EDUCAUSE | Support Services and User Training

Using Instructional Design to Shape Technology Training

drupal — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:57:11 -0600

Technology training for faculty and staff is more effective when it is based on instructional design principles. This presentation will show how three principles were used to guide training efforts and achieve positive results during a course management system change at Samford University.

User Services Lightning Round

drupal — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:42:03 -0500

Learn a lot fast! This series of five-minute presentations will provide overviews of interesting, innovative, and timely work in user services. Each session will also be shared as a poster later today, giving you a chance to explore the topic more deeply and speak with the presenters.

24 x 7 x 365 Anywhere in the World: Creating an Executive IT Support Unit
Momi Ford, Executive IT Support Manager, Indiana University
When executives have IT needs, the highest level of support available anytime, anywhere keeps them productive. See how Indiana Universitys Executive IT Support unit makes this possible.

Emergency Texts: A Reality Check
John C. Borne, University Information Systems, Louisiana State University
LSU will report on a test of its emergency text-messaging system. This session will examine the strengths and weaknesses of text messaging in an emergency notification package and managing community expectations.

Infusing Academic Support into the Online Environment: A Pilot Program
Craig Lamb, Empire State College SUNY
Empire State Colleges Center for Distance Learning recently launched the Academic Assistance Tutorial System, an online instructor-initiated early warning system. This session will describe its past and planned development and self-paced learning modules.

Lessons from Running a Mega Lab: A Student Outreach Program to Embrace Collaboration and Learning
Sheri Stahler, Temple University
Running a 24 x 7 computer lab and help desk with 700 seats and 6,000 visitors daily meant looking at operations on a megascale. Computer Services adapted to run the TECH Center efficiently.

Maximize Enterprise Productivity by Implementing a Total Cost of Ownership Methodology
Ronan Glynn, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Empirical evidence illustrates that procedurally managing hardware life cycles is strategically superior to a system of ad hoc replacements. Intangibles like industry reputation and risk mitigation are perhaps the greatest advantages.

Using Instructional Design to Shape Technology Training
Lisa McNeal, Samford University
Technology training for faculty and staff is more effective when based on instructional design principles. This presentation will show how three principles guided training to achieve positive results at Samford University.

Who Will Be the Next Rock Star?
Kimberly Brookes, Simmons College
To educate students on the academic and personal consequences of downloading and sharing files illegally, Technology at Simmons sponsors Simmons Rockstar, which combines education on copyright with a karaoke contest.

Supporting Early Adopters and Moving Targets

drupal — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:15:00 -0500

It is often difficult for IT organizations to acquire, evaluate, and support new technologies before users bring them to campus. This session will discuss how MIT created and implemented a support plan for Mac OS X 10.5 that supported early adopters, without having had access to the final version of the software.

Marketing on a Shoestring: A Case Study

drupal — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:56:20 -0600

We frequently expect that users will flock to our services with little effort on our part. Sometimes that works. When it doesn't, this presentation may help. It will describe how UNC-Chapel Hill rolled out a new computer-based training service with a dramatic increase in the number and variety of users.

Delivering End-User Training in Less Time, with Fewer Resources

drupal — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:56:20 -0600

UMB and MCCC will present their end-user training plans from blueprinting to maintenance and support. Learn about two different efforts to develop online resources and delivery tools that have led to reduced maintenance and effort for the training teams, lower cost, and more effective end-user support.

How to Make Support Easier Through Effective Training

drupal — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:56:19 -0600

In today's world, technology resources can be overwhelming to the end user. Penn State Hazleton has created training programs and resources that allow users to grow and create their own technology-enhanced environment.

Building a Training Network: the Technology Liaison Program at Washington and Lee University

drupal — Wed, 09 May 2007 21:19:58 -0500

All campuses struggle to provide computing support and training with limited resources. The wide disparity of computing skills among campus employees and the constantly changing software environment pose additional difficulties, as staff must constantly learn and adapt to new features and interfaces. The Technology Liaison Program at Washington and Lee University was developed to address the need to equip staff and faculty across campus with appropriate computing skills in a cost-effective manner.

Just-in-Time Faculty IT Support: A Scalable Model for Delivering Technology Tutorials in Faculty Offices

drupal — Fri, 20 Aug 2004 17:50:44 -0500

Providing technology training for faculty is essential, yet this task can be overwhelmingly complicated due to the multitude of conflicting priorities and demands they face. Learn to structure your IT training offerings to meet faculty needs with just-in-time technology tutorials conducted in their offices at times convenient for them.

Small Staff--Big Demands

drupal — Wed, 09 Apr 2003 17:05:41 -0500

University staff, students, and faculty must keep technology skills current in order to solve instructional problems and to make their work more efficient. We would like to share our success story at Marywood University, where a staff of three people provides training and support to 700 employees and 3,000 students.

One Size Does Not Fit All: Models for Support and Training Partnerships in Virginia

drupal — Fri, 20 Oct 2000 11:58:37 -0500

Discusses training issues of two distinct support models. The University of Virginia model provides technical resources to staff who report directly to, and are funded by, individual departments. The College of William and Mary's central information technology unit funds liaisons who reside in the departments they serve.

