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Table of Contents
UCSF Students are required to use personal computers in several ways during the course of their academic career. In recent years, many educational functions which were paper-based have now shifted to on-line and/or web-based transactions. Examples include quarterly registration actions, applying for financial aid, filing the study list (i.e., course enrollment), submitting some course work, and library research.
Responsibility for various computer systems at UCSF is widely diversified. In general, students interact with the following system areas:
|
Information Technology Services (ITS), now Office of Academic and Administrative Information Systems (OAAIS) |
Email (Exchange/Outlook), On-Campus Wireless Networks (WiFi), VPN (off-campus access to campus networks), LISTSRV (mass-emailing), Directory Services, Telephone |
| Student Academic Affairs / Registrar | Registrar (Student Portal, Enrollment), Student Financial Services (Financial Aid), Graduate Division, International Students Office, Student Health, Student Life, Student Services |
| Library | "GALEN" and Library Services, On-Line Instruction (WebCT), Access to On-Campus Wireless Networks (WiFi), Interactive Learning Ctrs. |
| School of Nursing | Computer Lab (N-735), nurseweb.ucsf.edu web site, CoursEval web site. |
Prior to their initial enrollment at UCSF, the Registrar mails to each new student a "Welcome to UCSF" letter. Each letter includes a unique "SAA UserID" (login) and a "PIN" (password). For example, in a letter for a new student named Mary V. Jones, the included SAA UserID could be mvjones and the PIN (password) might be wxbv3m.
UCSF offices make an effort to share and re-use logins and passwords where possible. With this in mind, the SAA UserID (login) and PIN (password) are used and re-used for many different systems which nursing students routinely use. See the following table for examples.
| Account | Location | Login | Password |
|
Registrar: New Student |
http://saawww.ucsf.edu/admission/newstudent.html | your SAA User ID | your SAA PIN |
| Registrar: On-line Services | http://saawww.ucsf.edu/signon | your SAA User ID | your SAA PIN |
|
Exchange - Outlook Web Access https://exchange.ucsf.edu/exchange |
your SAA User ID | your e-mail password | |
| VPN | http://its.ucsf.edu/information/network/vpn/vpn_students.jsp | your SAA User ID | your SAA PIN |
|
GALEN (library systems) |
various (Campus Library, CL-231, online, and more) | your SAA User ID | your SAA PIN |
|
WebCT (on-line courses) |
http://webct.ucsf.edu/ | your SAA User ID | your SAA PIN |
The Office of Admissions and Registrar (OAR) maintains the official student registration and transcript records. Student access to these records is provided through the "Student Portal" screen at http://saawww.ucsf.edu/signon (requires SAA UserID and PIN). Some of the functions available at student on-line services include:
Students are required to have and use a UCSF email account, which is automatically established at initial enrollment.
Students often ask if they are allowed to use their personal email accounts instead of UCSF email, e.g., hotmail, yahoo, SBC, MSN, AOL, etc. There are two reasons why students must use UCSF-based email accounts:
The ordinary format for these accounts is firstname.lastname@ucsf.edu and most students access these accounts through the "Outlook Web Access" web portal (OWA) and their web browser. Suitable web browsers include current editions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari. Students should receive an individual mailing containing their access procedure--including login and password.
In most cases, the student's SAA UserID is used in the login screen with the "campus\" prefix. Students are also given a special email password (which is not the PIN) to use in this screen.
Remember that the email address used for messages is firstname.lastname@ucsf.edu--not the SAA UserID (mary.jones@ucsf.edu, not mvjones@ucsf.edu). Also note that the web address for OWA starts with https instead of http - https://exchange.ucsf.edu/exchange
Technical help with your email account can be obtained from UCSF Information Technology Services (ITS/OAAIS) by telephone at (415) 514-4100 option 2. ITS can help you with password issues, email software, forwarding mail addressed to a prior "itsa" account, and other problems you may encounter.
While reviewing an important email, you may use "File – Save As" to retain a copy on your hard drive with your other important documents. Outlook Web Access does not retain your messages and message attachments indefinitely. Old messages may be discarded to recover space in your account.
