ITS Induction 2009/10

Download the print version of the IT induction [PDF, 788KB]

This guide aims to familiarise you with the range of IT facilities available to you as a member of the College.

You can work through this guide in the IT Teaching Rooms in the Rutherford Building following your enrolment and Library tour in induction week: there will be someone in the room to answer questions.
Alternatively you can do most things (except of course logging into a College computer) using a web browser from any computer connected to the internet.

Sessions should take you between 15-30 minutes to work through, depending on your experience and comfort level with IT.

You need your Goldsmiths card to access the Rutherford Building and will need your IT Services (ITS) username and password to log on to the computers. You will have received your Goldsmiths card during enrolment in the Great Hall.

How to log on

When you come to use a College computer you will need to type in your ITS username and password. This gives you access to a range of IT and online services.

Obtaining your ITS username and password

You can request a printed copy of your ITS username and password from the Help Desk on the ground floor of the Rutherford Building, or you can obtain it online by visiting the web address: www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/myaccount

Here you need to enter your student reference number and surname, exactly as these details appear on your Goldsmiths card, and your date of birth. You will also need to enter the random characters displayed in the small image, as below:

After correctly entering these details, click the Submit button. Your ITS username will be displayed to you on the screen. You will be asked to enter, and confirm, a password for your account, which should meet the criteria for uniqueness specified on screen.

If you are doing this in an IT Services induction session, you will need to use the specially logged on computer in the teaching room before you can follow the rest of this self-directed induction.

How to log on

When you come to use a College computer you will need to type in your ITS username and password. This gives you access to a range of IT and online services.

On a PC you will need to press three keys at the same time to start the logon process. They are labelled Ctrl+Alt+ Del. You then need to click OK to bring up the box to type in your ITS username and password. On a Mac the box should be there right away.

Most of the activities in this induction are done through a web browser. This means you can do them from outside of College on any computer connected to the Internet. Be very careful if you are invited to save any password on a computer: definitely never save a password on a public computer.

The first step, then, is to open up a web browser. In College the default web browser is Mozilla Firefox – double-click on the icon to start it. Otherwise open up any web browser on the machine you are using.

At the top of the browser ‘window’ is a place for typing the ‘address’ of the web page. For each of the following sections please type the text labelled web address in here.

IT Services Home Page

You can access most of the services we’ll cover from the IT Services Home Page:
Web address: www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/it

How to change your password

If your password was provided to you on a paper printout, you should now change it. You can change it whenever you want to in the future and should do so regularly.
Web address: www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/it/password

Please heed the instructions on the page and note the warning about forgetting your password: you can get a new one, but it can take up to 48 hours.
Never tell anyone your password. No one from IT Services will ever ask you for it either in person or in an email.

How to access your College email: webmail

Your College email address consists of your ITS username with @gold.ac.uk appended: eg for the ITS username exs01rah, the corresponding email address would be exs01rah@gold.ac.uk.

All official College email will be sent to your College email address and NOT to private email addresses. You need to check your College email at least weekly to ensure you receive information relevant to your course promptly. Also you should use your College email address for sending email relating to your studies.
Web address: http://webmail.gold.ac.uk

Sign into webmail with your ITS username and password.

How to access your files: Webshare

In the Open Access computer rooms you should not save files locally on the computer on which you are working. The computer may be unavailable to you if you need access to your work again. Instead we provide some space to save your files, which you can access from any computer connected to the College network. This space is known as your Home area or N: drive and is accessible only by you once you have logged onto a College computer. You can work directly on files and save them to the N: drive as if you were saving them on the local computer, but with the added benefit that you can access them from any computer connected to the College network.

If you want to access files stored in your Home area from outside of College, you have two options

• copy the files onto a CD or a USB stick when you’re in College OR
• download the files over the web using Webshare.

Web address: https://secure.gold.ac.uk/webshare

Once you login to Webshare, you can download and save files from your Home area onto your current computer. After completing your work on these files and saving the changes, you can then upload the files again to your Home area via Webshare.

To download a file from Webshare:

• Navigate to the file in your browser listing and then left-click on the filename. You will then be prompted to open or save the file. Make a note of where you save it!

To upload a file to Webshare:

• First ensure changes to your file are saved and the file closed. Then click on the Browse button in Webshare. This will open a small window, which will enable you to locate the saved file and upload it into Webshare.

Please do not include spaces your filenames as this will cause problems with opening files downloaded via Webshare. You can include underscores ‘_’ (shift+hyphen) to make the filename easier to read.

