William Allen White School of Journalism
And Mass Communications
CLASSROOM AND LABORATORY POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Spring 2003

Responsibilities

The School recognizes its responsibility to provide students the most up to date technical equipment and computers necessary to prepare students for the business challenges ahead.  Obviously, budget constraints enter into the equation, but the School will make every effort to provide state of the art technical equipment and instruction in its use.  It is further our responsibility to maintain and repair the equipment and to keep it secure, managing it for the most efficient use by students, faculty and staff.
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Students share an equal responsibility in keeping the equipment secure, operating it in an approved manner and maintaining it properly.  Many pieces of equipment will require special training and approval of a monitor for student use.
To that end, the School has set certain policies and procedures relating to the use of the equipment.  This may pertain to classroom and laboratory equipment or to mobile equipment used outside School buildings.
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The following are specific policies and procedures for Journalism School equipment.  Students are required to familiarize themselves with them as they pertain to the equipment they will be operating.  Students further realize they are responsible to immediately report any malfunctions, breakage or loss of equipment to the assigned monitor. Students may be held responsible for damage to equipment in their possession or on which they are working, and will be held responsible for any damage or loss due to improper use, lack of security or negligence.
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In addition, many courses include a professionalism component in their grading.   Students may be graded down in this area due to non-compliance with classroom/lab rules and regulations or damage to or loss of equipment, in addition to financial responsibility.  Please check the individual course syllabus for grading information.
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The School recognizes that in order to serve the greatest number of students as fairly as possible certain time limitations and advanced reservations will be used in allocating technical resources.  Students must be familiar with the various check out and reservation policies where they are applicable.  Strict adherence to the reservation and time requirements must be met.  Violations of these policies may result in loss or restricted use of the equipment and/or loss of professionalism points in grading for a course.

Basic Restrictions

All School technical equipment is under the control of a monitor.  The monitor may be the class instructor, a staff member or student assistant.  Designated monitors have the authority to enforce the policies and procedures and are responsible for the equipment under their care.  All lab and classroom technical equipment is administered by the General Manager of the Integrated Media Laboratory and the Broadcast Engineer/Network Administrator.

FOOD AND DRINKS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN ANY COMPUTING CLASSROOM, LAB, STUDIO OR EQUIPMENT CHECK-OUT AREA.  EQUIPMENT SHALL NOT BE OPERATED IF STUDENTS ARE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ILLEGAL DRUGS OR ALCOHOL.

Computer Labs/Classrooms (S/F 101, 105, 107, Dole 2091)

No food or drink can be in evidence in the rooms.  Water or soft drinks in containers with sealable lids may be kept in a backpack, purse or briefcase.

Students may not load any software onto computers.

Students may not add any fonts to computers.

Students may not remove or copy any software or fonts from computers.

Students must not connect or disconnect any cabling to computers.

Students may not start up any computer from external hard drive.

Students may use the labs only during lab hours supervised by an authorized monitor or while accompanied by a faculty member.

Students must not adjust computer monitors.

Students may only use their class server space for class material and only for the designated class.

The lab is not responsible for any items left by students or any work left on the computer.

Color Copier Room (S/F 103)

Students are not permitted in this room except when accompanied by a monitor faculty member.

Only authorized monitors may operate the color copier, or color-printing interface.

Color printing may be done during open lab hours only.

No credit will be allowed for color printing.

Cash, check or charge card only.

Special Projects Lab (S/F 303)

No food or drink can be in evidence in the rooms.  Water or soft drinks in containers with sealable lids may be kept in a backpack, purse or briefcase.

Use of the room is restricted to authorized class work (supervised by a faculty member), special school projects, faculty and staff or other pre-approved work.

A reservation schedule will be placed in the Reading Room for reservations and reference.

All projects that require a designated computer or work area and/or projects with  multiple reservation requirements must be cleared with IML General Manager.

Class project work done in the room must be under the direct supervision of a faculty member, monitor or authorized school representative.

Students may use only the designated computer assigned to them, since other computers in the room may be assigned to specific projects.

Weir Production Lab Rules

No food or drink can be in evidence in the edit rooms.  Water or soft drinks in containers with sealable lids may be kept in a backpack, purse or briefcase.   Students must not smoke in the edit rooms.

No food or drink can be in evidence in the TV Studio or the Control Room.  Water or soft drinks in containers with sealable lids may be kept in a backpack, purse or briefcase.  Students must not smoke in the TV Studio or the Control Room.

The Lab is open from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9:00 a.m. ? 5:00 p.m. on Friday.

The Lab is closed most weekends and holidays.  The Lab will open on weekends at selected times during the semester.  See your class syllabus for these dates.

Equipment reservation is on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Dole Media Lab is monitored by the Integrated Media Lab Manager and by Teaching Assistants (T.A.s).  The monitor will go as far as to call the Campus Police if students refuse to cooperate with the rules outlined in this handbook.

