Last Updated 8/23/2011
FSIT Lab Director: Prof. Octavian Ionici (oionici@american.edu)
Kogod Director of Technology: Adrian Mihailescu (adrian@american.edu)
FSIT Lab Web Page: http://www.american.edu/kogod/labs/fsit/
FSIT Lab Calendar: http://www.american.edu/kogod/labs/fsit/fsit_calendar.cfm
Software Available in the FSIT Lab
7-Zip - Archiving tool for packing/unpacking files
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 - HTML editor, script programming and web site development
Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 - Photo editing
Adobe Premiere Elements 4 - Movie editing
Adobe Reader X - PDF reader
Adobe Soundbooth CS3 - Sound editing
Argus Valuation - Real Estate cash flow and asset valuation tool
Bloomberg Terminal (6 licenses) - Access to financial news and information including real-time and historic price data, financials data, trading news and analyst coverage.
Certiport - Certification exams for MS Office
Certiprep - Preparation for MS Office certification
CityCAD - Computer-aided-design application for conceptual urban masterplanning.
ConsumerPoint - Geo-demographic marketing database
EndNote - Citation and reference software
Expert Choice 11.5 - Decision analysis software
Filezilla - FTP client, file transfer utility
Firefox - Mozilla's web browser
Flash Player - Media player
GIMP - Photo editing
Google Chrome - Google's web browser
Google Talk - Chat
Google Video plugin - Video Chat
Internet Explorer - Microsoft's web browser
iRise Studio - Visual system requirements modeling
iTunes - Media manager and player
Java - Software programming
LibreOffice - Office suite similar to MS Office
LINDO 6.1 - Tool for solving linear, integer, and quadratic programming problems
MeasureUp Practice Tests - Practice test for Access, Excel and PowerPoint
MS Live Messenger - Chat
MS Office 2007 - Includes Word (word processing), Excel (spreadsheet modeling) and Access (database management)
MS Project 2007 - Project management software
MS Visio 2010 - System modeling and miscellaneous drawing templates (e.g., organization charts, building layouts)
MS Visual Studio Express - Includes MS Visual Web Developer (similar to Dreamweaver, but it is free and is optimized for Microsoft web development)
Palisade DecisionTools (@RISK) - Integrated set of risk and decision analysis software programs that runs in Microsoft Excel
PDF Creator - Create PDF's
QuickTimePlayer - Media player
Roxio Creator - Media editing and management
SDC Platinum - Financial transactions database
Second Life - Social media
SPSS 18 - Statistical analysis and business analytics
Stata - Statistical analysis
Symantec AV - Virus protection
Thomson Reuters - Access to financial data
Help is always available from AU's Help Desk at x2550
The EagleNet: while on campus you can connect to the EagleNet. In order to do this you need to log in via the Novell log in screen, which you will find in all AU labs. You need to log onto the EagleNet to use some resources like printers, G drives, etc. If you wish to connect to the EagleNet from your own laptop, you need to instal the Novell log in client software. This software is available free from the AU Portal
You can also log onto the EaglNet from home using Virtual Private Network (VPN) software. You first need to call the Help Desk and let them know you want access to VPN. Once they give you access, go to https://vpn.american.edu/ to access the VPN. The first time you run the VPN there will be a quick plug in installation. Once you connect to VPN you will be connected to the EagleNet through a secure channe.
Your G Drives: every AU student has a G drive to store folders and files. Think of it as a remote thumb drive. When you log onto the EagleNet, you will see a G drive in your computer file explorer that will look just like a thumb drive. This drive is yours and only you have access to it. You can create folders and store files in the G drive, just like any thumb drive. The advantage is that it is available (only to you) from any computer logged onto the EagleNet, so you can save your school and lab work there and access it from any other campus computer.
Accessing your G drives from the AU Portal (https://myau.american.edu/): You can access your G drives from home using VPN as described above, but a simpler method to upload and download files is available through the AU Portal. After you log in, select the Technology, Access My Network Drives. This will take you to a dialog screen where you can see and work with your G and other drives. Note: the NetStorage/Home@AU folder is your G drive.
WWW folders: You will see a folder named WWW in your G drive. This folder is YOUR WEB SITE. For example, if your student ID is "xy8989a", you can store any file (say, "MyFile.pdf") in the WWW folder, which only you can write, modify or delete, but the entire world can see from a web browser by pointing at: http://nw01.american.edu/~YourID/YourFileName, for example http://nw01.american.edu/~xy8989/MyFile.pdf. Try it. This is a pretty cool feature
Other drives: professors and administrators may use other drives (like I or J) to post useful information. Explore all the folders you can see with My Computer Windows explorer. Who knows, you may find something valuable there. Knowledge is power
Software training resources: the AU Library has acquired a license for a very powerful video-based training facility called Lynda.com, available only via the AU Portal (Technology, then Lynda Web-Based Training). You will find easy to follow training materials there for just about any popular software application, from developing web pages, to writing complex software programs. Please try it out. If you are stuck using a particular program in the Lab, go to Lynda.com and see if they have training materials.
Lynda.com -- available through the AU Portal (select "Technology", then "Web-Based Training Library") -- excellent software training resources.