CICM's Virtual Learning Environment

Equipment: Basic Housekeeping

Please remember you are only allowed food in the bistro.  Food is not permitted anywhere else in the college. Please do not eat or drink (including water) in the computer room.

 Please treat the information technology equipment provided with respect. Please do not damage, disble or otherwise harm the operation of computers or waste resources. If you do accidentally damage any ICT equipment, please report it to the reception desk as soon as it happens. This is to ensure:

• your health and safety and that of others who use and visit the college premises,
• effective compliance with current government health and safety regulations 
• that maintenance can be done as soon as possible on the computer / equipment
• concerned, resulting in the minimum amount of downtime for the equipment

 Never aempt to mend the equipment yourself, even if you believe you can do so.

Files: Computer Housekeeping

The computers provided are for academic use by any and all students who wish to do so, but none of them is your own personal machine, so please don’t save your own personal documents on to the computer. This includes coursework assignments, CVs, job applications and personal research, which you have done or are in the process of completing.

 Further to this, when you are recording clinical observations, preparing coursework concerning diagnosis or in clinical year, when treating patients, files containing personal details and health and treatment records should never be left on an unattended machine or saved on to the hard disk drive of the IT Room computers. Always close files and save only on to your own electronic media before leaving the computer. This is to ensure that we are all fully compliant with EU General Data Protection Regulations in accordance with our Student and Clinical Patient Privacy Policies on our website and VLE.

 Always ensure any printed material containing any patient details is appropriately and securely filed or securely destroyed. No such paper materials should be left in open waste paper baskets or lying around on printers or on top of desk anywhere in the college.

Any documents which are left on the hard disk drive of the computer will be removed on a regular basis. You will not be able to rely on your work being there next time you use the computer. Please use your own electronic media such as USB stick/OneDrive to save your own work.

 If you do save documents on to the hard disk drive, any work you have produced will be open to being copied by others. With regard to coursework assignments, this could result in plagiarism with consequences for you as well as the person copying your work. 

Computer Housekeeping

• For educational and business reasons, CICM uses standardised professional software:
• Our word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software is from the Microsoft Office suite for Windows
• We use Adobe Acrobat pdf format very frequently especially on our college handouts where version control is very important
• Our operating system is currently Windows 10
• We do not use Macintosh or other operating platforms

 When coursework is prepared for submission in electronic format, it should be saved with our standardised software in mind; for example, please use Microsoft Word or an Adobe Acrobat pdf file for submitting coursework.

 Please do not install, attempt to install or store software programs of any type on the computers. This includes screen savers, games, video clips, audio clips, *.exe files.

 The computers may not be used for commercial purposes, e.g. buying or selling goods either privately or on commercial sites such as Ebay.

 The computers are provided with antivirus software. Do not open files brought in on removable media (CDs, flash drives etc.) until they have been checked with antivirus software and have been found to be clean of viruses.

 Do not connect mobile equipment to the network (e.g. laptops, tablet PCs, PDAs etc.) until they have been checked with antivirus software, and been found to be clean of viruses.

 Security and Privacy

The computers provided within the CICM Library have basic security which enables students to log on to local machines and use the computer programmes in completion of their work. They are also able to access the internet for research purposes using their CICM email and password.

 Students should respect, and not attempt to bypass, security in place on the computers or attempt to alter the settings.

 Students should not use the computers in a way that harasses, bullies, harms, offends or insults others or in any way brings into disrepute, the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine, its Council, Management Committee, teaching staff, administrative staff or any member of the student body past or present.

 Internet Usage

Please abide by the following usage guidelines:

 Do not access the Internet unless it is for study purposes.

Do not download software on to college computers from the Internet (including screen savers, games, video clips, audio clips, *.exe files).

Do not use the Internet to obtain, download, send, print, display or otherwise transmit or gain access to materials which are unlawful, obscene or abusive. This applies equally to any material of a violent, dangerous, racist, pornographic or inappropriate content.