Students who have an objection to any of the rules in this handbook should present their grievance to the Integrated Media Lab Manager or to their course instructor.

Student Accountability

Students must make sure equipment works properly before leaving the lab.

Students must fill out a ìCamera Checkout Formî or sign in for editing bays and leave their student ID.

Equipment must be returned in the same condition as it was when checked out of the lab.

Students are responsible for reporting any discrepancies with the equipment.

Students will be held accountable for any damage to the equipment that was a result of their negligence.

Students will be responsible for the cost of repairing or replacing damaged, lost, or stolen equipment.

Student assistants and other lab personnel are to be given the same respect and authority as your classroom instructor.  Any conduct that could be deemed inappropriate when directed at your instructor will be considered inappropriate when directed at the lab personnel.

CAMERA RESERVATION POLICY

Cameras can be reserved for a maximum of three consecutive hours.

Students can reserve cameras for more than three hours only if they allow a three- hour gap in between sessions.  For example, students could reserve a camera from 9:00 a.m. until noon, and then reserve a camera from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. on the same day.

Students are not allowed to use their partnerís name in an effort to get around the preceding rule.

Camera can be checked out without advance notice if they are available, but students must still sign up on the computer.

Reservations will be held for only 15 minutes beyond the scheduled time unless students call the lab to make other arrangements.

If students reserve more time than allowed by the rules, the excess time will be erased from the computer.

Students must fill out a ìCancellation Formî if they will not be able to show up for their previously reserved time period.

JOUR 301 and 435 students are not allowed to take camera equipment out of Douglas County nor check out cameras overnight.

Students who violate the above rules will lose professionalism points, which can lower their class grades.

EDITING ROOM RESERVATION POLICY

Video editing rooms can be reserved for a maximum of two consecutive hours.  Audio Editing rooms can be reserved for up to one hour.

Students can reserve the video editing rooms for more than two hours if they allow a two-hour gap in between editing sessions.  For example, students could reserve an editing room from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. and then reserve an editing room from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. on the same day.

Students are not allowed to use their partnerís name in an effort to get around the preceding rule.

Editing rooms can be reserved without advance notice if they are available, but students must still sign up on the computer.

Reservations will be held for only 10 minutes beyond the scheduled time unless students call the lab to make other arrangements.

If students reserve more time than allowed by the rules, the excess time will be erased from the computer.

Students must fill out a ìCancellation Formî if they will not be able to show up for their previously reserved time period.

Students who violate the above rules will lose professionalism points, which can lower their class grade.  This includes failure to appear for reserved times.

VIDEO EQUIPMENT CHECKOUT POLICY

Only students currently enrolled in Journalism School courses, faculty or staff can use camera equipment.

If a student wishes to use equipment for classes other than those offered by the School of Journalism, the student must have successfully completed JOUR 301 and JOUR 435.

When scheduling equipment, the lab supervisor will prioritize checkout as follows:

If a student, staff or faculty member is working on a paid project, the School of Journalism must be paid a rental fee for the equipment.  The fee for camera equipment is $50.00 per hour and $75.00 per hour for the editing equipment.  This fee is in accordance with Kansas law which prohibits use of state-owned equipment for personal gain.  If the paid project involves extensive hours of rental, a flat-rate may be negotiated with the Integrated Media Lab General Manager.
No equipment is available for personal use.
Students working on projects to resolve incomplete grades must have written permission from their instructor to use the equipment.
EQUIPMENT DOs AND DONíTs

Do treat the equipment gently.  If a particular function is not working properly, ask a T.A. or the Lab Supervisor for help.

Do not try to fix the equipment yourself.  What may appear to be broken to you, may simply require a minor adjustment from someone who knows that he or she is doing.

Donít ask a T.A. to make an exception to the rules on your behalf.

Donít wrap microphone cables around the microphone.  Neatly coil the cables, like they were when you checked them out.

Let the T.A. on duty or the Lab Supervisor know of any problems with the equipment as soon as you discover the problem.

Donít be afraid to ask the T.A. on duty for help, especially if youíre not sure what youíre doing.  The T.A.s are there to help you, and they are held accountable for laboratory operations.

EXCEPTION TO OVERNIGHT CHECKOUT RULE

The School recognizes that extraordinary circumstances may arise that require the use of some Radio/TV equipment after lab hours or overnight.  The faculty and monitors realize that these exceptions to the rules must have genuine, extraordinary needs before permission can be granted (i.e. breaking news, special events, or projects).  EXCEPTIONS WILL NOT BE GRANTED TO JOUR 301 OR 435 STUDENTS.

All such requests must be made IN ADVANCE by filling out the Overnight Camera Checkout Form.  Faculty members who authorize such use must do so in advance of the removal of the equipment from the lab.

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