Student Guide

Every student at VIU can create a VIU student computer account. Your student computer account grants access to most campus IT Services, including campus computers, VIULearn (D2L) online course content, your student record, campus wireless, pay-for-print services, file storage and more.

• Create your computer account.
• For more information on VIU student computer accounts and what you can access with them: How Do I Create a Student Computer Account?

It is very important that the email address in your student record is current because VIU uses that email address to contact you about all your course work and your registration information.

• Log in to your student record to create or update your email address.

You can also create a VIU email alias to receive emails. Emails sent to your VIU email alias will be forwarded to the email associated with your student record.

• For more information on your VIU email alias: Student Email

Anyone's computer can get a virus. Before you use your computer on campus, take some initial steps to protect your computer, your data, and your identity.

• Visit our Computer Security page for more information on keeping your computer up to date, installing antivirus software, protecting your password, and backing up your files: Computer Security for On and Off Campus

Shopping for a new computer? Want to buy some software? Take advantage of the discounts available to VIU students at the VIU bookstore and through Microsoft.

• The VIU Bookstore sells Adobe student licenses and Mac computers at educational prices: VIU Bookstore Computer Products
• Microsoft offers Office 2016/O365 free to VIU students: How Do I Subscribe to Microsoft Office 365?
• Microsoft has amazing deals on Windows for students.

Almost every course you take will require you to have some comfort using a computer. Whether you are required to type essays and research papers, create spreadsheets, or use special software such as VIULearn (D2L), your instructors will expect you to be able to do these things comfortably. It is a really good idea to take some time before you start school to brush up on your computer skills.

At VIU, faculty may choose to use the online learning management system, VIU Learn (D2L) to offer or supplement courses.

• Access VIU Learn
• Please note that you will not be able to log into VIU Learn until 24 hours after you register for your first class.

As a new VIU student, it is important that you understand how to use the university technology safely and appropriately. Please read the below Use of Information Technology policy before using campus technology including computers and campus wireless access.

• Use of Information Technology (Policy 45.01) (pdf)

The wireless network is available nearly anywhere on campus, and you can log in using your student computer account username and password.

• For information on wireless availability and for advanced instructions for connecting your device to the wireless, visit: How Do I Connect to Wireless (Wi-Fi)?

VIU has computers for student use located all over campus. All computers come installed with Windows, Microsoft Office, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Google Chrome.

• For computer lab location and availability visit here: Computer Labs
• The Library Commons features over 60 computer workstations. In the library commons, there are three Media stations, two Video Editing suites, and three accessibility stations (with Kurzweil, ZoomText, and Merlin installed) that may be booked online by VIU students and employees. Book these computers through the VIU Library website.

VIU has printers conveniently located all over campus in computer labs and in the library commons. Students can print to these printers from student computers and from their personal laptops.

To print, students will need to add money to their Pay-Print account. Printing costs 10¢ per side for black and white and 50¢ per side for colour.

• For information on how to add money to your Pay-Print account, how to map a printer on your laptop, and additional printing services visit this page: How Do I use the Student Printing?
  
• Information on other VIU printing and duplicating services. 

All VIU students have 2 GB of free private cloud storage that's accessible from any campus computer. It is very important when logged on to a campus computer, that you use this storage space. Do NOT save your files on your Desktop or in your My Documents folder.

Your U Drive can be found, once you have logged onto a VIU computer, click on the Windows "Start" button, found on the bottom left corner, and click on "Computer", found on the right side of the menu. You should see your U Drive, double click to open it, you can drag and drop, copy and paste files, or save documents directly.

Stop emailing yourself the document you are currently working on to use on your Laptop, you can map your personal laptop to your U drive to view/edit your files. This is very handy when the campus is very busy and it is difficult to find an open computer to log into to access your files. Instructions on how to connect to your U drive from your laptop: https://technology.viu.ca/u-drive

Every semester we have students who lose their work because they didn't know how to save their files properly. It is very important that you take the time to understand how to save files when using campus computers and how to save files from email.

• For important information on saving your files, visit: Where is the best place to save my files on computer? 

Now that you're up and running, take a look at some of the additional resources available to you.

• Visit the Technology@VIU site

The VIU IT Helpdesk is your front-line resource for help and technical support with VIU technology. We can also provide advice and guidance for using your technology. We are available by phone Monday to Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm (PST).  You can also visit us in person Monday to Friday 9 am to 3:30 pm.

• Email ithelp@viu.ca
• Phone 250.740.6300
• Visit the IT Helpdesk in building 305, on the 3rd floor (in the Library)
• Meet with a student IT Tech Tutor for student peer to peer technical support: Student Tech Tutors

Are you a technology ninja? Do you enjoy helping your fellow students solve that weird document formatting issue? Would you like an opportunity to gain valuable experience and improve your customer service, communication, organization, and technical skills?

The IT department at VIU is a great place for finding a convenient on-campus job. As a Student Technical Support Assistant and Tech Tutor, you can take part in important campus activities, provide peer to peer technology help, and learn about how the technology functions at VIU. You can find information on available student positions at the VIU Campus Career Centre website in the On-Campus Employment section.

Some courses require students to create HTML web pages (not WordPress) that can be viewed on the Internet. Please read the information found here: Set Up VIU Web Folder.