You are not alone!

We need more, better, small group collaboration

Some refs for Small Group Collaboration (Amazon)

•  to improve teaching and learning with technology in specific courses
• to address current major challenges in higher education.

We are too often overwhelmed by the gap between what we hope and what we can do.

Too many demands for our time, energy, attention.

Join us  Aug 3, 9, 11 1-2PM EDT for the TLT Group's 4th Annual Online Symposium on Frugal Innovation and Collaborative Change 

Queries & Strategies for Frugal Innovation, Collaborative Change via Small Group Collaboration

Free registration for TLT Group Members; Fee for non-members.

You are not alone! We're all churning!

We're all churning!

So TLT Group's 4th Annual Online Symposium on Frugal Innovation and Collaborative Change is about successful small-group collaboration.  We'll develop Queries & Strategies for Frugal Innovation, Collaborative Change via Small Group Collaboration Aug 3, 9, 11 1-2PM EDT

Free registration for TLT Group Members; Fee for non-members.

You are not alone! Queries & Strategies for Frugal Innovation, Collaborative Change

"You are not alone!" - Books, Music, etc.

via Small Group Collaboration Aug 3, 9, 11 1-2PM EDT
TLT Group's 4th Annual Online Symposium on Frugal Innovation and Collaborative Change focuses on
SMALL GROUP COLLABORATION

• to improve teaching and learning with technology in specific courses
• to address current major challenges in higher education.

Free registration for TLT Group Members; Fee for non-members.

Guest presenters will describe/demonstrate specific kinds of successful small-group collaboration:

• Student-Faculty
• Faculty-Faculty
• Faculty-Librarian
• Faculty-Faculty Development, and Faculty-Tech. 

Participants will be encouraged to ask questions and suggest alternatives and improvements.   We hope that each of you will learn both from the invited presenters and from each other.  These sessions will shape the TLT Group's agenda for our weekly FridayLive! online sessions in 2011-12 (beginning Sept. 9, 2pm Eastern) and other projects. 

Psst! Intro to MERLOT: Is MERLOT still the best secret weapon for improving higher education?

TLT Group Members Only Online Session tomorrow 7/27/2011 11am EDT.  

For more info, see tlt.gs/MERLOTsecret11   MERLOT – Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching – a program of California State University, has been, since 1997, providing peer reviewed online teaching and learning materials. To date, MERLOT boasts over 30,000 materials and 95,900 members, and yet it is still a widely underutilized tool.
Irene Knokh, an Instructional Design Consultant and MERLOT Editor, joins this Members-Only session to introduce us to MERLOT and demonstrate its capabilities. In addition, we will  In addition, we will be joined by  Ray Purdom, (Director, University Teaching and Learning Center, UNCG, and Faculty Development Editor, MERLOT) to address the broader question of why MERLOT and resources like it aren’t more widely utilized. What are the conditions that faculty and staff face that impede them from using these resources? What can be done to change those conditions? 

I hope you can join this session tomorrow if you are a member of the TLT Group (and you are eligible for free membership if your institution is an annual subscriber to the TLT Group).

Steve Gilbert

President, TLT Group

Students Prefer Anonymous Passivity to Engagement?

Teaching for Engagement - Still Worth Trying!

Rate lectures higher than active/cooperative learning in big gen ed courses?
What kind of evidence can be used to resolve an alleged conflict between perceived values and actual values?  What are "actual values"?
We must ask these important meta-question when an analysis of any study suggests that "students’ perceptions of the value of the activities... may be quite different from the actual value of the activity..."  
Following are more excerpts from  "What Do Students Think about Active Learning?"

Airing Assessment Attitudes - How Study Own Teaching

See ProfHacker tlt.gs/6kb4 & FridayLive! tlt.gs/AAA2010 

I appreciate the clarity and directness of Utell's good suggestions and the candid description of the goals on which they're based in "How to Study Your Own Teaching (And Why You Might Want To)" July 21, 2011, 8:00 am, in "Prof. Hacker" guest post by Janine Utell, Widener U, Twitter: @janineutell http://tlt.gs/6kb4
Sadly, those are not common characteristics of campus discussions of assessment.
How, if at all, might this kind of " small qualitative study of your teaching, perhaps for presentation or publication but mainly just to see if it works, when you have limited, time, resources, and not very much experience" fit into institutional assessment activities? For many years I've been waiting for open, constructive, mutually respectful discussions about assessment. Instead, when someone announces an assessment initiative, I still usually hear these hostile mutterings :
"What's the least I can do to get them off my back so I can keep doing what really works?"

a. Faculty mutter something like "what's the least I can do to get them [administrators] off my back so I can keep doing what really works in my courses?"
b. Administrators mutter something like "how can I get the data we need to get them [accreditors, legislators, media, board, ...] off my back so I can keep doing what really works and make tough decisions about staffing and programs?"

