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The Division of information technology and Distance learning are recognized in georgiaview
The IT Helpdesk has been featured in the GeorgiaVIEW Accomplishments 2007 Magazine for it's flexible, resilient and transmittable training:
The steady ring of telephone calls coming into the Valdosta State University (VSU) Helpdesk is generally the only sound heard in the otherwise hushed rooms of the Odum Library. Student worker Jamie D. Seman stands at his helpdesk position, quietly walking through a set of online steps designed to assist him with a software sale he is currently negotiating for a faculty member. Seman receives this support, as well as all of the training necessary to fill his post, through BbLS Vista at VSU.
“We needed to provide quality training for student workers so they could provide quality service,” explains Beatriz Potter, Instructional Technology Support Specialist in Distance Learning.
Ad-hoc, one-on-one instruction at VSU has now been replaced, thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Distance Learning and Information Technology departments. Standards documents, discussion tools, assessments, and full motion Adobe Captivate® presentations comprise the tutorial elements within the new online training modules. Benjamin Li, the Helpdesk manager, remarks on how well suited the BbLS Vista environment is to training:
“It is similar to the way it is used in academics. We use the content tools to distribute information to our student workers. Likewise, we have different sections and different modules and at the end we have various learning activities and tests.”
Jonathan Sizemore of the VSU Distance Learning Department emphasizes that the helpdesk’s training program prepares student workers for wherever they may go within IT.
“It’s not just a training program,” says Sizemore. “The students who work at the helpdesk and receive the basic training may be reassigned to other areas of IT to support other functions. They remain enrolled in the course, and the course becomes a knowledge base that those students can refer to at any time if they need to check on a procedure or policy.”
Joe Newton, Director of Information Technology at VSU, agrees. ”This training program is a flexible, resilient, and transmittable vehicle to promote the ongoing support of users of IT at VSU.”
Acknowledgements:
Brandy Bolduc, Allen DeVane, Eric Jackson, Benjamin Li, Joe Newton, Beatriz Potter, Jamie D. Seman, Jonathan Sizemore
To view the entire magazine please visit: http://www.alt.usg.edu/gaview/GAView2007_final.pdf
Posted: 05/06/2008