Welcome to Oberlin College! As a member of the College community, you will be assigned an ObieID computer account which will provide access to many resources including: e-mail (OCMail), Blackboard, Windows and Macintosh lab (students and faculty) and office (faculty and staff) computers, network authentication (required by everyone every 28 days), VPN, software downloads, personal web account (if requested), and other network resources.

Your ObieID is assigned to you, for your specific use. Please be sure to always safeguard your account information. Keep your password safe and DO NOT share your account information with anyone else.

Your use of Information Technology resources of any kind at Oberlin College, including your email account, constitutes agreement with the College's "Policy for the Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources". Before continuing, please read and understand this Policy. If you have any questions in this regard, please contact the Center for Information Technology at cit@oberlin.edu.

New Students

New Faculty & Staff

First-year students will receive their ObieID account information via postal mail in the "Big Book of Forms". Transfer students will receive their account information upon arrival. The account information provided will consist of your ObieID account name and initial password. The initial password is your birthdate in the form mmddyyyy. This will provide access to the ObieID Self-Service web page, where you will need to set up your password-recovery questions and then change your password. See details below. Your ObieID account also provides access to the online housing and dining application system. However, your ObieID is NOT the same as your PRESTO login. You access PRESTO - Personal Records for Employees and Students at Oberlin - with your T-number and PRESTO pin (initially set to your birthdate in the form mmddyy). [Note: this initial password is different from your ObieID initial password!] If you experience any difficulties using PRESTO, please contact the Registrar's Office, registrar@oberlin.edu.

New faculty and staff may request an account upon arrival by visiting the CIT Help Desk, located in Mudd 005, once they have received their T# from the Office of Human Resources. Faculty and staff - ONLY - may also request an account using the online form found at: https://hera.cc.oberlin.edu/nos/accounts/NewFaculty.html Once the account information is received, the new faculty or staff member must access the ObieID Self-Service web page to set up password-recovery questions and change his/her password. See details below.

ObieID Account Information (for all):

Naming Protocols: Your ObieID will normally follow the form: first initial of first name, followed by first seven characters of last name. Thus, if your name is Martha Washington, your ObieID will be mwashing. If there happen to be two Martha Washingtons on campus, the first letter of the middle name will follow the first letter of the first name, with letters of the last name included to equal a total of 8 characters. Thus, Martha Ann Washington and Martha Sue Washington would be assigned mawashin and mswashin, respectively. Your actual e-mail address is in the form firstname.lastname@oberlin.edu (a middle initial may be added as necessary). This is the address you should share with correspondents. Official correspondence from Oberlin College will be sent to your Oberlin College e-mail address. Thus, you must keep your account active and accessible at all times. If you experience any problems, please contact the CIT HelpDesk, cit@oberlin.edu, 775-8197, or in Mudd 005, as quickly as possible to seek resolution.

Initial Set-Up: Once you have been assigned your ObieID, you must go to the ObieID Self Service web page and set up your password-recovery questions. These questions will allow you to gain access, should you ever forget your password, or should you allow your account to expire. Your initial password will allow you to access the ObieID Self Service web page only. You MUST first set up your password-recovery questions and then change your password to have access to all designated network resources.

• Go to the ObieID Self-Service web page.
• Click on Set Up Password Recovery Questions, login with your ObieID username and initial password, set your questions, and click Save.
• Click on Change Password and change your password. You will need your old password information and new password information. Be sure to follow the Password Policy when selecting a new password.

Password-Changing: For security reasons, you will be required to change your ObieID password every 122 days. You will receive an e-mail notice when your password is 10 days from expiration. When you receive this notice, please take the time then to reset your password. If you fail to do so within the 10 day timeframe, your account will cease to function until you have reset your password. It is extremely important that you set your password-recovery questions the first time you access the system!

Accessing Your E-Mail (OCMail)

To access your e-mail, go to http://ocmail.oberlin.edu and click login with your ObieID username and password.

You may also use an e-mail desktop client program, such as Thunderbird or Mac Mail to access your OCMail. If you do decide to use an such an application, we recommend Thunderbird for both Windows and Macs. You can download the latest version of Thunderbird for free from the Mozilla website. For complete details on setting up your e-mail client program, see "Configuring You Desktop Email Client" under OCMail on the CIT Wiki.

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Access to Resources: As noted above, your ObieID account will give you access to many resources. Some of these are described below:

OCMail: Our e-mail, known as OCMail - is powered by Google Apps for Education. You can access OCMail by entering your ObieID username and password at the OCMail login prompt: http://ocmail.oberlin.edu/ You may also login to e-mail from the OCApps Start page: http://ocapps.oberlin.edu/ (see OCApps below).

OCApps: OCApps provides many useful online applications, powered by GoogleApps for Education. including Calendar and Docs (providing the ability to work collaboratively on documents).

Oncampus: Oncampus (http://oncampus.oberlin.edu) provides access to Blackboard - our course management system - as well as announcements, bulletins, classified ads, news and publications. Once you log in with your ObieID information, you will have access to your courses (if applicable), PRESTO, Oberlin College events, and announcements and information about organizations that are specific to your role/position at the College.

PRESTO: Personal Records for Employees and Students at Oberlin. PRESTO is used by students to register for classes, by students who have been admitted but who have not yet paid in ordewr to access Financial Aid information and/or the status of their application for financial aid, by faculty to check on the status of students in their classes, and by employees (staff and faculty) for personal employee data. (Note that the initial password for PRESTO (mmddyy) is NOT the same as your initial password for your e-mail (mmddyyyy.)

Network Authentication: For security and safety reasons, we require all users to "authenticate" to the network every 28 days. Thus, every 28 days, prior to being able to access any network resources, you will need to open a web browser and login with your ObieID username and password.

LOCKER: Location on Campus for Keeping of Electronic Resources. Every person is assigned storage space on a central server, known as their StuLOCKER (for students) or StaffLOCKER (for faculty and staff). Faculty and staff receive 100 MB and students are assigned 50 MB. Access to this space is obtained by logging in with your ObieID account information from https://stulocker.cc.oberlin.edu/NetStorage (for students), or https://stafflocker.cc.oberlin.edu/NetStorage (for faculty and staff).

Lab Computers: Windows and Macintosh computers in labs across campus require users to login with their ObieID account information. Guests may obtain a "sponsored account" from any regular authorized user (student/faculty/staff) to gain access.

Web Accounts: Oberlin College community members (faculty/staff/students) may request a personal web account. Access to that web account is provided by one's ObieID account information.

Windows Office Computers: Faculty and staff who have been assigned Windows computers (desktop or laptop), will need to login with their ObieID information to gain access to any network resources.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please check out the CIT Wiki, the CIT web site, or contact the CIT Help Desk, located in Mudd 005 (Mudd Level A), e-mail: cit@oberlin.edu, phone: 440-775-8197.