For the beginnings of a constructive exploration, see Airing Assessment Attitudes - Safely, Usefully - Homebase Web page for onine session.

Image
Photo of "Woman Hanging Laundry - Alfuraba Fishing Village - Porto, Portugal" near seaside, by Adam Jones, Some rights reserved by Adam Jones, Ph.D.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3402/4642943312_11e54ee296.jpg

Teaching Online Synch Classes - 19 Recommendations

SYNCHRONOUS Classroom Activities - Online?

Gilbert's recommendation:  Collaborate with at least one co-leader

Kim's 10 recommendations (Headers Only):
1. Web Classes Go Fast
2. Tech Problems Happen
3. Pay Attention to Timing
4. Post an Agenda
5. Take Turns
6. Stress Community and Logistics Rather Than Content
7. Be Inclusive
8. Less Is More
9. Maintain a Firm Hand
10. Continuously Learn

Garay's 8 additional recommendations (Headers Only):

1. Instructors and presenters should use two computers
2. ...have a moderator (TA or volunteering student) available to handle/filter comments and questions 
3. Record the online sessions for on-demand playback 
4. Have a teleconference and well-known telephone# ready to go 
5. Do plan ahead and build a detailed agenda 
6. Keep things interactive by pausing regularly 
7. Set up an ongoing Web conference session 
8. Schedule a practice Web conference session

Full text available from “10 Guidelines for Running Synchronous Web Teaching Sessions,” By Joshua Kim, July 19, 2011 9:15 pm EDT, Inside Higher Ed Blog + 8 more recommendations from COMMENT  “Think Async” from  Ed Garay at University of Illinois at Chicago on July 20, 2011 at 9:45am EDT  

MY OWN COMMENTS ABOUT KIM'S POSTING & GARAY'S COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS BELOW FOR EASE OF IDENTIFICATION, NOT FOR “SHOUTING.”


GOOD SUGGESTIONS, GUIDELINES in general, especially when adding Garay's additional recommendations.
MY PRIMARY OBJECTIONS & CAVEATS:  Many of Kim’s recommendations seem to be based on admirable but much too narrow assumptions about the purposes and limitations of online synchronous sessions.  Some of Garay’s useful recommendations require resources unavailable to many college/university faculty members.  Neither mentions the value of collaboration when planning and running such sessions.  My strongest additional advice:  
COLLABORATE
It is almost always more effective and enjoyable to run online synchronous sessions with at least one co-leader.  For most faculty that would be a luxury and counter to local customs about teaching undergraduate courses. However as pressure grows to find ways to offer courses more “cost-effectively” - i.e., with higher student-faculty ratio - it is worth exploring carefully how online synchronous sessions with more than 50 students can be run effectively by two or three co-teachers.

Multiple Library Catalog search via Google Books

"...find books in libraries around the world ... from library catalogs... If your search query suggests you’re looking for a particular book – for example, if you enter the title of a book – you’ll see search results from books we’ve [Google] digitized, plus, at the bottom of the search results page, relevant library catalog results to help you find books in [geographically] nearby libraries. ...library catalogs contain only metadata – basic information like author, title and subject – so results from catalogs are not based on the full text of books."
- Excerpts from What is Library Catalog search? - Books Help

"Looking at Today to Get a Little Taste [of] Tomorrow" "Ubiquitous Technology"

Ubiquitous Technology - Not Rocket Science?