Don’t forget to log out when you’ve finished using Webshare!

How to access learn.gold

This is our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) – a website with online learning and support materials as well as discussions and activities for your courses and facilities for the submission of course work. Your tutor will provide you with instructions for using the VLE in relation to your particular course.
Web address: https://learn.gold.ac.uk

On the front page of learn.gold you will see a list of categories which correspond to departments. Within the category for your department you will be able find the area for your course, where available.

How to access the library catalogue and your library record

NB This complements your library tour with your subject librarian: it does not replace it.
Web address: http://library.gold.ac.uk

View your Library Record

• Click on Your Library Record
• You will be prompted to enter some information identifying you.

Please note that these details are different from your ITS username and password:

• Your User ID / Barcode is the number on your Goldsmiths security card labelled “Reg No.”.

• Your PIN code is initially set as your date of birth with six digits corresponding to ddmmyy where dd = day; mm = month; and yy = year eg 5th September 1990 = 050990. NB the day and month must be two digits: you may need to put a zero in first.

After logging in, you are able to see which books you’ve borrowed, renew them if required, make reservations and check your library record details.

Catalogue search podcasts

Web address:  www.gold.ac.uk/library/librarycataloguepodcasts
These three audio guides describe how to use the Library Catalogue to find books, DVDs or journals. You can listen to the podcasts on a computer or you can download them to an MP3 player. To listen to them on a computer, simply click on the relevant link in your web browser, adjusting the volume as required (please ensure that you are wearing headphones if using a computer in the College Open Access area or IT Teaching Rooms).

In order to follow the steps described in the podcast, you may want to have the Library Catalogue web page (http://library.gold.ac.uk) open at the same time, in a separate browser tab or window (to open a new tab in Firefox, press Ctrl + T on a PC or Cmd+T on a Mac).

How printing works and is paid for: PCounter

The printing process in the Rutherford Building uses a pre-payment system known as PCounter.
When you print something from a computer in the Rutherford Building, it does not immediately emerge from the printer. Instead the item is placed in a queue and is held there, until you swipe your Goldsmiths card on a card reader next to one of the printers in the building. After swiping your card, you will see, on the card reader screen, a list of the items that you have requested for printing and you will be asked to confirm each print “job”. This preserves your confidentiality and also reduces the amount of wastage – which is important both for the environment, and also for you since you pay for printing.

To set up your PCounter account: go to the value loader machines on the ground floor of the Rutherford Building (near to the Help Desk), swipe your Goldsmiths card, and follow the instructions on the screen. You will need to enter your ITS username and password.

To print and copy: you must have funds in your PCounter account; your balance is reduced for each print or copy you make: ‘mono’ printing on A4 costs 4p per sheet and A3 costs 8p per sheet.
You can also use your PCounter account to pay for colour printing and copying, and buying CDs, DVDs and guides from the Help Desk.

When you have finished using any printer in the Rutherford Building, be sure to press the Finish button on the PCounter card reader.

To add funds to your PCounter account: swipe your Goldsmiths card at one of the value loader machines located on the ground floor of the Rutherford Building, near the Help Desk. These accept coins only, not notes or credit/debit cards. You can safely add funds to your account in advance, as your credit balance is recorded in the PCounter system: thus even if you lose your card you will still retain your credit.

PCounter credit remaining at the end of your studies is not refundable, but is available to you to use as alumni of the College. To check and monitor your balance you can swipe your card in any PCounter reader or value loader machine at any time.

If your card is lost or stolen, you can ask the Help Desk to freeze your PCounter account to prevent unauthorised use of it until you've replaced your card and can re-open your account.

The black-and-white and colour printers and copiers are located in the Open Access areas of the Rutherford Building, and are therefore always available. There are no printers in the IT Teaching Rooms in the Rutherford Building.

Please note: You cannot print without your Goldsmiths card.
For full instructions see www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/it/printing

What other facilities are available?

A new state-of-the-art digital media editing suite is located on the ground floor of the Rutherford Building. Further details are online at
Web address: www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/media-services

Information on using your own computer and wireless access can be found online.  

More information about the Library is outlined in the leaflet contained in the wallet you were given to hold your Goldsmiths security card.

Guidelines for working on computers safely and securely

Please look at the web page below, including the section ‘Avoiding Disaster’:
Getting started student/staff

What now?

• Please remember to log off if you are using a College computer;
• Take a few minutes to set up your PCounter account and add funds to it (on the ground floor of the Rutherford Building), so that you will be able to use the printers.