HELPDESKIT Baseline FAQs
General
- What is the IT Baseline?
- Why do I need the IT Baseline?
- What is the needs analysis questionnaire?
- I completed the IT Baseline as part of my summer school, how do I check my pass is recorded?
The IT Baseline:
- I have IT qualifications - do I need to do an IT Baseline course?
- I don't have any IT qualifications - but I am very experienced with IT. Do I need to do an IT Baseline course?
- I completed an IT course organised by my college school. Do I need to do an IT Baseline course as well?
All courses
- Can I complete the IT Baseline online?
- How do I book a course?
- I missed a session of my course, what can I do?
- My course has finished but I haven't received my result - what should I do?
- Do I need any print credits to do my course?
Taught courses
- Where do the courses take place?
- Why can't I see any available sessions on the on-line booking system?
- How long does a course take?
- Are there any revision materials?
- None of the available coursessuit me, or there are no courses available. What should I do?
Online courses
- What are the system requirements for doing the online course?
- How do I log on to the online standard course?
- I've forgotten my password for the online course. What can I do?
- I don't have Microsoft Office at home. Can I still do the online course off-campus?
- I want to do the course from my laptop. How do I connect my laptop to the university's wireless network?"
General
The IT Baseline represents a fixed level of IT competence and knowledge relevant to all students in the university. The current set of skills, awareness & knowledge that comprise the
Baseline can be found on our IT Training page.
If you want to check whether you meet the IT Baseline, use our IT Baseline needs analysis.
Note: We now run, in co-operation with some college schools, special Bespoke versions of our Baseline courses, designed specifically for the students of that school. These sometimes contain extra material while leaving out some parts of the standard baseline.
The University of Glasgow recommends that all students should have a level of IT skills equivalent at least to the IT Baseline in order that they can use Information Technology appropriately for study and beyond. Achieving the IT Baseline will not only ensure you have appropriate IT skills but will make you aware of how to apply them effectively in your studies and coursework.
It will also introduce you to campus computing resources you will meet for the first time as a new student.
If you feel you need the skills covered by the IT Baseline, you should apply for one of our courses. Do this by completing our needs analysis questionnaire. Do this by completing our needs analysis questionnaire.
The questionnaire is designed as a diagnostic tool to assess your current level of IT competence and therefore select the most appropriate route for you to achieve the Baseline standard. The questionnaire consists of 12 simple yes/no questions.
After registration/matriculation, contact IT Training with your summer school number and we will be able to match it up with your new registration/matriculation number and make sure your pass is recorded in our database.
The IT Baseline
Certain qualifications, such as Higher Computing, Higher Administration and ECDL can allow you to achieve an appropriate level of Basic IT Competence. If you're not sure if your qualification is sufficient for your student IT needs, check out our IT Baseline page and link to our Revision Material. This will give you an idea of the standard of the baseline. You will also find a wide range of other IT courses on our IT Training pages, which you may wish to take, even if you already have reached the IT Baseline level.
That depends. If you're not sure if your IT skills are
sufficient for your student IT needs, check out our IT Baseline page and link to our Revision Material. This will give you an idea of the standard of the baseline. You will also find more advanced courses on our web pages, which you may wish to take, even if you already have reached the IT Baseline level. And you may find it useful to gain our IT Baseline as evidence that you possess appropriate IT skills (a letter of acknowledgement can be issued on request).
Note: even if your skills match (or even better) the IT Baseline, be aware that some university subjects require students to have a higher level/wider range of IT skills than that indicated by the Baseline.
This means if you wish to achieve the IT Baseline, you may need to do a Standard IT course or one of our single-subject courses. To find out if you require another course, see our needs analysis page.
All courses
If our needs analysis determines that you have the skills to do a course online, then you will be offered the opportunity to do so when you apply for a course.
The easiest way to book a course is to do so online from our Needs Analysis page. This will display a brief questionnaire designed to diagnose the correct level of course for you. Answer the questions and follow the instructions and prompts to book your course.
If you do not feel confident using the online booking system, either e-mail us or drop by our office on level 4 of the Library.
We may be able to slot you into the same session of another course, subject to availability. However, you may feel confident enough to complete the work you have missed by yourself (but contact your tutor about this). If you wish to attend the same session of another course, e-mail us or drop by our office on level 4 of the Library.
You should email your course tutor if you have not received your results within three to four days of the end of the course.
We do not require you to have print credits when sitting your course but be aware that in some situations (e.g. network or email problems) you may be required to print one or more pages and submit them to your tutor on paper, so it is good practice to have enough print credits available to print at least two pages.
Taught courses
The majority of IT Baseline courses will take place in our teaching cluster - Room 1022 in the Main Library Building. You will receive confirmation of the venue, date and time in an e-mail, to your student e-mail account, around a week before the course is due to start.
If your course has been arranged by your college/school it may take place in one of your college's own teaching clusters... check with your college school.
If you have followed the on-line booking system procedure correctly but still do not see any available slots for courses it means that there are no more spaces available. If this happens you should follow the advice given in this FAQ. (See below).
Standard Courses take 8 hours (normally one 2-hour session per week for 4 weeks) and Beginners Courses take 12 hours (normally one 2-hour session per week for 6 weeks)
If there are no courses available, or none suit you, you can still indicate a preference as to when you would like to do a course. At the bottom of the timetable page you can see a short form that lets you indicate a preference. Fill in this form and your details will be sent to the IT Training Office and you will be informed when a course in the timeslot that you have indicated has been provided.
Online courses
To be able to do the IT Course online, you must have a standards-compliant web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Firefox 2 or Opera 9.
You can log on to the online standard course at the
following web address:
https://apps.iteu.gla.ac.uk/booking/courses/index.jsp
When entering your login details, ensure that you enter only your registration/matriculation number (eg 1234567), and not your registration/matriculation number and first letter of surname, as used for other campus systems (eg 1234567b). The first time that you log on, leave the password field blank as you will be asked to change this after the first time that you log on.
Your online course password is the same as your normal campus computer login (and student email) password. If you have forgotten this, go to the IT Help Desk on level 4 of the main Library and make sure you have your student ID card with you.
The vast majority of home computers come with some office suite bundled. So long as your office suite is capable of saving in Microsoft Office 97/2003 compatible files, then you can still do the online course from home. See this page for further details
You need an office suite that includes a word processor, such as Microsoft Word, and a spreadsheet application, such as Microsoft Excel.
When submitting your work, you must be able to save it as a Microsoft Word 97/2003 document or Microsoft Excel 97/2003 spreadsheet or Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2003. These versions have been chosen because they are the most widely compatible versions of these Microsoft Office applications.
The following office suites are known to be compatible with MS Word/Excel/PowerPoint 97/2003. You use any other ones at your own risk. If your document cannot be opened and marked by IT Training staff, your work will not be able to be assessed.
- Microsoft Office 97 or later
- OpenOffice 1.0 or greater
- Lotus SmartSuite
- Ability Office 2000 or greater
- Microsoft Works Suite (Note: the normal version of MS Works is not suitable)
Any student CSCE machine at the University will be sufficient to complete the online Standard IT Course, but it is your responsibility to ensure that you can complete the course outwith the University environment.