsible for providing academic resources to its student body. These resources include the electronic tools necessary for learning, communication, and the dissemination of information between and among the student body. UPSOM is committed to electronic mail as the official communication between the school and students. UPSOM is committed to providing the electronic tools and resources, including personnel, hardware and software, to keep technology processes effective.
Computer usage and technology are serious issues. Refer to the UPSOM Student Handbook online, which will be kept up-to-date by the School. The guidelines in this document are specific to the School of Medicine and are in addition to the Computer Usage Policy and Guidelines of the University.
About the Use of “@medstudent.pitt.edu” Email Accounts
As noted in the Mission Statement, UPSOM is committed to electronic mail as the official communication between the school and students and has provided email accounts to all medical students for this purpose. The UPSOM administration believes that email is an effective communication tool, which must be used judiciously in order to maintain its usefulness and integrity. The student has the responsibility to know and follow the usage guidelines/policies, as stated in the Mission Statement. The School of Medicine strives to respect the privacy of its students. It is the general practice of the administration not to monitor or interfere with individual student email messages except under extraordinary circumstances. Intentional disregard of the guidelines will bring students to the attention of either the Honor Council or the Office of the Vice Dean.
Responsibility Areas, Help and Contact Information
More than one office at the UPSOM is responsible for the technology used by students. The following is a guide to help direct inquiries and help requests.
HARDWARE
· Small group room (SGR) computers - Office of Medical Education
· The wireless network in Scaife Hall - Computing Services and Systems Development (CSSD)
· Kiosks in the student lounge, 3rd and 4th floor - Office of Medical Education
· Internet connection provided by the University - iTarget
· Lecture Recording services - SEC Technology Committee
ONLINE INFORMATION
· School of Medicine Online Curriculum (Navigator) - Laboratory for Educational Technology
· Zone Portal - Laboratory for Educational Technology
· Electronic distribution lists – Student Affairs
· Student academic information (e.g., online grades) – Student Affairs
· Web-based student administrative information – Student Affairs
Office of Medical Education (OMED)
omed@pitt.edu
http://www.omed.pitt.edu
(412) 648-8714
Laboratory for Educational Technology
labedutech@medschool.pitt.edu
http://zone.medschool.pitt.edu/sites/LET/
(412) 648-9679
Office of Student Affairs
Yvonne Harlow, School Registrar
Yvonne@medschool.pitt.edu
http://zone.medschool.pitt.edu/[help]/offices%20of%20the%20school%20of%20medic/studentaffairs/
(412) 648-9040
Disclaimer
It is understood that there can be no expectation of 100% privacy when using the Web and electronic mail provided by UPSOM. Thus, while email is the official communication between UPSOM and the medical students, it will not be used to transmit the most confidential of communications. These will continue to be done personally or by regular or special handling by a third party delivery service. These guidelines thus require that the student keep an accurate mailing address on file with the Office of Student Affairs, making electronic changes, as directed.
Definitions
Active Directory – is an electronic list of all email accounts and users of UPSOM access to The Zone or other secure web areas must have membership in the Active Directory within a group (class of, administration, etc.). These groups will constitute the Distribution Lists.
Distribution Lists - refer to lists of students used by the administration to facilitate communication with large groups of students for academic use.
Medstudent Email - refers to the lastname.firstname@medstudent.pitt.edu account housed on the Exchange server with the UPSOM. This account is recorded in the student database as the primary account and is never replaced with an outside address, e.g., Hotmail, Yahoo!, EarthLink, etc.
Pitt Account - refers to the @pitt.edu account automatically assigned by the University.
School - refers to all administrative offices of the Dean (Student Affairs, Office of Medical Education, etc.).
Student - refers to the First Professional Medicine students in UPSOM.
Student Groups and Mailing Lists - Students may subscribe or unsubscribe to mailing lists for student organizations. The groups are responsible for all maintenance of their own lists.
UPSOM - is the acronym for the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
The Zone - refers to the Centralized Work Zone, a web portal which is intended to be the primary source of information relevant to the student population in UPSOM.
Electronic Mail (email)
It is the responsibility of the School to communicate important information to the students. All such communication will be sent to the Medstudent email address. It is the responsibility of the student to read the communication. Because this is the official communication between the School and students, forwarding of this account is not recommended. The School is dedicated to providing a safe and stable environment for Student email and will provide an account of reasonable size for School-related activities. The service will be provided 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There will be times when regular maintenance of servers or emergency repair of hardware or software must be done. In these cases, reasonable advance or emergency notice will be given and the expectation is that this down time will not exceed 24 hours. Notification of these events will be posted on the Zone. Excluding a catastrophic event, medical student emails will not be lost as a result of service interruption.
The School will assign a username and password for each email account. The username can not be changed, but the password may be changed by the Student. The School may determine whether or not the password must be changed on a periodic basis. If a student forgets his or her password, he or she must contact the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) to have it reset. The University assigns a UNIX account (@pitt.edu) to all students who are accepted to the University through the Student Information System (ISIS or PeopleSoft). The medical student will need this account for University services as well as to access the wireless network in Scaife Hall. The Pitt email account that is part of this process has a much smaller storage capacity and it is suggested that it be forwarded to the Medstudent account.
Account Maintenance
The School is responsible for maintaining all hardware and software for academic programs. The Student is responsible for cleaning up both the Medstudent and Pitt accounts by deleting old messages and attachments. The lack of maintenance of personal accounts has a detrimental effect on the speed of the electronic system and thus affects all student users. Students must perform this maintenance at least once each month.
The School will maintain information relating to computers and email usage on The Zone.
Computers in the Small Group Rooms - 3rd, 4th and 5th Floors
Students are responsible for any activity that occurs on a computer in the small group rooms while they are logged in. For this reason, it is imperative that all students log out of the computer when they are finished. If any malicious or illegal activity occurs while a student is logged in, that student’s account may be suspended or terminated, in accordance with University of Pittsburgh policy (also: http://technology.pitt.edu/security/compliance/acceptable-use.html).
Zone Portal
The Zone uses the Student’s email credentials for authentication; therefore Students must use caution and care when using this resource. Students are responsible for keeping their passwords confidential and changing them periodically.
Personal information is accessible via The Zone after you have logged on. Therefore, it is mandatory that users actually log-off or close all browser windows upon completion of their session. Be aware that using computers in public places still has a risk that personal information will be accessible to malicious individuals.
Because The Zone allows users to create their own website and modify online content on some pages, students must follow University guidelines regarding use of online resources and use discretion when posting content (http://technology.pitt.edu/security/compliance/acceptable-use.html).
Student Groups/Organizations - Subscribing or Unsubscribing
Student Groups that are recognized by the University and/or the Student Executive Committee (SEC) will be listed within The Zone. Each group will be given the opportunity to create a presence on The Zone. Students may subscribe or unsubscribe to an electronic Mailing List associated with each group/organization. These sites may not violate the University or School computer policies and procedures. The maintenance of the web site and Mailing Lists are the sole responsibility of the group moderator chosen by the group leadership.
The SEC is responsible for coordinating the creation and modification of student organization group sites. Annually the SEC and the Lab for Educational Technology will update access of student group leaders to the group sites and contributor access to The Zone announcements.
This document was developed and approved by the Zone Development Group August 12, 2005 with representation from the Class of 2006, 2007, 2008, Office of Student Affairs, Office of Medical Education, Laboratory for Educational Technology and iTarget team. Updated and approved on July 7, 2009.