Category: Students

Academic Technology, Computer Classrooms, Faculty/Staff, Public Computing, Security, Software, Students

Electronic Blue Books and Online Testing

Andrew Ruether

Swarthmore ITS supports faculty interested in moving from paper blue books to their electronic equivalents.  Swarthmore uses SecureExam software to allow students to take tests on public area computers while providing a safe and secure way of administering tests.  Many students prefer typing to writing and the software provides a basic word processor and spell checking tools.  Many faculty prefer reading typed papers instead of deciphering handwritten pages.  The software prevents students from accessing other programs while taking the test so it is possible to have a “closed book” exam.  At the end of the exam, students submit their work and … Continue reading Electronic Blue Books and Online Testing

Academic Technology, Faculty/Staff, Students, Workshops and Training

Supercomputing in Plain English: Online Workshop

Andrew Ruether

Oklahoma University will be offering a series of free online workshops called “Supercomputing In Plain English.”  The workshops will be help on Tuesdays at 3PM starting on January 25, 2010.  You can follow along with the presenter using a variety of videoconferencing options along with lecture slides and the opportunity to submit questions via e-mail or phone. See the web site for the workshop or get in touch with Andrew Ruether from ITS (aruethe2, x8254) for more information.  If you are planning to participate, drop Andrew an e-mail.  If we have enough interest we will set up a dedicated videoconference space. … Continue reading Supercomputing in Plain English: Online Workshop

Academic Technology, Faculty/Staff, Software, Students

Mathematica 8 Now Available

Andrew Ruether

Last month, Wolfram Research released Mathematica 8.  Swarthmore ITS has the new edition available for download for faculty, staff, and students here:Download Mathematica 8 (Swarthmore username and password required).  We have versions for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. From Wolfram’s website, here are the top 8 reasons to upgrade: Enter your queries in plain English using new free-form linguistic input Access more than 10 trillion sets of curated, up-to-date, and ready-to-use data Import all your data using a wider array of import/export formats Use the broadest statistics and data visualization capabilities on the market Choose from a full suite of engineering … Continue reading Mathematica 8 Now Available

Faculty/Staff, Software, Students

Swarthmore’s Software Revision Control System available to Faculty, Staff, and Students

Andrew Ruether

Are you working on a project that involves software development?  You may be interested in Swarthmore’s software revision control system.  Called gForge, this service is now available to the Swarthmore community. The biggest reason to use gForge is its revision control features.  It provides a Subversion (SVN) repository for each project that you can use to control the revision levels of your software.  Instead of relying on renaming files to indicate versions, you and any collaborators can always have the latest version of your software handy while also keeping every revision from the very beginning of your project. gForge also … Continue reading Swarthmore’s Software Revision Control System available to Faculty, Staff, and Students