Reengineering Customer Assistance: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

drupal — Sat, 03 Jan 1998 01:00:00 -0600

In 1995, MIT initiated a process to reengineer many of its administrative functions. A key component of the reengineering effort has been Information Systems (IS), the primary administrative unit focused on computing and networking at MIT. For end users at MIT, perhaps the most visible change in IS is a reengineered customer assistance approach, including self-help resources, customer training and online documentation, an IT Partners program with departments, and a consolidated help desk that combined four separate help desks. This paper provides a "warts and all" overview of what IS has learned about customer assistance during two-plus years of reengineering.

Distribute the Work--and the Resource: Syracuse University's Distributed Computing Environment

drupal — Sat, 03 Jan 1998 01:00:00 -0600

Syracuse University is working through a distributed work model which encourages client departments to assume a broader role in system implementation by distributing more than just the work. When a client department decides to hire a functional business analyst and/or computer consultant, the Distributed Support Program provides partial funding for that new staff member's salary, training, and hardware, and offers regular opportunities for support and interaction with the IT organization. They have also developed job broadbanding programs with their Human Resources Department to encourage and reward IT staff members to reskill, retrain, and develop new roles for themselves as they transition to a new environment. This combination of support for both clients and IT staff, described in this paper, helps to ensure success of the distribution of leadership and technology from a central to a local model.

Tutoring Faculty in Their Offices: Taking Instruction to Where It Is Used

drupal — Sat, 03 Jan 1998 01:00:00 -0600

This paper describes Carthage College's approach to faculty training in information technology. Traditionally, information professionals have insisted that users come to the library, the computer center, or the media services unit, and more recently to electronic or "smart" classrooms, for instruction in the use of information technology resources. Usually this is done in groups, and often with no hands-on practice. While this mode of instruction continues to offer some advantages, it presents barriers to some users. The rapid increase in campuswide networks has made many software and information resources available on the user's desktop. The lack of standard personal computer setup configuration, the probability of campus faculty using different platforms, differences in individual faculty hardware and software, etc., all suggest that the most efficient training should be on the user's own office equipment, addressing specific needs, at a time convenient for the faculty member. This is a service of greatest value to faculty who are not the earliest adopters, though they, too, may ask for such assistance.

From Apathetic to Energetic: How Our Student-Run Computer Lab Became Customer-Service Focused

drupal — Sat, 03 Jan 1998 01:00:00 -0600

Because of an ineffective management structure, the students who worked in the Bentley College Computer Lab felt a lack of direction and were often bored, apathetic, and rude to clients as well as to each other. With new direction, the College has seen a significant shift from an apathetic to an energetic student staff. They have realized that infusing a customer service attitude takes more than offering students a crash course in how to be polite to clients. While such courses are worthwhile, good customer service is easier to provide when the staff feels valued, when they feel like they are part of a team, when they are trained to be technically competent and resourceful, and when they feel supported. The turnaround in the student staff has occurred because the College changed the management structure, strengthened selection standards for hiring students, developed comprehensive training programs, and provided a structure of support for students.

Technology Training Center (One-Stop Shopping)

drupal — Mon, 16 Dec 1996 01:00:00 -0600

Providing internal technical education and training in all campus-supported applications creates an avenue for staff and faculty in every corner of the University to stay current with changing technologies. This also allows for the customization of technology to campus needs and advances at a pace suitable to the growth within the organization. Most colleges have a broad base of technical expertise. Through a good cross-over training structure this expertise is being tapped, creating a low-cost training center which will improve efficiency and productivity campuswide.A centralized internal training facility not only promotes the best possible use of current resources, but makes training sessions more frequent, more consistent, cross-functional, interdisciplinary, and in general more convenient to the campus user community. Sessions may be designed for a variety of skill levels, and lead to the establishment of a faculty/staff technical skills matrix. After establishing campus skills standards, this facility will be in a position to determine the training needs of the campus as a whole, thus enhancing employee productivity.

Information Technology Support Services: Crisis or Opportunity?

drupal — Thu, 05 Sep 1996 01:00:00 -0500

Information technology support services are in crisis, due to dramatically increased expectations and stable or dwindling funding. This article examines the root causes and suggests actions which may help resolve the situation by reducing expectations, increasing effectiveness, and building partnerships.

Taking Time to Train Students

drupal — Mon, 13 Nov 1995 01:00:00 -0600

It is very easy to overlook the training needs of our student support staff. Many of us depend more and more on students to provide consultation support to end users. It is more difficult to train students because of varying schedules, turnover, and time constraints. Yet, in many cases they are our first line consultants. This paper presents some useful techniques that University Technology Services at The Ohio State University has utilized when training students.

User-Driven Training -- A Strategy For Support

drupal — Wed, 17 Nov 1993 01:00:00 -0600

Investment in information technology on the campuses of small colleges and universities has been a high priority in recent years. This investment includes computers, multimedia equipment, software, and network infrastructure and supporting hardware. One important area which seems to get less attention in this rush to attain technological adequacy is the investment in the training and support of our human resources.At Whitworth College we are implementing a strategy for training and support that places the focus of attention on user-identified needs. Our strategy results from past experiences that have failed to address the real training and support needs of the personnel. It is a strategy that identifies the users as the central figures in identifying, defining, and organizing their own training and support needs.This presentation will describe the major points of the strategy and provide some detail regarding program implementation and reaction by the campus community.