"There will be a paperless office when there's a paperless outhouse"^[30]    

"Ubiquitous technology surpasses the older concept of ubiquitous computing, transending beyond human-computer interaction to human-technology interaction...such as hand-held devices."

iPad in Academia, "Look Ma, no hands!..." June 10, 2011 Webcast

Description (Schedule/Plan, Resource Links Below)

Lisa Star will talk about her knowledge and experience with the iPad in online courses.  Lisa has a wealth of experience both teaching online and training teachers to teach online. She has also taken many online courses herself. In those various settings, she has employed the iPad.  In addition, Lisa has an added layer of engagement with the iPad; on account of recent physiological conditions, she can no longer use a keyboard and has had to implement voice recognition technologies as alternatives to keyboards. The iPad has been especially useful on this frontier. We look forward to hearing more about her practical experience with this new technology.

Home Base (Google Doc) Web Page

---

Resources & Links

Educational Rights & Costs: "Debate will continue!" Like health care & fed. budgets?

 #vwwt2000 PREDICTION #20 of 20 from year 2000  

Educational Rights and Educational Costs
Debate will continue on how much education, of what kind, for whom. As with health care, the notions of a citizen’s educational rights and the locus of decision making about them will be difficult to resolve. Human society will recognize that the costs of the most effective kinds of education (like the costs of much of the most effective kinds of health care) will continue to rise faster than the costs of food, clothing, and housing. Quality of life will depend on access to better quality education and health care for all. [Will enough world resources be generated and allocated to provide everyone with adequate food, health care, shelter, clothing, and education? How will “adequate” be defined?]

[UPDATE  Sure, the "debate continues".  But what a couple of understatements I made in 2000!  

• "citizen’s educational rights and the locus of decision making about them will be difficult to resolve"

• "the costs of the most effective kinds of education (like the costs of much of the most effective kinds of health care) will continue to rise faster than the costs of food, clothing, and housing."

2011 COLLISION:  REAL IMPROVEMENTS, REAL COSTS, UNREAL EXPECTATIONS   Today July 13, 2011! the  United States government cannot resolve its own budgetary crisis or agree on how this extraordinarily wealthy country can escape or end the worldwide economic recession.  In part, we cannot face the facts of rising real costs associated with making unprecedented real improvements in health care and in higher education because we cannot disentangle the real and desirable cost increases from those caused by growing administrative complexity and rising/widening unrealistic expectations.  See Necessity is the Mother of Self-Deception.]

- 20th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Unequal Access to Info Tech Painfully Persists - Equity, Disabilities, Information Literacy

Bridging Digital Divide

#vwwt2000 PREDICTION #19 OF 20 from year 2000

Access, Disabilities, and Information Literacy
Access to computers, related information resources, and “information literacy” will become higher societal priorities. More educational institutions will recognize and respond to the need to provide such equitable access for all --- regardless of wealth or disabilities. Many colleges and universities will develop programs for defining and regularly revising access and information literacy goals; and for helping students, faculty, administration, and staff to achieve them. Eventually, colleges and universities may only need to offer guidelines about the expected information literacy competencies of entering students, and to provide some modest remedial services for the few who require them.

[UPDATE  Not even close!   Still waiting!  
The "Digital Divide" and "Information Literacy" are still painfully important challenges in 2011, even as they elude precise definitions.  In 2000, I didn't do any better than anyone else anticipating the changing roles of the Internet, cell phones, and new mobile devices - especially the iPhone and iPod and their emerging competitors.  Nor did we foresee the possibilities of "social networking media" such as Facebook and Twitter and information gateways such as Google and Wikipedia.  


Unequal access persists as a painfully familiar increasingly important challenge.  
But in 2011 the most important UNANTICIPATED challenge is the overabundance of online information and tools available to those who DO have adequate access and the ability to evaluate and manage these resources.]

- 19th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Information Literacy - Incomplete but Good Progress - National Awareness Month Began Oct 2009 - 20th Anniversary of NFIL

"We can do it!" Rosie the Riveter poster

"National Forum on Information Literacy was founded in 1989 by ACRL Past President Patricia Breivik. In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the National Forum on Information Literacy, President Obama issued a proclamation declaring October 2009 as National Information Literacy Awareness Month. The proclamation states:

This month, we dedicate ourselves to increasing information literacy awareness so that all citizens understand its vital importance. An informed and educated citizenry is essential to the functioning of our modern democratic society, and I encourage educational and community institutions across the country to help Americans find and evaluate the information they seek, in all its forms.

