T-I-P-S Technology Instruction Program for Students Episode II: The Evolution of the Applications Help desk Presented by Raphael Web SUNY at Oneonta

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LAST YEAR AND NOW…..AT A GLANCE

I: Instructional Methods Summer, 2007 Almost 100 percent student led workshops (Almost) NO more guest lectures Still searching for online solutions that work for us Summer, 2006 Few student led workshops Many more guest lectures than I could handle Searching for online solutions that work for us

II: Applications Support List Summer, 2007 Microsoft Office 2007 Dreamweaver MX and 2008 Angel? Summer, 2006 Microsoft Office 2003 FrontPage 2003 Adobe Photoshop

II: Faculty Participation Summer, faculty members committed to working with TIPS Summer, faculty members committed to working with TIPS

AND SO THIS IS HOW THINGS CHANGED…….

Guest Lectures: The Problem Guest Lectures were killing me – Too many faculty were asking for guest lectures – I once did nine for one professor in THREE days – These faculty were not sending students to our desk for extra support…. – So I was doing most of the work, and not my student staff

So……

Guest Lectures: The Resolution We stopped the Guest Lectures altogether in the Spring Semester – We replaced the Guest Lectures with Students Led Workshops – To handle the workload, we reduced the number of topics we presented….just for this Spring – Some Faculty were disappointed. Others signed right on…..

Guest Lectures: The Verdict Guest Lectures will (almost) be gone this year Almost, because some classes will need guest lectures: – Very large classes with too many students to reasonably schedule workshops – Faculty who insist that the instruction take place during class time…..with no staff to teach except me – I make the final decision to do a Guest Lecture

Student Led Workshops: The Challenge Scheduling – Faculty wanted us to schedule workshops during their class times: Impossible to reconcile – My staff could not always be there – We did some negotiating…….

AND……

Student Led Workshops: The Resolution Workshops were scheduled for late in the afternoon…. – All were held between 4 pm and 5 pm – Most students involved were able to make it – Multiple duplicate sessions: If you can’t make one, come to the other – Students who couldn’t come just came to our desk

Student Led Workshops: The Challenges Topics Covered – Too many students + enough staff (3) = too many topics to cover – Faculty still wanted students to get the right amount of instruction – We did some negotiating and wrangling…….

IN THE END……

Student Led Workshops: The Resolution Topics Covered – Faculty agreed, for the Spring Semester, to limit workshops to three agreed upon topics each: – For Example: Dreamweaver: Start a site; Layout Tables; insert multimedia Excel: IF functions; Pivot Tables; Lists – Students then came to our desk for support on additional topics

Student Led Workshops: The Verdict Definitely to be continued and increased Scheduling and Topics Covered: – Pre-scheduled workshops on Tuesdays and Fridays of each week – Each workshop will cover one or two topics – 30 minutes each, for easy digestibility – Students will still come to our desk for support on additional topics

Computer Based Instruction: The Challenges CD-ROM Issues – We tried Training CD-ROMS from CustomGuide, but students never used them – Limited access to CD-ROMS: Licenses and locations – Constantly changing nature of apps means new training software continually needs to be purchased – We did some thinking…..

AND……

Computer Based Instruction: The Ideas Possible solutions – Podcasting: Instructional material on an Ipod – Blogging: Instructional material on the campus blog site – Creation of our own online instruction using video and audio

Computer Based Instruction: Podcasting Questions as to whether students would use it or not How do you put reasonably high quality instruction on a Video Ipod? Not everyone owns a Video Ipod Podcasting was back-burnered – needed to stabilize the program first

Computer Based Instruction: Podcasting NOT ABANDONED – Definitely something we’ll look at in the future

Computer Based Instruction: Home Grown Online Instructional Material What software to use? – Camtasia Studio – Microsoft PowerPoint – Microsoft Producer 2003 (free and GREAT) I mostly used Producer 2003 – a very good all in one solution – Uses graphics, video, audio, AND does video captures

Computer Based Instruction: Home Grown Online Instructional Material How to Create? 1.Create “script” for staff to dictate 2.Videotape or audiotape staff 3.Get screenshots 4.Get video captures: Producer turns them into.WMV files 5.Create the PowerPoint Presentation 6.Import slides, graphics and videos into the timeline and configure into an online presentation 7.Sync the slides, graphics and captures to staff video/audio 8.Publish files to web server 9.Internet Explorer only

Computer Based Instruction: Home Grown Online Instructional Material Very Labor Intensive – Approximately 5 days to completion because of the logistics of videotaping and getting all required material together – Lots of topics means a great deal of work – To make it look really good, need the cooperation of video department – And the verdict is……….

See where this is going?……

Computer Based Instruction: Home Grown Online Instructional Material – The Verdict ABANDONED, FOR NOW – Maybe to be used as a special technique for specific faculty?

So What Now?

Computer Based Instruction: Home Grown Online Instructional Material – Resolution No resolution just yet We’re looking at purchasing online solutions from: – CustomGuide – Microsoft MELL (Microsoft E-Learning Library) – Mindleaders No labor investment on our part, total access for students

Future Vision For TIPS Changes we know we’ll face: – The move from Office 2003 to Office 2007 – Significant imminent changes in the structure of our parent department, Academic Computing Services – The need to support online portfolio features in Angel (which may affect Dreamweaver support)

Future Vision For TIPS What we would like to see happen: – Really ramp up the number of workshops – Introduce a truly high quality online support solution – Begin to introduce podcasting – Increase our Application Support List – Continue to get more faculty to work with TIPS and bring students our way for support