Dear colleagues,
As we approach the halfway point in the teaching term, we wanted to remind you of some key sources of information and support should you need to resolve any issues with teaching facilities. Colleagues across Professional Services Directorates work hard throughout the year to ensure that teaching facilities are well maintained and in good working order, but from time-to-time issues can arise given that we have returned to high levels of in-person teaching and equipment is being used more regularly.
Therefore, the following signposts and reminders may be helpful to you as we work together to ensure a safe and attractive campus for all our staff and students:
Fault Reporting
Estates & Facilities
The Estates & Facilities Directorate has a Helpdesk Reporting facility through which requests for routine maintenance and non-urgent/non-emergency repairs can be made.
Urgent and emergency requests during the hours of Monday to Friday (8am to 4pm) should be routed via the Service Desk on 01224 273333. Outwith these hours, emergency requests should be reported to the Security Office on 01224 273939.
IT/Media Services
The Service Desk is the first point of contact for IT support, including fault reporting relating to software, hardware and classroom facilities. The Service Desk can be contacted in the following ways:
- In-person – Sir Duncan Rice Library (ground floor)
- Chat Kiosk – Medical Library, Polwarth Building
- Online via MyIT – live chat function, online fault reporting/service requests, checking the progress of existing calls you have logged
- Email – servicedesk@abdn.ac.uk
Requests for urgent classroom support from the Audio-Visual and/or IT teams should be routed via 01224 273000.
‘How To’ Guides are also available via the Toolkit to support you and your students across a range of IT-related systems and services.
Using Teaching Spaces
Whiteboards
As a courtesy to other room users, it is the expectation that whiteboards are wiped clean at the end of each teaching session. This avoids any delays to the start of the next class and enhances the learning environment for all who use the facilities. Whiteboards are professionally ‘deep-cleaned’ on an annual basis but ensuring that they are cleaned regularly will extend their lifespan. Should you feel that a whiteboard needs additional deep-cleaning, or you find that a panel is damaged, please report it via the Estates Helpdesk Reporting facility.
Classroom Equipment and furniture
To ensure that teaching spaces are ready for other classes starting on time, it is important that they are left set up as you find them. Therefore, please ask students to replace furniture (tables, chairs, desks etc.) which may have been moved during your session before they leave so that the room is ready for the next users. Please also ensure that you replace any IT equipment that may have been moved and log out of the system so that it is ready for the next user when they arrive.
Teaching Times
As a courtesy to others, and to avoid congestion in corridors, please ensure that classes start and finish promptly at 5 past and 5 to the hour.
Housekeeping
We remain indebted to our colleagues in the Cleaning Services team who have played such a vital role in keeping our campus safe as we transitioned back to in-person learning. All room users are expected to play their part in supporting the maintenance of a clean and attractive learning environment so please ask students to ensure that they take litter away with them at the end of your session. Any issues relating to the cleanliness of rooms should be reported to the Estates & Facilities Directorate via the Helpdesk Reporting facility or by calling 01224 273333.
Ventilation
Information on the ventilation arrangements and CO2 monitoring arrangements which have been put in place across all teaching spaces is available online. These measures have been put in place as part of our ongoing actions to reduce the risk of Covid-19 and winter illnesses and so it is important the units which have been installed are not switched off. In rooms which are not mechanically ventilated please open windows wherever possible to enable fresh air to circulate. These actions will help protect you, your students and the class entering the teaching space after you.
If you have any suggestions for how our teaching facilities could be further improved, please send them to Gregg Wilkins, Space Manager at gregg.wilkins@abdn.ac.uk.
Thank you for playing your part in ensuring that our teaching spaces are maintained to the highest standards and any issues are rectified as soon as possible.
Best wishes
Karl Leydecker Senior Vice-Principal
Ruth Taylor Vice-Principal (Education)