Supporting the Newest New Technologies on Campus

Thomas A. Warger, Interim Director of Educational Technology Services

twarger@smith.edu

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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Copyright statement

Copyright Thomas A. Warger 2006. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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Smith at a glance

• Students: 2,750 (undergraduate)• Faculty: 285• ITS staff: 47 (http://www.smith.edu/its/about_its/org_chart.html)

• ETS staff: 14 (counted in the 47)

• Student workers: 60• Classrooms with media: 60• About 50/50 Mac to Windows ratio

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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The problem to be solved

After years of minimal growth, interest in digital media, technologies, and devices has increased strongly. Newhardware and software are redrawing the technology-support picture on campus, a development that was unplannedand unanticipated (despite ample news from press and professional sources). Changes are urgently needed in facilities, equipment, infrastructure, services, and staff skills in order to support the new expectations.

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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Drivers: curriculum

• Digital video production courses over-enrolled

• Various courses added podcasting as student activity

• New course in digital still photography

• Web-cam distance connections

• Video recording in science labs

• In-classroom media use in general

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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Responses: curriculum

• ETS staff skills development: blog, RSS, server management for streaming and download

• New and additional equipment• New help topics and information

– See: http://www.smith.edu/its/tls/documentation.htm

• Staff co-teaching (and some conflict…)• Faculty interview project

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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Drivers: student interest

• All those student-owned devices

• The “second curriculum”

• Course-specific additions

• Social interest (vblog)– See: http://www.drewdrawn.blogspot.com/

• High interest; sketchy knowledge

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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Reponses: student interest

• Open sessions for training developed for course support (“Acting for the Camera”)

• Reaching out to student TV club, media-skilled students and alumnae

• Storage Area Network (SAN)

• Apple certification courses (FinalCut Pro)

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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Drivers: College events

• More events asking for a/v services

• Higher standards – recordings destined for distribution

• Higher ambitions: presenters with shaky grasp of PowerPoint

• Mini-conferences: not just one event

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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Responses: College events

• Alternate staffing: outsource, ETS students, other students

• Increased training for ETS student staff; creation of videographer positions

• More attention to quality control for events not covered by ETS staff

• Equipment more amenable to self-service

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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User Services Center

• New skills for staff

• New approaches to supply of basic information– Development of vodcast capability (converting

flash animations into QuickTime movies)

• More cross-over with ETS staff and skills

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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Lessons learned

• Need to be better observers• Need to be agile• Technology uptake is faster now than ever• Find how to use the new technologies in

support work• There is a gap between institutional plans

and student-driven reality in technology infrastructure and skills

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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What’s next?

• Look at other active technologies: IM, text messaging

• Ways to enable and encourage peer support (not news to institutions with small IT staffs)

• Try to close the gap between students (plus other innovators) and institutional IT

Smith College at NERCOMP 2006

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Some things to see

• Smith ETS online training and tutorials: www.smith.edu/its/mservices/training.htm

• Smith USC TechNotes: www.smith.edu/its/technotes

• Vimeo (site hosting student vblogs): www.vimeo.com

• ArtMobs (podcasting project in NYC): mod.blogs.com/art_mobs