- Above from National Information Literacy Awareness Month [ALA/ACRL]

"Information literacy, and all its associated critical thinking, communication, and technology competencies, is now widely recognized as a critical component of: 

• A democratic society

• A knowledge economy

• A 21st century workforce 

• Globalization 

• Lifelong learning 

"Instant information gratification combined with the glut of raw, unfiltered, non authoritative, biased, and questionable information readily available and mixed in with quality information, forces the information consumer to make intelligent choices. The vision and pioneering efforts of Patricia Senn Breivik moved the conversation about information literacy out of the realm of libraries and higher education and placed it firmly on the agendas of business and civic leaders. The National Forum on Information Literacy (NFIL) has been the vehicle for that public conversation, in the United States, and more recently, around the world. Congratulations and thank you to both NFIL and to Dr. Breivik for their leadership and dedication to, as it is called in the Alexandria Proclamation, “this basic human right.” 

- Above from Patricia Iannuzzi, Dean of Libraries, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, in NFIL Testimonials - Presentation Transcript  in the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the NFIL.

See also:

• President Barack Obama's Proclamation designating October 2009 as National Information Literacy Awareness Month  
• Wikipedia article about Information Literacy

Internet access spectrum: “People [A] never online [B] have dial-up or sporadic access [C] use broadband at home or work."

Internet Access?

 "Internet access is best understood as a spectrum, ranging from people who have never been online, to those who have dial-up or sporadic access, to those who have broadband at home and at work." 
Susannah Fox, "Americans living with disability and their technology profile," Digital Divide | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project: , Report Release Date Jan 21, 2011, accessed July 12, 2011 

"New digital divide [phone/email/broadband Internet usage]...but laptop ownership...about even for [whites/minorities]” 2010 Pew

Shallow wading... deeper reflective learning, teaching

What about access for EDUCATIONAL USES of "smart" mobile devices? iPads and its emerging competitors?  Does Internet access via small mobile devices encourage brief, shallow encounters? Induce habits contrary to effective learning and deeper understanding?  How can we use small mobile devices to engage deeply with online information? 

"Fifty-one percent of Hispanics and 46 percent of African Americans use their phones to access the Internet, compared with 33 percent of whites, according to a July 2010 Pew poll. Forty-seven percent of Latinos and 41 percent of African Americans use their phones for e-mail, compared with 30 percent of whites. The figures for using social media like Facebook via phone were 36 percent for Latinos, 33 percent for African Americans and 19 percent for whites.
"A greater percentage of whites than African Americans and Latinos still have broadband access at home, but laptop ownership is now about even for all these groups, after African American laptop ownership jumped from 34 percent in 2009 to 51 percent in 2010, according to Pew."
"New digital divide seen for minorities on Internet" by Jesse Washington, Associated Press, Sunday, February 13, 2011

“people with disabilities have only half the rate of Internet access of people without a disability”

"Surveys consistently report that people with disabilities have only half the rate of Internet access of people without a disability. Despite regular increases over time, people with disabilities have not caught up, and still face a significant digital divide."Despite the regular increases, both metro and non-metro people with disabilities have lower rates of Internet use than their geographic counterparts with no disability. However, non-metro people with disabilities have the lowest rate (26.7%)."

- from "Disability and the Digital Divide: Comparing Surveys with Disability Data" Center for Excellence in Disability Education, Research, And Service; Rural Institute, University of Montana , part of University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs)

"People living with disability are less likely than other adults to use the internet.

Susannah Fox, "Americans living with disability and their technology profile," Digital Divide | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project: , Report Release Date Jan 21, 2011, accessed July 12, 2011 

Adjuncts Become More Important [At least more widely used; but "get no respect"?]

"I get no respect"

#vwwt2000 PREDICTION #18 OF 20 from year 2000 
Adjuncts Become More Important

Adjunct faculty members, especially retirees from first careers, will continue to become a growing part of the teaching faculty at most colleges – both in classrooms and online. Support services for adjuncts will become more common and necessary. Part-time teaching may prove among the most attractive and self-respect-enhancing new retirement options.


See: Adjunct Faculty:  Conflicting Trends? More Part-Time Teachers vs. Delayed Retirements 1995-20??  

