Book a computer at the OSS laboratory.

Can you use this laboratory?

The laboratory is for students in what the university calls the special equity groups. That is a list of fourteen groups. If one of them describes you, you may use the laboratory once you have an account.

• Apparent Physical Disability
• Deaf or Hard of Hearing Disability
• Intellectual Disability
• Learning Disability
• Mental or Psychosocial Disability
• Visual Disability
• Speech and Language Impairment
• Non-apparent Cancer
• Non-apparent Rare Disease
• Indigenous People outside Luzon or GIDA
• Solo Parent
• Dependent Solo Parent
• Senior Citizen
• Homeless

If none of them is yours, you cannot book a computer here, and the rest of this page will not help you. That is worth knowing now rather than after a walk across campus. If you are not sure whether one of them covers you, the Office of Student Services can tell you. You do not have to work it out on your own.

Getting an account

There are two ways to get one, and only two. Which one is yours depends on whether your college has already sent your name to the Office of Student Services. You do not have to find that out first. Try the first way. If it does not find you, you have your answer, and the second way is waiting for you.

If the first way does not recognise you, do not keep trying different spellings of your name. That will not help. It means your name has not reached the office yet, which is not your mistake and not a spelling problem. Go and use the second way.

Do you have to say your group out loud?

No. On that form at the laboratory you type your own details, and your equity group goes in there in your own typing. You never have to say it at a counter, in front of whoever else is in the room. The SSN Head does have to see your proof once, when she approves you.

Booking an hour

Once you are signed in, booking takes about a minute.

1. Press Reserve.
2. Pick a day. You can pick today, or any day up to seven days ahead, counting today.
3. Pick an hour. Hours that are already taken are greyed out and cannot be chosen.
4. Pick one of the computers that are still free at that hour.
5. Say what you need it for: coursework, research, thesis or capstone, a job or scholarship application, personal study, or something else.
6. Confirm.

You are then given a reference code. It looks like BSU-4T2M. Keep it, because it is one of the two ways to start your hour at the computer. Codes never contain the letter O, the letter I, the digit 0 or the digit 1, because those four get misread when a code is read out over the phone. If you cannot find any of them in your code, that is why.

The limits

• One booking at a time. While you are holding a booking you cannot make another. Use it or cancel it, and then you can book again.
• One hour a day. When you have had your hour for a day, the next hour you can book is on another day.
• Up to seven days ahead, counting today.

The laboratory is open Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. It is also closed on holidays, and on any day the office closes it for its own work. Nothing may still be running at closing time, so the latest an hour can start is 4:00 PM.

On the day

Go to the laboratory at your time and find the computer you booked. It is showing a locked screen with its name on it. There are two ways past that screen, and either one works:

• type your reference code on it, or
• sign in on it with your student ID and password, and it finds your booking for you.

Your hour starts at the time you booked, not at the time you sit down. If you booked nine o'clock and arrive at twenty past, you still finish at ten. The student booked after you is relying on that.

If you arrive early

If your computer is free and stays free, you can start straight away. Your whole booking moves to the time you started, so you still get your full hour, and the hour you no longer need goes back on the list for somebody else.

If you are late

If nobody has started your session fifteen minutes after your time, the computer goes back on the list for other students. You have not necessarily lost it: if nobody else has taken it by the time you arrive, you can still start and use what is left of your hour.

If you know beforehand that you will be late, ring the office. The SSN Head can hold the computer so it is not given away.

While you are at the computer

The computer warns you twice before your time is up, once when ten minutes are left and again at five minutes. These appear as notifications from Windows, not on a web page, because by then you are usually working in some other program.

Asking for more time

There is a button on the screen to ask for 30 more minutes. The answer can be no. You get the extra time when both of these are true: nobody has booked that computer for the hour after yours, and at least two computers in the room are still free for students who walk in without a booking. You can keep asking, up to three hours in total. If the answer is no, the screen tells you which of the two reasons it was.

Finishing early

If you are done before your time is up, press I am finished. The computer goes to the next student straight away. Nothing is held against you for this.

Asking the desk for help

There is a button that puts your hand up without you leaving your seat. You choose one of four reasons: you need a different computer, something is wrong with this computer, you need help with something, or something else. The desk is told at once.

Changing your mind

Move changes the day, the hour or the computer, and keeps the same reference code. Your old slot stays yours until the new one is confirmed, so you always have one of them.

Cancel any time before the start, and that day's hour comes back to you, so you can book again. Not turning up does not give the hour back. If you cannot come, cancel.

If your computer breaks before your time, you do not have to do anything. Your booking is moved to a working computer by itself, your reference code stays the same, and you are told about it. You go to a different seat, and that is the whole difference.

What to bring the first time

• Your student ID. Bring it every time.
• Your PWD ID, or other proof of your group, if you are signing up at the laboratory rather than online. The SSN Head has to see it before she can approve you.
• A USB stick, if you have one, so you can take your work away with you. Emailing it to yourself or saving it to your own online drive works too.

Passwords and email

You choose your own password when you claim your account, and you can change it later under My Account.

You do not need an email address to use the laboratory. You can give one, but nothing is ever sent to it. It is there so the office can reach you if they need to.

If you forget your password, go to the desk and ask. The SSN Head clears it, and you set a new one with your name and student ID. Nobody, including her, can read your old password.