CSCF Teaching Lab Policies

Food and Beverage in the Labs

Food and Beverage have traditionally been prohibited from labs for the following reasons:

  • Drinks, crumbs and grease can cause significant damage to hardware.
  • Chairs and floors get damaged when drinks are spilled.
  • Students complain about having to put their personal belongings in sticky messes left by previous users.
  • The garbage and smells created by food/drinks left sitting around the labs make for an unpleasant environment in which to work. It's also embarrassing to show to visitors.

Expectations of Students

  1. Students are expected to refrain from having food and unsealed beverage containers in the labs.
  2. Students are permitted to have beverages in the labs, provided they are able to seal the containers when not drinking.

Consequences

  1. Anyone found with food or an unsealed beverage container in a computing lab will have their account suspended immediately for at least 24 hours. After 24 hours you may request that your account be enabled by visiting the Consultants/Help Desk in MC 3017, or Administrative Staff in DC 2557/8.
  2. If a lab is excessively messy, everyone will be asked to leave the lab and the doors will be locked for up to 24 hours (excluding scheduled labs). Labs may be locked overnight (from 1900-0800) if the problem persists.

Gaming in Computing Labs

Through late 2009 and early 2010, MFCF and CSCF have received numerous complaints regarding the gaming activities being pursued in our student computing labs. Of particular concern are the large and disruptive groups who monopolize lab resources while playing MMORPG games such as Warcraft, Starcraft and Counterstrike.

We are actively pursuing technological initiatives to block MMORPGs in the computing labs as this is a clear violation of University Policy:

http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infocist/use.htm

Until this technology can be deployed, the following procedure will be followed:

Effective immediately, any groups of gamers seen by staff in student computing labs will have their computer accounts disabled and will have to arrange to meet with the Director or Manager to discuss the term under which their account will be re-enabled.

If complaints are received outside of regular hours (8:30-4:30), any user who was playing a MMORPG at the time will have their account disabled. Students can report disruptive gaming in confidence to: abuse-math@math.uwaterloo.ca

Please ensure you report the time and room number in which the disruption was occurring.

Abandoned Workstations

Students are expected to lock their workstations when they leave the room for a short period of time (max 15 minutes). Students who find a workstation locked are free to use it if:

  1. There are no other free workstations in the lab, AND
  2. The student who was using the workstation has not returned after 15 minutes.

Students who leave workstations unlocked while logged-in do so with the risk of unauthorized persons tampering with their accounts.

Lab Bookings

In many CS courses, students are expected to complete assignments using one of the many CSCF general purpose computer labs outside of scheduled class time. Students should note, however, that some computer labs may be booked at various times throughout the day for events such as scheduled lab sessions, exams, conferences, and maintenance. In most cases, the lab booking schedule is known well in advance and is posted on lab doors. To ensure the efficient use of lab resources, CSCF expects all users of lab facilities to honour the room booking schedules.

Expectations of Students

  1. Students are expected to logout and leave the room at least five minutes before the start of a room booking.
  2. Students still in the room at the beginning of a booking are expected to logout and leave the room immediately upon being asked.

Consequences

  1. Students who do not leave the room after being asked may have their session abruptly terminated and will have their computing accounts suspended for at least 24 hours.
  2. Repeated, or extreme violations (such as inappropriate/threatening behaviour) may be referred to the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies of the student's home faculty, in addition to any account suspensions.

Guidelines for Staff

Designate at least one instructor, tutor, or TA to be in charge of determining if clearing-out students not in the scheduled lab is appropriate. If it is, then:

  • Politely ask students in the room to leave.
  • If a student refuses to leave, make a note of:
    1. Time and day of the occurrence
    2. Name of the computer that the student is using
    3. physical description of the student
  • Call CSCF and provide details.
  • If you can't reach CSCF, or if you feel that your personal safety may be at risk, call the UW Police at extension 22222 (or 911 in case of immediate threat to personal safety).