Mar 29, 2024  
2013-2014 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2013-2014 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Division of Academic Resources


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The Division of Academic Resources works collaboratively with the Endicott community to provide access to information and library resources, advising services, professional development, disability services, technology, and academic support programs.

 

The Center for Teaching and Learning

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The Center for Teaching and Learning, located in the Diane M. Halle Library, provides a wide range of services to all students seeking a successful academic experience. Students are encouraged to participate actively in their learning through an understanding of the skills, strategies, and techniques needed to achieve their academic goals. Various programs that focus on content instruction and study skills are offered on an individualized or group basis.

The Advising Services Center

The Advising Services Center (ASC) is located in the Diane M. Halle Library and is open six days a week, with daytime and evening hours. ASC provides one-to-one sessions on the various majors, concentrations, and minor options available.  Students may schedule an appointment, drop in with questions, or attend one of several workshops offered each semester.  Topics include: the online registration process, the use of degree audit, the course of study, policies and procedures for adding, dropping, or withdrawing from classes and/or changing majors, and the components of the College-wide curriculum including core electives and writing designated courses.  The Center also helps prepare students for their pre-advising meetings with faculty advisors.

The Center for Teaching Excellence

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The Center for Teaching Excellence provides support and training for all teaching faculty at Endicott College. Services include individualized consultation and syllabus review, and mentoring of new faculty. The Center is also responsible for organizing training workshops and discussion groups focusing on all aspects of classroom instruction and academic advising.

EC101: Endicott Transitions

This course addresses the challenges of incoming students and provides strategies for success in an academic community. The course assists students in the development of knowledge pertaining to social skills, academic resources, the Endicott mission and traditions, Endicott policies and procedures, and the meaning of a college education. Students are encouraged to reflect on both their own development and methods for contributing to the community.

Peer Tutor Certification Program

Peer tutors are highly qualified students who are trained and certified following the guidelines of the College Reading and Learning Association. Peer tutors are successful students who have achieved a 3.0 GPA or higher, have been recommended by a faculty member, and have received a B or above in all of the courses they tutor. Tutors are available in a wide variety of courses across the curriculum. They work in the Writing Center, provide tutoring across disciplines, and are also available for one-on-one or small group sessions by request.

Student Support Center

The Student Support Center offers professional learning consultation two hours per week to help students develop appropriate learning strategies that will enable them to be in control of their own education. Course work is closely monitored through frequent contact with faculty and consistent recording of progress. The Student Support Center is available each semester for an additional fee.

Tutoring Services Center

The Tutoring Services Center offers free services and is designed to enhance the educational experiences of all students at Endicott College. Through individualized tutoring with professional and/or peer tutors, students may receive support in a variety of disciplines, either in small groups or one-on-one sessions. Students may view the schedule online to make an appointment or drop into the Tutoring Center when the tutors are available.  The Tutoring Center is available Sunday through Friday, with day and evening hours available. Several Study Skills workshops are also offered each semester for those students interested in more generalized study strategies. The Tutoring Center is certified through the College Reading and Learning Association.

The Writing Center

The Writing Center provides free one-on-one assistance with all aspects of the writing process through professional and/or peer tutoring. Students may make appointments online or drop in to the Writing Center, which is open on weekdays, evenings, and Sundays. Writing tutors work with any Endicott student - undergraduate or graduate - on any type of writing. The Writing Center also offers workshops and online writing resources. The Tutoring Center is certified through the College Reading and Learning Association.

The Academic Technology Department

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The Academic Technology Department, located in the Diane Meyers Halle Library and the Samuel C. Wax Academic Center, provides a comprehensive approach to technology-integrated education. Students are able to develop their computer skills through learning experiences appropriate for a variety of educational, occupational, and personal applications.  In addition to helping students become computer literate, the Academic Technology Department assists faculty in their efforts to integrate technology in their course curricula.

