DePaul has more than 5,500 computers on campus, including more than 300 classroom personal computers and more than 1,600 PCs in computer labs. There are about 25,000 student, faculty and staff computer users at DePaul.
DePaul's primary Internet connection consists of a 200 megabits-per-second link, which is the equivalent of approximately 133 T-1 lines. DePaul's six campuses are primarily linked via Gigabit Ethernet (1000 megabits per second) in a ring configuration, providing swift transfer of large amounts of data between campuses and redundancy in the event of a circuit failure at any one particular location.
DePaul is a participating member of the Internet2 initiative, the high speed Internet network that connects educational and research facilities to exchange knowledge. DePaul is connected to Internet2 via a Gigabit (1000 megabits per second) link.
Wireless coverage is available across most of DePaul’s two city campuses, as well as at the Naperville, O’Hare and Rolling Meadows campuses. Hotspots are primarily located in DePaul’s academic buildings, libraries, study areas, lounges, recreation facilities and public gathering spaces. To check an up-to-date listing of locations, please visit: http://is.depaul.edu.
The electronic collections at DePaul's libraries include more than 240 research databases, more than 43,300 full text journals, more than 16,600 electronic books and more than 36,500 digital images. The libraries' online catalog, Illinet Online, provides access to library collections at DePaul and 55 other academic institutions in Illinois. The libraries also offer an electronic reserves service that provides online access to course readings and the "Ask a Librarian" e-mail reference service for those who need assistance with research.
DePaul's distance learning offerings include nearly 400 totally online courses. These classes feature Web-based collaborative course technology including Blackboard, which is used in hundreds of courses each quarter, as well as Course OnLine, a technology developed by DePaul’s College of Computing and Digital Media that automatically records synchronized video and audio of class lectures -- including electronic blackboard notes and computer presentations -- and posts them on password-protected Internet sites for students. Nearly 300 courses at DePaul utilize the Course OnLine technology.
DePaul offers students an on-line Computer Lab Utilization site, which greatly facilitates student access to campus technology by showing students where vacant computer terminals are located in the university's computer labs through real-time graphics and maps.
During the last decade, the university has re-designed business processes to offer students, faculty and staff a wider variety of real-time services on the Web, enabling them to conduct many transactions at any hour of the day from any computer with an Internet connection. These services include password-protected enrollment applications, course catalogues, class registration, grades, tuition accounts and payments, employee benefits information and enrollment, payroll information and a host of other data and services.
