X-Accept-Language: en Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 10:47:01 -0400 Reply-To: Client Services Sender: Client Services From: Alison Pechenick Organization: University of Vermont Subject: Re: [CLIENT_SERVICES] New Student Indoctrination To: CLIENT_SERVICES@LIST.UVM.EDU One more idea: We have a wealth of students around campus who are incredibly facile with computers. It would be great to involve them somehow in a UVM-Corps type of group, who could serve as our emissaries around campus, to get students ramped up on the set of basics Jess has enumerated. I wonder if we could offer some sort of one-credit course (School of Ed - they have a high emphasis on technology now, don't they? CS?) that would involve the students being trained and then going out to train others. "Jessica L. Dion" wrote: > > What perfect timing, Dean! The powerpoint workshops I recently gave in > L/L provided me with a great opportunity to reconnect with students and > get some ideas for future training and education. The students I worked > with were very curious and had a ton of burning questions, few of which > had anything to do with PowerPoint. :-) They didn't know where to go for > answers. I would love to have been able to point them to our great > web-based knowledge base or list of FAQs, or suggest that they come to our > ongoing student workshops or open houses, but nothing like that exists. > > I found myself frustrated and amazed that we have training and development > for staff, and the CTL for faculty, and -- nothing -- for students, our > most important clients. They have some computer classes available, but > many of them just want a 2 hour intense workshop, or a good web site with > info, not a semester long commitment. One student I talked to thought > the helpline was only for on-campus people. Another thought it was only > for faculty and staff. Ack! > > CIT has have A LOT of room for improvement here. > > To answer your survey: > > > A quick survey for you: > > > > In working with students this year, would you say that: > > > > [a] Most students are getting all the key > > information about computing at UVM > > that they need to make good choices, > > help themselves, get help, and take > > advantage of everything we have to offer > > No way. Even many juniors and seniors I meet have no idea what their > options are!! I met a spring semester sophomore who didn't even know how > to check her Zoo e-mail! Granted, she certainly didn't try very hard to > find the solution for that one, but still.. scary. I showed her how to > change her password, and showed her webmail and pine. She fell in love > with pine (I swear, I didn't bias her!) and was happy as a clam when I > left. > > > [b] A few students are not hearing about: > > > > ____________________________________ > > > > ____________________________________ > > > > > > [c] New students are so overwhelmed that > > they miss much of what we try to tell > > them > > True - the first month of classes is a bad time to teach much of anything, > ironically. However, by mid-semester and certainly by spring semester, > many students have a lot of burning computer-related questions and have no > idea how to get them answered. Some of them see their peers doing things, > and want more information but don't know where to go. I would target > student education for mid-fall and early to mid-spring semesters. > > I also think RAs might be a great place to start. I could be barking up > the wrong tree here, but when I was at UVM, students were encouraged to > talk to their RA about just about anything.. use them as a resource. > > I don't think it's realistic to turn the RAs into geeks, but I do think it > would be realistic to have some RA training that focused on answering > students' most important questions, like "which e-mail program should I > use?", "how do I make a UVM web page or move my geocities webpage to > UVM?", "what cool things can I do on UVM's computers?", "what can I do to > get to the UVM network when I move off campus?" etc. Hopefully they can > just point students to our great web pages, but I think RAs should also at > least know what CIT does and doesn't do, and the answers to some > super-basic questions. > > Perhaps our new web pages will be good places to point students to, but I > do think we need to have a little face time with them. The students I > talked to didn't think they could call the helpline with questions like > that, but once they found out that I was from CIT, they had questions > pouring out of their ears. > > > [d] We really, really need to work harder to be sure students know about: > > I think we need to make sure students know about the services that UVM > provides. Specifically: > > - Every student should know how to store their files on zoo from whatever > platform they use. How much student time and energy is wasted when floppy > disks are left in computer labs, damaged, lost, etc? It's stupid, > especially now that many papers and presentations have images and won't > fit on a floppy. Students should know that they can store their data on > zoo and have it backed up nightly. They should know how to put it there, > make sure it's private, and retrieve it. > > - Every student should be aware that they have several alternatives for > checking e-mail. They should know that they can check e-mail from > anywhere, if they want to. They should know that they can filter mail, > forward mail, use vacation, and all that jazz. They should know that they > have the option of using imap, if they want to access saved messages from > anywhere. Hopefully the tech support intern this summer will create a web > interface for the procmail program - this will help a lot, since making > procmail rules is beyond most normal people. :-) > > - Every student should understand that they have space on our servers for > web content. This is a place for their own web page, and also a place for > sharing files that are too big to transfer via e-mail. They should know > that they have control over whether their files are public or not. They > should also know that they can password protect some parts of their web > pages, if they choose to. > > - Every student should understand what the CIT Helpline will and will not > help with. They should know what CIT's boundaries are, presuming that we > have any. They should know that we will not say "I don't know" and hang > up on them, but that we will not run over to their compaq presario and fix > everything because they decided to delete winsock*.* (err, ok, maybe we > will do that - ugh). Some students call the helpline at the drop of a hat, > but others have these weird notions, like "it's only for faculty and > staff" or "it's only if my computer is broken", or "only if I bought my > computer at UVM" etc. Somehow, we need to lay the boundaries out so > students clearly know what they can and can't ask. They should also know > that they can ask CIT counselors in the labs for help. > > I'm not saying that every student should necessarily know how to do all of > these things, but they should know that they are possible. The helpline > and the counselors need to know how to do all of these things in detail, > so they can help people who ask. I understand that there is a high rate > of turnover in that population. I'd be happy to help with training - I > think all of client services should help with training, to tell you the > truth. Many of us would like to know the helpliners a little more, and as > far as I see it, every time I teach a helpliner something, it saves me > from answering the question dozens of times. > > I think it's sometimes easier for us to focus on helping and training > faculty and staff than students because faculty and staff tend to stick > around. Teaching students can be a frustrating experience, since they > almost always leave after 4 years. It's really too bad that we have this > impression, since really, UVM exists for the purpose of teaching students. > It's certainly important for CIT to support the computing infrastructure > here, but it's also important that students are aware of the services that > we provide. Educating students about UVM IT resources has implications in > terms of retention and overall happiness with UVM, and also in terms of > producing a graduating class that has valuable knowledge and confidence > when it comes to using technology. > > Right now, I'm afraid most students are falling through the cracks. > > - Jessica