Tech program will be beneficial to many
Information technology has teamed up with students to give them practical, real-world experience while meeting the technical needs of Utah State University. The program is called Student Technology Training or STT.
“STT is a business run by students themselves that assists units in the information technology arena,” said Jonathan Kadis, director of technical support services. “They are running the show.”
Kara Sewell, a senior majoring in deaf education is the student manager for STT this year.
She said she currently oversees five different departments. They include university media productions, classroom technical services, operations, Help Desk, and student lab services. Each department is represented by a student manager who responds to the needs of his or her department.
According to the STT Web site, which can be accessed at www.sls.usu.edu/stt/index.asp, STT “provides the highest possible level of training to student employees so they can provide the quality of service to the students, staff and faculty who encounter common technology-related problems throughout the university community.”
Sewell said the goal of STT is to give students things to build their résumé, so when they leave USU they will have business, technical and customer service skills.
“While we are helping build their résumé skills, we are loyal to USU and helping USU in its education effort. Helping USU and the students is our emphasis in STT.
“Businesses in the future will say, ‘hey, I want you because you were trained with STT,'” she said.
Gary Egbert, student lab services supervisor, said each student employee has a curriculum of workshops he or she must attend and pass off in order to move up the career ladder.
“It’s important to note that we are not here to take away from the courses being taught on campus,” Egbert said. “If they want to learn the nuts and bolts of a software program, they should take the course from the university.”
Students attend the workshops and as they progress, they are even invited to then teach workshops to fulfill other requirements, Sewell said.
In addition to training, STT will also help to maintain and establish evaluations, job titles, pay, terms of employment and job duties, Kadis said.
“I look to Kara as a boss,” he said.
Bob Bayn, associate director of networking and computing services, said STT is the result of a trip that he and Kadis took to the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee where they have a similar, but different, “Student Technology Services.”
“But the implementation of that idea here has grown out of the existing training Gary Egbert provides for his 60 to 80 student lab consultants,” he said.
Stephen Funk, Help Desk supervisor, said the one major difference between the program they saw in Milwaukee and the one at USU is the funding. The University of Wisconsin receives $2 million from their state legislature. USU is implementing their program on more limited resources.
Sewell said STT aims to spread the training program to all of the departments. Last Saturday was the first time all the departments were brought together to train. There were about 160 in attendance. Employees were instructed on sexual harassment prevention, police support and customer service skills. Then the departments separated to give additional training as needed.
Putting all the departments together in this fashion “gives [students] a chance to learn different skills than they would learn at their regular job,” said Josh West, student manager for classroom technical services.
STT is open to all majors and students, Sewell said. Many disciplines now require students to be knowledgeable with technology.
Kadis said he foresees STT branching out to help in other areas.
“The growth will be incredible. We have just started to open our eyes to the capabilities and caliber of the students at Utah State University,” he said.
For example, he said he could see STT teaching students to help professors convert their lectures from overhead transparencies to PowerPoint Presentations. But the direction and scope of the program lies in the hands of the students.
“They’re hands on and our hands are off,” he said.
-dhegsted@cc.usu.edu