Are You Ready for Partners?

Presented by Margaret Landsparger

June 21 and 22, 2005

Volunteers as front line support

Are you paying students to maintain your labs, fill paper trays, answer basic user questions?

Why not use volunteers to do those tasks?

Outline

• About Michigan Tech

• About our Partners

• Definition of the program

• Program mission statement

• Three roles the Partners fill

• Partner responsibilities

• Typical semester within the program

Outline continued

• Why ten weeks of training?• Benefits to the volunteers• Benefits to the department and university• What does the program cost?• How self sufficient are they?• Recruiting and retention• Pitfalls to avoid• Helpful resources

Michigan Technological University

About our Universitywww.mtu.edu

• Michigan Tech

– Located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

– 6500 students in five colleges

• Known for its high male to female ratio; currently 4:1

– Volunteer program currently has a ratio of 4:1

West Engineering Computer Support• Volunteers as help desk support• Paid student employees• CAEL Coordinator• User Support Staff

• Windows Application Specialist• PC System Administrator• Unix System Administrator

• Director

About our Partners

About our Partners• The volunteers are called Partners.

• They maintain computers in eight different labs across two departments.

• Currently working with PCs, Sun Blades, Sun Rays and Printers.

• Maintain friendly environment with fish tanks and plants.

Definition of the Partner Program• The Partner program was created in 1991.• Made up of volunteers from all grade levels

and currently nine different academic areas.• Volunteers are either Senior Partners,

Partners, or Partners in Training (PITs).• Partners work 3+ hours a week.

Definition continued

• Volunteers must be able to show they can apply this knowledge through hands on exam.

• Must attend minimum number of meetings and any training required.

• The Partner group formed a registered student organization on campus.

Program Mission Statement

Program mission statement

• The mission of the Partner program is to provide general users with a clean, working computer environment while allowing Partners to learn and grow through volunteering, assisting the users and training sessions. Partners better themselves by gaining not only technical skills, but also leadership and communication skills, discipline, responsibility, and respect from their peers, faculty and staff, and future employers.

Three roles the Partners fill

Three roles of the Partners

• Partners In Training (PITs)

• Partners

• Senior Partners

Partners’ Responsibilities

Partner responsibilities• Answer user questions to the best of their

abilities.

• Pro-actively identify and resolve problems that might prevent users from working in the labs.

• Assist staff with various computer and networking issues.

• Train new recruits called PITs.

Partner responsibilities continued• Ensure that lab policies are followed by all

users.

• Perform any assigned duties for the shift being worked.

• Fill paper trays and perform printer maintenance.

• Clean and straighten labs.

• Responsible for equipment check out.

Typical semester within the program

Typical semester

• First of the term meeting.

– Relay information

– Sign up for hours

– Look for suggestions

– Eat and give out door prizes

– General business

• Ten week training course for PITs

Typical semester continued

• Fall/Spring picnic

• Various social events

• Recruit for next semester

– Actually done all year long

• Food booth at Spring, Winter and Fall festivals to recruit and raise money

• Practical at end of semester.

Why 10 weeks of training?

10 week training program• Introduction to our labs and policies

• Hardware and software

• Known problems and fixes

• Support structure

• One-on-one mentoring with senior partner

Benefits for the volunteers

Benefits for the volunteers

• 24 hour access to buildings

• Book scholarship of $250 / semester awarded to one Partner

• Early registration for classes

• Extra home directory space

Benefits for the volunteers

• Chance to learn from peers• Appreciation dinners and social

events• Eligible for permanent account,

including home directory space and email account

• Certificate acknowledging time• Extra job recruitment opportunities

from various companies

It’s not just the perks

The knowledge that I learned from the program was applicable to so many more things than just the partner program, from my PC to all of my classes. - Caitlin T.

Benefits to department

Benefits to department

• 50 self-trained volunteers completing over 140 hours per week of front line support, troubleshooting, and hardware maintenance.

• Partners hold general training sessions for all users on software packages and platform basics.

Other benefits to the department

• Even working with 2-6 year old computers and 5-15 year old furniture, we had the labs the Partners maintain voted the best computer labs on campus in 2004.

Great marketing point for department.

• Some of our student volunteers tend to be über geeks. These geeks have saved the university a few times.– Found hole within university wide password

system.– Found access hole to backup data.

Benefits to the University

What does the program cost?

What would it cost?For the same program, using paid student help:

140 hours X $6.50/hour = $910

X 30 weeks = $27,300

20 paid students attending 2 meetings = $260

10 hours of a FTE with 40% benefits on a base

salary of $35,000/year = $7070 for the same

30 weeks.

Office supplies = $100/year

Total = $34,730

What it costs usFor our program, using volunteer student help:

140 hours X $0.00/hour = $0

X 30 weeks = $0

20 hours of a part time fixed term employee with no benefits on a base salary of $13.00/hour = $11,000 for 44 weeks.

Book Scholarship = $500/year

Food for meetings - $400/year

Office supplies = $100/year

Total = $12,000

Savings over paid students

Cost using paid students $34,730

Cost using volunteers $12,000

Total savings of about $22,000

How self-sufficient are they?

How self sufficient are they?

• Partners recruit new volunteers from peers, classmates and friends.

• Partially self-funded, receiving money from student government for being a student organization, funding from alumni, and selling food at festivals.

• Self-monitored to some extent.

• Senior Partners do most of the training.

Recruitment and retention

Recruitment and retention

• Recruit from all majors and all class levels.

• Ask volunteers what perks they would like.

• Target freshmen for most longevity.

• Ensure that all volunteers are there for the right reasons.

• Provide an organization to be proud of.

Pitfalls to avoid

Pitfalls to avoid

• Not everyone makes a good volunteer.

• Perks must make the effort worth the time.

• Remember that you are competing with other volunteer programs in your area.

• Keep lines of communication open, they are the front line, they need to be in the know.

In summary

• Volunteers can be cost effective.

• Provide a strong peer environment.

• Put a recognizable face in the labs.

Helpful Resources

Questions & Answers

Helpful Resources• Ellis, S.J. (1999) The volunteer recruitment (and

Membership development) book. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Little, H. (1999) Volunteers, How to get them, How to keep them. Naperville, Illinois

• Vineyard, S. (1989) Beyond banquets, plaques and pins, Creative ways to recognize volunteers. Downers Grove, Illinois

• Vineyard, S. (1991) Secrets of motivation, How to get and keep volunteers and paid staff! Downers Grove, Illinois

Contact Information• Margaret Landsparger

– margaret@mtu.edu (960) 487-2270

• Michigan Technological University– www.mtu.edu

• Mechanical Engineering– www.me.mtu.edu

• Chemical Engineering– www.chem.mtu.edu

• Partner program web pages– www.me.mtu.edu/cael/