labs is a privilege granted to students when they enroll, but not an absolute right. Thus, anyone found to be in violation of any of the rules of use may have their privileges revoked and will be prohibited from using the computer labs. The Main CAD Lab, temporarily located in the North Prefab Building, may have fluctuating hours due to changing COVID protocols. It contains 109 computers, and is only open to students from the School of Architecture & Planning; students from other disciplines or guests are not allowed inside. Regardless of the status of physical access to the Main CAD Lab, login access will always be available remotely using the Citrix Remote Access system (see the next section for details). The Main CAD Lab may be used for teaching larger classes, if physical access without social distancing becomes possible. If this occurs, a timetable of when the lab is in use by courses will be posted at the entrance to the lab, and on Ulwazi. The Main CAD Lab has both standard-size and large-format scanning and printing capabilities. The office of the School’s IT officer is located at the entrance to the lab, and assistance may sometimes be available. However, students should not rely on the continuous presence of the IT officer, and must plan to complete printing or other IT-related tasks well ahead of time to avoid problems or backlogs. The Small CAD Lab is located on the second floor of the John Moffat Building, in the south wing, room 229. It is open daily during academic terms from 08:00-16:30, and has 25 computers. It is generally not used for teaching purposes, so use is not restricted during opening hours.
The GIS Lab is also located on the second floor of the John Moffat Building, in the south wing, room 226. It is also open daily during academic terms from 08:00-16:30, and has 20 computers, but is sometimes used for teaching purposes, particularly in the urban planning programmes, so use is restricted during teaching times. A timetable is posted at the entrance. Although the full suite of architectural software is available on machines in this lab, it is the only lab with ArcGIS installed on the computers, and for that reason students needing ArcGIS capabilities take priority in this lab. Software common to the architecture and planning disciplines is licensed for use on all computers, including: • ArcGIS (only in the Main & GIS Labs) • Adobe Creative Suite • AutoCAD • Fusion360 • IES • Maya • Microsoft Office Suite • Revit • Rhino • SketchUp • TinkerCAD • 3DS Max
Online & Hybrid Learning Since the introduction of online teaching & learning following the COVID lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, the School has invested heavily in the infrastructure and tools to facilitate online learning. Many of these changes will become permanent, such as using the Ulwazi learning platform (see the section on Ulwazi), the introduction of video-based content, interactive surveys, and some forms of digital pin-ups and presentations. The use of drawing platforms such as Miro or Padlet enable
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