We don’t anticipate that you will need to purchase any special software for SCIE 300. Everything you need to do for this course can be done with software you need to use for other courses (e.g. a word processor of some sort and presentation software) or using software that is free or for which a free version exists.
People have software preferences. While the SCIE 300 team has some experience with most of the software mentioned below, we can not offer support in all of them. We are not endorsing any of the software listed below, but making you aware of the options available. If there is software you particularly like, let us know and we’ll add it to the list.
Assignments will be submitted to WebCT Vista and Turnitin, so make sure whatever software you use is an acceptable format for these platforms.
Statistics
Students may use whatever software they wish for statistical work in the course, though not all packages can be supported by the teaching team. In particular, the instructors have no expertise in JMP (as used in BIOL 300). The following packages will be supported:
R: This free software is commonly used by professional and academic statisticians. A useful add-on package is R Commander (Rcmdr) which provides graphical interface for easier command entry and data editing.
Excel Analysis Toolpak (Although not dedicated statistical software, this add-on to Microsoft Excel has recently been used in STAT 200. It would appear this “toolpak” may no longer be supported by Microsoft.)
Minitab (This specialist software is less powerful than R but more user-friendly, and will reliably perform any analysis that may be required in the course. The student edition suffices, and this may be rented directly from Minitab.)
Document creation
MS Word (not free, student pricing available, part of the MS Office package; there is now a web-based version of the MS Office products)
Pages (not free, student pricing available, part of iWork, for Mac)
Open Office (free, allows you to save files in a variety of formats)
Google Docs (free, web-based, many applications, one of which is for creating documents)
Presentation
PowerPoint (not free, student pricing available, part of the MS Office package; there is now a web-based version of the MS Office products)
Keynote (part of iWork, for Mac)
Prezi
Google Docs (many applications, one of which is for creating presentations)
Audio editing
Audacity (free; for both Mac or PC)
Garage Band (on Mac, part of iLife, which is most likely already on your machine)
Video editing
Windows Movie Maker (most likely already on your PC machine, but if not it’s a free download or your can use it online)
iMovie (on Mac, part of iLife, which is most likely already on your machine)
YouTube (YouTube now has a basic online video editor)
Image editing
Picasa (from Google; free; photo editing and organizing software you download to your computer; online version available)
Irfanview (a fairly basic yet powerful photo editor; free)
iPhoto (on Mac, part of iLife, which is most likely already on your machine)
Photoshop (probably the best, but also expensive; student pricing available)
Photo slideshows
PhotoPeach (free)
Picasa (from Google; free; lets you create movies and slideshows from your photos and even add music)
