Using the teaching labs
Thank you for submitting a classroom booking request
Our staff will respond to your request by email. They may have additional questions for you. If you’re not the primary contact for the booking, please provide them with updated contact information as soon as possible.
If you’re not the instructor for this course, please send them a link to this page.
For next steps see the After you've booked section.
Use policies
All policies for lab usage apply to you and your students. Our staff will report any unsafe behaviour or misconduct to Campus Security.
No show policy
A classroom will be held for 15 minutes after the beginning of the booked period unless prior arrangements have been made through scfbook@uvic.ca. After 15 minutes, our staff will consider your booking a no-show and open the room for drop-in use.
We may cancel recurring bookings if the room isn’t being used.
Food & drink policy
We don’t permit food and drink in our computer labs, including deliveries by Catering Services. If your event is catered, you’ll need to book a separate space for breaks and meals.
You can booking other spaces through Campus Services.
Our booking process
We build the computer lab schedules based on the information included in your booking request. Incomplete requests will take longer to schedule. Our staff work with many departments to book space for classes based on the schedules and technical requirements we’re given.
Our main priority is to offer classroom space to as many academic courses as possible. We do our best to accommodate specific room requests but can’t guarantee a specific space.
Minimum notice
We prefer a minimum of two business days’ notice for room booking requests to evaluate room schedules for conflicts. We may not be able to fulfil requests on shorter notice.
Reading break and exam periods
Weekly academic bookings exclude reading break and final exam periods. Tutorials, labs, and exams held during these times must be booked separately.
Changeover periods
To align with UVic’s academic timetable, all bookings end at 20 or 50 minutes past the hour. The last ten minutes are a changeover period when the next group is entitled to start setting up. Any booking with an end time listed on the hour or half hour should be understood to end ten minutes prior to the listed time.
Costs
There are usually no costs for bookings for credit classes. We may charge:
- $54/hour for bookings for non-academic events and Continuing Studies courses
- +$25/hour booked outside of our regular operating hours
- $75/hour for staff time spent setting up and installing software
- usually waived for software used to teach credit courses in our labs
Staff support
Computer Help Desk staff provide on-site support during operational hours.
Non-academic bookings
Any booking that isn’t directly related to a credit course is considered non-academic. If you’re planning to host a non-academic event in the computer labs, there are some additional things to consider. Last minute requests will result in staffing fees.
All UVic students, faculty, staff, and affiliates can login to our lab computers. If you have participants from outside of UVic attending, you’re responsible for arranging affiliate access in advance.
Please note that affiliate access requests require a minimum of two business days to action. We recommend you make arrangements as early as possible to avoid login issues for your booking.
Setup and software requests
We offer a variety of set-up services to support courses in our labs and our staff are available to discuss options. Please let us know what you need to teach your class in your booking request. Last minute requests may result in labour fees charged back to your department.
If you need more information about setup and software requests for your booking, please contact us for assistance.
Our staff need access to installers for your software, whether it’s download information or physical media. We can help you with the details if you're unsure where to find the information.
Any software we install in a computer lab must be properly licensed for use. We need proof of licensing that includes the number of concurrent stations or users before we can begin. If you want your software to be available in multiple labs, we require a site license or concurrent use licenses that support network license management.
If possible, submit your software list at least three weeks before the beginning of the term. Some software can’t be used or isn’t fully functional in a computer lab environment. If we have time to test and deploy software before classes start, we can also make sure you have time to find alternatives and adjust your curriculum if we’re not able to install.
For requests that are submitted later, it typically takes at least 2 weeks for us to test and deploy new software. In some cases, it can take longer.
We're not able to test the full functionality of all installed software. Instructors are encouraged to test software before their bookings. Our staff can work with you to arrange testing in-person or remotely.
A $75 per hour labour fee may be applied for extraordinary setup requirements such as:
- Reimaging a classroom before and after the event with a custom software image
- Setup required outside of normal business hours
We don't charge fees for adding software to lab computers during regular maintenance periods.
Instructors can request some specialty services for academic bookings as well. Please note these services require a minimum of two business days to set-up. Our staff will need additional information from you before deployment.
Labs.storage.uvic.ca is a network share drive available to instructors teaching in our labs who need to share course material that can’t be distributed through Brightspace. This network share is intended for distributing course material and is not meant for general file storage or as an assignment drop-box. Examples of use include:
- sample data sets for statistical software
- multimedia assets needed for student projects
If you're interested in using this service, let us know!
By request, we can restrict network access in a classroom so that students can’t access the Internet or their personal home folders. It’s ideal for exams hosted in Brightspace, but we may be able to accommodate other options as well. Our Windows teaching labs also support Respondus Lockdown Browser.
If you’re interested in using this service, let us know!
After you’ve booked
We want your booking to go smoothly from start to finish so our staff may have follow-up questions about your request. You can help us prepare for your course or event by reviewing this checklist:
- Do we have contact information for any instructors, lab coordinators, or teaching assistants?
- Do we have your final software request list?
- Do we have access to your software installers and licensing information?
If your booking includes non-UVic participants:
- Have you made arrangements for affiliate access for guests?
If your booking includes space rental or labour fees:
- Have you submitted a FAST account for the charges?
Schedule changes and cancellations
If your booking time or date changes, please notify scfbook@uvic.ca as soon as possible. Our staff will work to accommodate the new time, which may require moving other classes and notifying other instructors.
If you no longer need your booking, please notify scfbook@uvic.ca as soon as possible so we can free up the space in the schedule.