During the course of each quarter, students can expect to receive many emails every week from the School of Nursing's LISTSRV (mass e-mailing) system. Typical messages include funding opportunities, special events, new course offerings, and other important news items and administrative notices. If you are sure your UCSF email is working properly but you are not receiving LISTSRV messages, there is probably a failure in the email process between the school and your inbox. Please stop by Nursing Student Affairs (N-319X), telephone (415) 476-1435, or email info@nursing.ucsf.edu to resolve the problem.
Simply put, VPN is a security tool that allows you connect from home (or off-site) into the on-campus network with the same privileges as if you were using an on-campus workstation, terminal, or PC.
UCSF must protect certain information from "leaking" out into the general internet; for example, patient information, student personal information, restricted-use library collections, etc. However, there are many circumstances where restricted information must be made accessible beyond the wiring of UCSF's buildings. VPN protects (through encryption) the security of information while it passes through the public internet.
Many journal articles are made available in the library under access restrictions: UCSF users can review them, but not people who are visiting through the general public internet. Students who are physically within the Campus Library (or other campus building) pass through these access restrictions automatically, their workstation's internet address (I.P.) identifies them as an on-campus UCSF user. After going home for the day, the student finds that the same journal articles are unavailable, because the library blocks off-campus access to them. Your GALEN account (see "Library Services" below) does not provide sufficient privileges to access these articles "remotely," i.e., from home.
Installing VPN on your home computer allows you the same access to campus resources that you would have using an on-campus workstation. VPN in operation is shown in the following diagram.
UCSF Information Technology Services (ITS) licenses copies of the VPN software for use by students.
Before installing, make sure that you have successfully installed your home broadband (high-speed internet) connection. Common broadband providers include Comcast (using TV cable) and SBC/Pacific Bell/Yahoo (DSL on telephone lines).
Next, you should review the ITS/OAAIS General VPN Information page at http://its.ucsf.edu/information/network/vpn/index.jsp and the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page at http://its.ucsf.edu/information/network/vpn/vpn_faq.jsp before proceeding. If you received a CD-ROM of "UCSF Software for Students" the VPN software can be found on that disk. Otherwise, you may download (to an on-campus computer) the software and then transfer it to your off campus location for installation on your home PC.
ITS Support staff can help you with the technical aspects of installing VPN software. For assistance or more information email ITS Customer Support at itscs@its.ucsf.edu or telephone (415) 514-4100, option 2.
The gateway to most services offered by the Campus Library is GALEN. For most students, a GALEN account is automatically configured during initial enrollment. Ordinarily, the login name and password pair for GALEN is the familiar SAA UserID and PIN as used for other on-campus systems. Galen provides research access to the library's on-line collections and other related library services.
Students using laptop/notebook computers are offered access to UCSF internet services while they are on-campus. A GALEN account is required for access to LIAS: the Laptop Internet Access Service. LIAS allows a portable computer to connect using either cable or wireless ("WiFi") connections in selected UCSF buildings.
For details and support for LIAS, see the library's information page at http://www.library.ucsf.edu/info/lias/ --also see the wireless building maps at http://its.ucsf.edu/information/network/wireless/index.jsp (ITS). General assistance on GALEN, LIAS, and other library-related issues is available at http://www.library.ucsf.edu/research/help/.
Also see http://dne.ucsf.edu/media/howto (website).
Many UCSF courses are partially or completely on-line (i.e., web-based). UCSF licensed and installed WebCT™ software to provide a common student experience for all programs. In 2008 the library began development of a successor Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) using Moodle software.
For most students, the SAA UserID and PIN is also used to login to WebCT at http://webct.ucsf.edu/. Following login, the student will see a list of the courses with on-line content s/he has enrolled in. For more information and technical help with on-line learning and WebCT, consult the Center for Instructional Technology page at http://cit.ucsf.edu/.
Another service from the library is the new Teaching and Learning Center, more information is available at the
http://tlc.library.ucsf.edu website.
Revised: 8/14/2006, 5/10/2007 • 0509connect.doc • DAK
© Copyright 2007 University of California Regents, All Rights Reserved.
