Computer Center (for students as well as faculty) The CHSS Media & Resource Center

The Computer Center Media & Resource Center, in HSS Room 326 (the third floor, northeast side of the hall), has 12 Windows XP Professional systems for student use. A current NMSU ID is required to use the computers, as the validation available on the SCS lab computers is not available on these separately maintained machines..

These computers feature at least the following:

• Microsoft Office 2003 (including Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint)
• Adobe Acrobat Reader 7
• RealPlayer 10
• QuickTime 6.5.1
• Windows Media Player 9 or 10

Some of the machines may be specifically reserved by ID-card bearing students because they have one or more of the following specialized programs:

• Genogram Maker Millennium 1.1.6
• WinDVD 6 (for bookmarking of DVDs to be shown in an class in HSS)
• PowerDVD (just for viewing DVDs
• Ahead Nero (for burning CDs)

What if I need help?

Because of the range of issues surrounding course assignments, we ask that, before you schedule a help session with an MRC staff member, you have consulted with your professor first. In some cases, your professor will have had a member of the MRC staff provide materials as well as presentations on how to prepare for certain assignments utilizing the MRC, its equipment and its staff. Please be prepared to have your syllabus and any other support material that our staff member may need to assist you.

Some staff members will have some expertise in a number of areas of concern. Some may not have any knowledge helpful in the completion of a particular task.

Why is the Center sometimes not available to students during business hours?

The first part of the answer involves staffing. Other than the Director, who has more than the Center as part of his palette of duties, student workers populate the support staff. Their class schedules, just like yours, don't follow a standard business hour model. In a number of cases, these students also have off-campus practica or internships. This agencies do work on a standard business schedule and the students have to be available at those locations during those hours. Without additional non-student staff, the hours that the CHSS Instructional Media Specialist and his staff are available to work in the MRC is somewhat "non-standard"

In addition, we provide a testing site for the Department of Human Resources division of NMSU. Staff and prospective staff may complete task-based testing every so often and, currently, the only available testing site able to accommodate the unique requirements of the testing environment in the MRC in the College of Health and Social Services. Since the computers must be prepared for non-student use during and between the two testing sessions on Monday and Friday mornings, we are unable to make the computer-station part of the MRC available. If, however, you make an advance (via email) request to use one of the MRC Meeting rooms across the hall, you can use that part of the facility, even when the testing is going on.

During these times when the MRC is specifically scheduled to be closed, the computer classroom/lab in HSS 219 may be open for student walk-in use. The exceptions to this are when class activities are scheduled.

Summer Session 2007 note: HSS 219 is only available when faculty members schedule use; there are no lab hours available as there are no staff members available until Fall 2007 to monitor the lab.

Services available during Summer Sessions I and II of 2007

The MRC will only be available to students on a "confirmed appointment" basis. No student walk-in hours are guaranteed due to specialized faculty-led multimedia projects planned for the summer. Email or phone requests for appointments can be taken during Summer Sessions I and II.

MSW and BSW practice testing is available on a "confirmed appointment" basis, as well. Designated computers have to be prepared to allow the MRC staff to get the testing equipment ready. Additionally, to borrow the study guides for reading and studying while in the MRC, students must present their actual NMSU I.D.

HSS faculty and staff should call the MRC prior to heading to the Center during normal business hours to ensure availability of staff member(s). If staff members are involved in a multimedia production or otherwise unavailable, the phone will be set to "message-only" mode, indicating that the staff cannot assist at that time.

Rexel V. F. Suba, CHSS Instructional Media Specialist, The College of Health & Social Services New Mexico State University P.O. Box 30001, MSC 3446 Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003 Email: chssmrc@nmsu.edu Telephone: 575.646.4388 Facsimile: 575.646.6166