The Dustless Training Manual

Using Wikis to Get Everyone on the Same Page

PJ Dickson Brian Koslowski Katie McFaddin

Laurie Nelson

Brandeis University

© druclimb, Flickr Creative Commons

Today we will cover…

- the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing a wiki for paperless training

- what resources/skills are

required to get started

- how to launch, build, and control access to a wiki

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Who Are We?

• Our Team

• Our Department

• Our Situation

• Fast and significant turnover

• Our Needs

• Training for new advisors

• Reference manual for current advisors

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“Will I Get a Training Manual?”

• Institutional memory

• Documentation of policies

• “Omega”: The Server

• Mystery notes, e.g. “Schedule meeting with committee members”

• Frequent changes

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What Happens After Training?

• Internal policies

• Depth of Information

• Things outside the norm

• Responsibilities that only one team member has

• Time savers

• Email templates

• Project Management

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-Immediately dated

-Not eco-friendly

-Not easy to link to

resources

-Typically one person’s

project

-Hard to find info

-Available online

-Google Campus

-Can control access

-Difficult to organize

-Not able to hyperlink

files without disrupting

text

-Available online

-Free

-Can control access

-Content is searchable

-Designed for group

input

-Dynamic

Paper Google Site Wiki X X

Why Did We Choose a Wiki?

Edit Write Save

Starting our wiki required… - $0 - Minimal computer skills - 1 hour delegation meeting - 5-10 hours of individual work

building and populating the pages

http://brandeisacserv.wikispaces.com/

Instructions for each type of committee petition, with links

to helpful documents & forms

Operations calendar, organized by month.

Repeated projects and tasks for the

office are listed by week.

Email templates for oft-used emails to

students and instructors

Detailed instructions for secondary

assignments (peer tutoring)

Wiki is fully search-able. Can search content of

some pdfs.

To edit a page, click “Edit” in the upper

corner. The page will open for editing.

To create a new page, click “New Page”

To link to a file, click “File” 1.

Click “Upload Files”, select file, and choose “Link to File”

2.

Benefits

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Collaborative

Centralized

Environmentally friendly

Easy to update

Holistic

Independent of a server

Communal constructivism

(Virtual) Community of practice

Limitations

Some people prefer paper

Limited formatting

Requires universal involvement

Requires frequent updating

Internet-dependent

Security--we don’t post student data

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Next Steps

Systematize updating

Expand user pool?

Integrate into a training calendar

Consider multimedia

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Public Wiki

nacadaregional.wikispaces.com Username: NACADA1

Password: nacada1

Questions?

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