Mac Lab Information for Instructors

Making files and folders available to your students
(Main campus and DTC 123)

If you are teaching in one of the Macintosh classrooms managed by the Information Technology department, you can set up a folder for your students within the "ClassMaterials" folder to allow students access to assignments.  The folder lives on our server and is automatically available on each Macintosh computer that we maintain.  You can also ask to set up a drop box where students can electronically submit their assignments.

Students are automatically given access to your folder when they login.  To open your folder the student can just click on the right-most icon in the dock, labelled "ClassMaterials,"  find your folder in the ClassMaterials window, and open it.

For security reasons, students have only read access to the files in your folder: they can view them, but not change or delete them.  If you have set up a dropbox to accept assignments, students can drop files in it, but not see the contents.  The same is true when you as an instructor login to a machine: although you enter your personal username and password at the login window, you will have only the same access rights the students have.  If you want to make changes to your folder - put files in, or look at or copy files in your dropbox - you will need to connect manually to the server.

Making changes to your folder: connecting to the server manually

To connect to the server, you'll use the same username and password you do at the login window.  Here’s what to do.

1   Go into the Finder.  (Click anywhere on the desktop, or click the leftmost icon on the dock.)

2.  Choose Go > Connect to Server....

3.  In the server address box, type "10.1.0.166," without the comma or quotation marks.  That's four numbers, separated by periods.  Be sure not to type any spaces!  Then, click the "Connect" button.

Figure 1.  Connect to Server window.
Enter the address exactly as shown and click "Connect."

4.  The next window is a login window that ask you for a user name and password.  Type in your L-number for your name and the first six digits of your ExpressLane PIN for your password, and click "OK."

Figure 2.  Login window.
Enter the same username and password you use to login to the computer.

4.  The next window you’lll see will ask you to select the volumes you wish to mount.  Select "ClassMaterials" and click "OK."

Figure 3.  Volume selection window.
Select the "ClassMaterials" volume and click "OK."

5.  A window for the ClassMaterials folder should open automatically; if it doesn't, double-click the "ClassMaterials" disk icon on the right side of your desktop.  In the ClassMaterials window, find your folder (generally last-name-first-initial; you may need to scroll down) and open it by double-clicking it.  

Figure 4. ClassMaterials folder window.
Double-click your folder to open it and modify the contents.

6.  You should now be able to make any changes you need to the contents of your folder.  You can copy files, create new folders, move files from folder to folder, and also access the contents of your dropbox. 

7.  When you’re done making changes, drag the "ClassMaterials" disk icon to the trashcan icon at the end of the dock.  This will disconnect from the server, making sure that nobody else can come along and make changes to your folder.

If you need help, please talk to one of the lab aides, or contact Dale Duvall by email at duvalld@lanecc.edu.