Respect the work and ownership rights of people outside the college, as well as other students or staff.  This includes abiding by copyright laws at all times.

When using college computers should not engage in ‘chat’ or social networking activities over the Internet. This takes up valuable resources which could be used by others to benefit their studies.

VLE

The VLE is a Web-based Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) maintained by UCO and available for students at CICM. It contains a wealth of materials to assist you during your time studying at college. Materials placed on this learning management system may include module guides, lecture notes, Powerpoints, other learning resources, policies, timetable and announcements etc..

 Whilst studying at CICM, students receive a user name and password that will enable access to this resource and early on during their first weeks at college receive training on the use of the VLE.

 Email

You will be issued with a CICM email account which will be the email the College will use to communicate with you. It is responsibility to check you CICM emails on a frequent basis. When using email, students are reminded that they are to behave in a professional manner at all times. They should be polite and appreciate that other users might have different views from their own. 

 The use of strong language, swearing or aggressive behaviour is not permissible. Nor is the sending or receiving of email containing material likely to be considered as unlawful, inappropriate, annoying or offensive. This applies to any material invades another person’s privacy. Should you receive such messages, from inside or outside the CICM community, you should report them to the Joint Principal immediately.

 Students should never open attachments to emails unless they come from a source already known and trusted. Such attachments could contain viruses or other programs which would destroy all the information and software on the computer.  

 Remote Teaching

 Theory lessons are taught on Zoom.  It is preferable that students switch on cameras when being taught and switch off microphones to avoid disruptive background noise.

 Zoom lessons are recorded and uploaded to the TEAMS within one week of the lesson.  Usually, recorded lessons will only be available to that particular class, but there may be exceptional circumstances when the recording is made available to another class or an individual not in that class.  The lesson recording will never be made available to anyone outside of college.

 Where possible recordings will be made of the speaker and the shared screen.  It is inevitable that recordings will therefore be made if Zoom detects a noise from a student – for example if they ask a question.  Consequently, within Zoom recordings, students’ images and audio will also be recorded and uploaded to TEAMS.  All lessons will be stored for the duration of the course and will be deleted once a cohort graduates.  Lessons may be deleted sooner should storage space not be available. Classes will be informed of this should it be necessary.

 Occasionally, segments of lessons may be used for marketing purposes.  No student’s image from these recordings will be used without their expressed consent.

 Photocopying and Copyright

Photocopying facilities are provided at a small cost in the computing room next to the library so that students may copy small amounts of text from library books as they research topics for assignments or in gain of personal knowledge when reading around topics. 

 You must comply at all times with the regulations displayed concerning the copyright of materials. If you are in any doubt whatsoever about this, please ask the librarian if present or contact them using library@cicm.org.uk for guidance.

 A small honesty box is provided for students to use when they photocopy materials. Its use is currently based on trust. Please use the box and pay the small fee requested for the use of the photocopier. If students fail to pay this fee, then eventually photocopying facilities may need to be withdrawn.

 Reporting Faults: Maintenance: Requests/suggestions for equipment or software

We outsource the maintenance of our computers and photocopiers and they are not on site. Students should plan their work carefully so that they do not rely on last-minute use of the computer equipment or photocopiers at college in order to meet their college hand-in deadlines. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the equipment is always working when needed, it cannot be guaranteed.

 If you need to report an accident, fault or request maintenance or make a suggestion concerning the information technology equipment hardware or software, then please notify reception.

 Please be aware that whilst the ICT Team are not there primarily to police the use of the computers, they will monitor usage of the ICT equipment and report inappropriate behaviour to the Joint Principal.

 If any student violates these provisions, access to the ICT equipment will be denied and the student will be subject to disciplinary action. Additional action may be taken by the college. For serious violations, suspension or expulsion may be imposed. Where appropriate, police may be involved or other legal action taken.

 Please click ‘approve’ to agree to abide by the provisions contained herein.