getting student assistants up to speed -mcculler
TRANSCRIPT
Getting Student Assistants Up To
Speed in Blackboard
Melane McCuller Instructional Media Specialist
Before you even begin to hire students, be sure to IDENTIFY NEEDS
Activities: Know what you want the student to actually DO (just take phone calls, do office visits, take over a remote desktop, alter items in a course, facilitate workshops, etc.)
Funding: Identify your funding level. Can you hire overlapping positions so trained students can help new ones or do they come and go one at a time?
Skills: Do you need someone with language skills, computer skills, telephone skills, interpersonal communication skills—know what you actually want the student’s skills and skill-level to be.
Managing the process of Hiring/Repurposing/Firing
Wording and posting job advertisements
Review job applications Use an interview rubric to make sure all points are
covered fairly
Identify a selection pool: where to draw candidates from (computer science vs. communications)
Match personality with tasks
Give a computer test Give a stress test Give a telephone test
Steps in training the students to give support
Give listening lessons
Practice patience using case studies
Emphasize your department standards (how to answer phone, dress code, timeliness, etc.)
Demonstrate how to prepare a work order (telephone log, online or paper work orders, or any kind of record your department uses.)
Let student shadow you or an experienced student for a preset time span
Steps in training the students to use Blackboard
Online tutorials
Give them a course to design
Give them real-world tasks to perform
Give them e-mail queries (then compare your answer with theirs)
Practice phone calls (there really is a difference between asking questions in person and on the phone.)
Have the student write a handout on a particular tool for a training session
Keep an “I didn’t know that” log
Monitoring students’ effectiveness
Keep written record of all support calls
Hold regular student staff meetings
Let them sit at your desk for a while with you present to just listen
Random queries to faculty or students who received support
Random test calls as a “fake” person needing support
Self-evaluation: ask the student assistant for feedback on his performance
Give LOTS OF PRAISE!