The Academic Technology Department is comprised of seven state-of-the art computer labs and over 70 mediated and Smart classrooms. Two PC labs are located in the Diane Meyers Halle Library building, two in the new Life Sciences and Business Center, and two Mac labs plus a digital printing lab in the Walter J. Manninen Center for the Arts. Additionally, there are several smaller departmental specialty labs located throughout the campus. The labs are equipped with some of the most powerful and sophisticated software and hardware technologies available to date. The labs function both as classrooms and as areas in which students can pursue independent projects. All of the labs provide internet access, enabling students to conduct research and to communicate around the world. Students also have access to the labs between scheduled classes both day and evening. A number of computers are also available for student use outside of the computer labs. These are located in the Library proper and in the Cyber Café.

Academic Technology also supports the learning community with state-of-the art web applications, such as GullNet, the college’s portal and learning management system, and Blackboard Collaborate, a synchronous web based distance learning application.

In addition, Academic Technology supports the campus multimedia needs in several areas. Media Services, an Academic Technology department, supplies a host of audio-visual and multimedia equipment to support the academic programs. The Digital Media Center includes a state-of-the-art broadcast and multimedia production facility. The Scala digital signage system located throughout the campus, displays the latest events and news from campus and the world and plays programming from ECTV, the student run campus TV station.

Academic Technology also supports student laptops, the requirements of which are explained in detail below.

College Laptop Requirements

General Laptop Requirement

All incoming students are required to bring laptops to campus that meet the specifications of their respective majors, which are posted on the web page of the major.  If a School or Department does not indicate a particular laptop specification, the general College laptop specifications, located on the IT website under Hardware Recommendations, should be used.  Students may use the specifications to purchase laptops of their choice, or they may take advantage of the College Laptop Purchase Package as described below.   Please note: Students in the Interior Design program, Visual Communications program, and in the School of Business have specific purchase requirements as explained below.

Laptop Requirement for Business

All incoming Business students are required to bring either PC laptops or Macbooks to campus that meets the general College laptop specifications, located on the IT website under Hardware Recommendations. Students may use the specifications to purchase laptops of their choice or they may take advantage of the College Laptop Purchase Package as described below.

Incoming Business students may use either a PC laptop or Macbook; however, it is the students’ responsibility to ensure they are able to run the software applications required by their classes. The School of Business operates primarily in a Windows environment, and some required software applications may not work properly in the Mac operating system. One of the required packages used throughout the curriculum is Microsoft Office 2010 for Windows, or Microsoft Office 365 University.

Important Note to Mac Users:
All Macbooks manufactured in the last few years have an Intel processor and can therefore be dual booted into a Windows environment. All students enrolled in The School of Business who have Macbooks are required to have Windows 7 installed, and another application such as Boot Camp (comes free with Macbooks) or Parallels, in order to use their Mac as a Windows laptop.

Additionally, Business and Accounting students are required to have Microsoft Office Professional 2007 or higher, Microsoft Office Professional 2010 or higher, or Microsoft Office 365 University for Windows. Students will be informed of other required software applications on a course by course basis.

Interior Design Laptop Program

All incoming Interior Design students are required to bring either PC laptops or Macbooks to campus that meets the specifications of the Interior Design program. Students may use the specifications to purchase a laptop of their choice or they may take advantage of the College Laptop Purchase Package as described later in this page.

The 2013 minimum specifications for Interior Design PC laptops or Macbooks are:

  • Windows 7 64- bit operating system
  • 15” or larger display
  • Intel Core i7 Quad-Core processor (2.6 Ghz or greater preferred)
  • 8 GB RAM (16 GB preferred)
  • 500 GB hard disk drive, 7200 RPM (greater than 7200 or solid state disk drives preferred)
  • 1 GB dedicated graphics processor (2 GB preferred for 17” or larger displays)
  • 802.11 n WiFi

Important Note to Mac Users:
Incoming Interior Design students may use either PC laptops or Macbooks; however it is the student’s responsibility to ensure they are able to run the software applications required by their classes. The Interior Design department operates primarily in a Windows environment and some required software applications do not work properly in the Mac operating system. Therefore all students enrolled in the Interior Design program who have Macbooks are required to have Windows 7 installed, and another application such as Boot Camp (comes free with Macbooks) or Parallels, in order to use their Mac as a Windows laptop. All Macbooks manufactured in the last few years have an Intel processor and can therefore be dual booted into Windows.

