We believe that every Penn State World Campus student should feel supported when taking courses online. You're part of the Penn State family; know that we are here to support you as you navigate Penn State from a distance.
Accessing Course Content Abroad
Depending on your location, you may need to use a VPN to access some content in this course. If so, please review this Information on connecting to Penn State using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
IST Resources
- IST Online Tutoring - One-on-one coaching to help students practice and reinforce concepts in the IST curriculum.
- WinLabs - Some IST courses utilize WinLabs to provide students with a parallel learning environment. WinLabs may contain software, including: Analyst’s Notebook, Mathematica, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio, SQL Server, SSH, Visual Studio, VMWare vSphere Client, and more. If you need technical assistance with WinLabs or hypervisors, please contact the IST Helpdesk.
- Office of Career Solutions & Corporate Engagement - The college provides IST specific career resources related to career exploration in addition to approval and facilitation of the IST internship requirement.
Penn State University Libraries
As Penn State World Campus students, you have access to many of the materials that the library offers to students. The library website has a lot to offer but can be overwhelming. A guide has been created to serve as your introduction to important library resources, services, and important pages within the library. The Online Student Library Guide is updated regularly by the online librarian. This introduction to the library is intended to help you feel comfortable navigating the library website to find valuable information for your coursework.
Video Conferencing
- Zoom - As Penn State’s video conferencing tool, Zoom combines cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, group messaging, and a software-defined conference room solution into one easy-to-use platform.
Technology and Software
- Canvas at Penn State - More information about your new Learning Management System (LMS)
- VoiceThread - Tool for facilitating multimedia conversations and creating presentations
- ITS Downloads - Access to Penn State downloads, including Microsoft Office and VPN software (under Connecting to Penn State)
- Tech Tutors - Get help with the technologies commonly used in your courses by talking one-on-one with a peer tutor who has been specially trained. Tech Tutors can assist with Microsoft and Adobe products, Canvas, Sites at Penn State and WordPress, Coding, Wikispaces, Visio, and other software and technologies needed for your courses.
- LinkedIn Learning at Penn State - Online training libraries offer video tutorials on Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Access, Excel, PowerPoint, and more–all free to Penn State faculty, staff, and currently-enrolled students.
- WebApps and WebFiles - Related services that give you access to a number of applications licensed by Penn State. All you need is a modern browser. These services can be accessed from desktop and mobile browser versions. Now you can do desktop-level computing from your iPad or other tablet device!
- Accessing Microsoft Azure Dev Tools for Teaching (formerly Microsoft Imagine) - Microsoft development tools, operating systems, server software, documentation, and technical references are made available through the Microsoft Developers Network Academic Alliance (MSDNAA) to students enrolled in IST courses.
Writing and Research
- Turnitin - Web-based writing assessment toolkit that allows instructors to provide feedback to students through markup tools, rubrics, proofing tools and originality reports that detect plagiarism. Turnitin also provides peer review options. This resource is only available to students through an instructor-provided code.
- Scholarship and Research Integrity (SARI) - The SARI@PSU program at Penn State is designed to offer Penn State researchers and scholars comprehensive, multi-level education in the responsible conduct of research in a way that is tailored to address the issues faced by individual disciplines.
Still Searching for Help?
- If you need technical assistance at any point during the course, please contact the World Campus HelpDesk, now available 24/7!
- This World Campus Student Services page includes links to several departments which are devoted to serving you and better understanding both your individual needs and the needs of online learners in general.
- The Student Resources page indexes valuable content found on the World Campus website.