EWS Labs, EWS Policies

Account Policy

Students in a degree program in at The Grainger College of Engineering or a program that has a partnership with The Grainger College of Engineering, will automatically be given an EWS account as long as they are enrolled in at least one course for the current term. For more about this policy, please see EWS Labs, Account Policy

Lab Reservation Policy

While lab reservation requests are generally approved on a first come first served basis, the primary function of the labs is to support instruction for The Grainger College of Engineering. Therefore, reservation use-cases determine the priority of the request, which may result in existing reservations having to be changed.  The priority list is as follows:

1. Lab maintenance.
2. Recurring formal course lecture and discussion sections.
3. One-time reservation requests on a first come, first served basis.
4. Requests from outside The Grainger College of Engineering (reviewed on a case by case basis). 

We are unable to take reservations for office hours. Instructors are welcome to hold office hours in departmental labs (subject to availability, contact your department) or in EWS labs during open hours when the lab is not otherwise reserved, while sharing with students using the lab for other coursework. We apologize for any inconvenience, but we must make sure our labs are available to the largest number of students possible. Thank you for your understanding.

To see the current lab open and reserved hours, see the lab calendars here: https://my.engr.illinois.edu/excal/. Open hours are subject to change at any time, due to new and changed reservations.

In the event that an existing reservation will need to be changed to accommodate a request with higher priority to the instructional mission of Engineering at Illinois, EWS will work with all parties involved to see if alternate arrangements are feasible.

Lab Use Policy

Violation of any EWS policy can result in account suspension and/or loss of access to EWS resources.

1. No food is permitted. Drinks are permitted in all locations except Siebel Center.
2. No disruptive behavior. Headphones shouldn't be heard by others. Cell phone usage should be kept to a minimum.
3. No sleeping is permitted.
4. Your EWS account is not to be shared.
5. All students are required to vacate the EWS labs at the designated lab closing times.
6. Educational use of workstations takes priority.
7. Machines left unattended for more than 10 minutes will be logged out.
8. Do not reboot or unplug lab equipment.
9. EWS is not responsible for lost, stolen, or unattended items.
10. All computing activities must comply with University Policies.

Background Policy (This service is unavailable during the COVID-19 pandemic)

Policies for advertising on EWS computers:

1. Events advertised must be sponsored by The Grainger College of Engineering or Affiliated Societies with Engineering Council.
2. Images must be submitted in a graphics format (jpg, png) and be exactly 800x600 pixels in resolution. The image must be submitted to ews@illinois.edu along with the requested display dates.
3. Text in images must be properly formatted with no spelling or grammatical errors.
4. Images are displayed for 1-week (Monday - Sunday) on a first come, first served basis. EWS staff reserve the right to modify requested display dates to fit with preexisting requests.
5. EWS staff has final say as to whether or not an image is acceptable, and will only post images as workload permits. Display dates are therefore not guaranteed.

Maintenance Windows

Scheduled Maintenance:  Every Monday between midnight and 5am
Every Monday morning between midnight and 5am EWS labs will receive the latest patches from Microsoft and other vendors such as Java, Adobe, etc. These patches will necessitate a system restart. This is a scheduled weekly event, unlike the 5am to 7am window which is for additional maintenance.

Other Maintenance: Daily between 5am and 7am
EWS staff may reboot workstations and servers daily between the hours of 5am and 7am to perform preventative maintenance, software upgrades, and operating system patches. Whenever possible, advance warning will be given to logged-in users.

Research Computing Policy

Use of EWS resources for academic research purposes is prohibited. This includes both the physical computer labs and virtual resources, (i.e. Engineering Citrix and FastX services). For more about this policy, please see:  https://go.illinois.edu/ews-research-policy .

Printing Policy

For more details about printing and best practices, please see EWS Labs, Printing and refund policies.

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Short URL for this page: http://go.illinois.edu/ews-policies