Additionally, Interior Design students are required to have the Autodesk software suite installed on their laptops. There is a free student version available for download from the Autodesk website which will satisfy this requirement. Students will be informed of other required software applications from their instructors.

Visual Communication Laptop Program

All incoming Visual Communications students are required to bring a Macbook that meets the specifications of the Visual Communications majors (Graphic Design and Photography). Students may use the specifications to purchase laptops of their choice or they may take advantage of the College Laptop Purchase Package as described in these pages.

The 2013 minimum specifications for Visual Communications Macbooks are:

  • 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display
  • 2.4GHz or better Quad-core Intel i7 processor
  • 8GB or more RAM
  • 512GB Flash Storage

Hard Drives and Storage
We recommend a portable USB hard drive of at least 500 GB or larger with a 7200 rpm spin rate (note check the model specs for this feature and triple interface (USB, Firewire 800/400). This interface is recommended as a failsafe against the failure of a single connection, however a single interface drive will work as well.

Recommended Brands

  • LaCie Rugged 500g Triple interface (available at Apple or BH Photo and  Video)
  • OWC Mercury On-the-go-pro (available http://www.macsales.com/).  

     Please note: In addition, a standalone desktop drive, for Apple Time Machine backup of your laptop, while not required can be beneficial and will serve to protect and preserve data. This can be any USB drive of at least 500gb.

An additional Firewire 800 cable is recommended for working with laptop computers in the Mac Labs.

Recommended Software

Recommended Accessory

  • Non-glare screen option

Recommended Additional Warranty* (* included in purchase package):

  • AppleCare Protection Plan for MacBook Pro

For more information: Please contact the School of Visual And Performing Arts at 978-232-2250.

College Laptop Purchase Package
The purchase package will be offered to students through our website. There is no semester fee for this program. It provides students with an excellent value on hardware, accidental damage coverage and on-campus support. Students who participate in the program will receive the following benefits:

  • Standardized hardware and anti-virus protection
  • Extended warranty and accidental damage policy
  • On-campus service
  • Loaners on a first-come, first-served basis if the laptop needs to be left for service
  • Laptop trade-in option

For more information, please go to the technology “Partnerships” page on our website.

Please note: Students who choose not to take advantage of the College Laptop Purchase Package are expected to have a maintenance agreement with an outside service provider in the event they experience hardware issues with their laptops.

A printer is strongly recommended to print personal material for courses and assignments. We recommend an inexpensive inkjet printer (HP or similar).
 

The Diane Meyers Halle Library

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The Diane Meyers Halle Library serves the Endicott College Community as a hub of information resources and is a major source of support for the College’s academic
curriculum. The Library environment, both physical and online, is designed to be welcoming and friendly, conducive to research and all styles of inquiry. Over 120,000 volumes in the Library, and digital subscription access to over 100,000 academic ebooks support academic programming. An array of library-licensed periodical and research databases, many featuring full-text content, collectively represent over 90,000 unique periodical title resources. Reference librarians are available to provide both individual assistance and group instruction to support students with their research and information needs, and to develop information literacy skills that will facilitate lifelong learning. Halle Library’s membership in the North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE), a consortium of 28 academic and public libraries, provides direct access to over three million items. Access to the Massachusetts Virtual Catalog enables library users to search and request materials from hundreds of public and private libraries across the Commonwealth, representing many millions of collected titles. The integrated, user-friendly Web-based catalog allows patrons to efficiently search the Halle Library collection or any and all libraries in the NOBLE consortium and the Massachusetts Virtual Catalog. Daily delivery service among NOBLE libraries expedites the transfer of requested materials. On-site reciprocal borrowing privileges between NOBLE member libraries are also available. Halle Library is part of the Division of Academic Resources, which strives to enhance and enrich the academic experience of all Endicott College students.