[UPDATE 2011:  STILL WAITING! 
I'm still waiting for the increases in support services for adjuncts commensurate with their numbers and the extent to which undergraduate programs rely on them.  I'm also still waiting for the "self-respect-enhancing new retirement options"! 

In year 2000, along with many others, I noticed the increasing role of part-time faculty in higher education instruction.  However, I did NOT anticipate the current economic recession and how it would press so many "senior" faculty members to delay their retirement and how that might change the balance of part-time and full-time teachers encountered by most undergraduate students.]

- 18th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Adjunct Faculty: Conflicting Trends? More Part-Time Teachers vs. Delayed Retirements 1995-20??

Adjunct Faculty - Roles, Support

"...we see clearly the greatest decline in the full-time tenure-track faculty and the most significant growth in the part-time faculty." [1995-2007] -  "One Faculty Serving All Students;  An Issue Brief," by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce, February, 2010  


 "almost a quarter of faculty members ages 50 to 70 who were saving for retirement expected to retire later than they had planned, with an average delay of three years."  Economy Slows Colleges' Ability to Hire and (Maybe) Retirements, Too By Kathryn Masterson July 25, 2010 - The Chronicle of Higher Education:


"Less Than 1/3 Higher Ed Teachers Full-Time Tenure-Track in 2007...
almost three-fifths of the teaching corps in higher education taught part-time in 2007—58.5% in all institutions (55.9% in four-year institutions)... full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members made up only 25.1% (27.5% in four-year institutions). 
Thus close to 75% of the instructional workforce was made up of non-tenure-track faculty members and graduate employees in 2007...
Furthermore, looking at the changes in these categories since 1995, we see clearly the greatest decline in the full-time tenure-track faculty and the most significant growth in the part-time faculty. 
Excluding graduate student TAs, in 2007 less than one-third of all faculty members—31.1%—were professors in full-time tenured or tenure-track positions, compared with 42.3% in 1995 ... In four-year institutions the figure is 36.7%, compared with 51.3% in 1995"

- Excerpts from "One Faculty Serving All Students;  An Issue Brief," by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce, February, 2010  

Academic Freedom Redefined? Who "owns the means of production" in education?

#vwwt2000 PREDICTION #17 OF 20 from year 2000

"Kali, Avatar of the eBook"

Who decides what is taught?  How and when?

PREDICTION 17:  Academic Freedom Redefined

As faculty and student roles shift and new educational resources are integrated, academic freedom and faculty leadership will remain highly valued; but they may be redefined. Many faculty members will embrace greater responsibility for identifying, selecting, and implementing pedagogical options – and supportive applications of technology.

Still likely?
In year 2000 I didn't anticipate the VARIETY and AVAILABILITY of information resources, information tools, and portable/mobile digital devices that would become irresistible to most students and many teachers by 2011.   Nor did I anticipate how such resources, tools, and devices could not be owned or controlled by any college or university.  Nor the continuing fluidity of "textbooks":  Who controls them?  How are they "published"? How are they used by students?
See Parody Alternatives to Traditional Textbooks, Courses, Degrees from Mental_Floss

- 17th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Facebook/Skype Accelerate Moore's Law? Doubling "content" yearly!

Moore's Law

"An average 4bn [4,000,000,000] items, from videos to news stories and recommendations, are shared on Facebook every day. The amount of content being shared has doubled since this time last year and, predicted Zuckerberg, will, double again by this time next year."  

VALUE RISING: Purposeful Combinations of Tech/Pedagogy/Content & HUMAN MOMENTS

Hands Touching; Technology for Sharing

 #vwwt2000 PREDICTION #16 OF 20 from year 2000

Better Understanding of Face-to-Face Communication and Other Teaching/Learning Options


NOTE:  Now, in 2011, I believe the last 4 of these 20 predictions - beginning with this one - have become even more important.  But they face tougher challenges today than I anticipated in 2000.  I am still hopeful.


Educators, corporate leaders, and many others (religious leaders? entertainers?) will learn to take greater advantage of the unique possibilities of face-to-face communications. They will do so in conjunction with the invention of new ways of combining applications of technology, pedagogical options, content, and purposes. They will discover the new power of matching all of these with the different capabilities and styles of individual learners, individual teachers, and groups of both. Hallowell's "human moments" [see Connect by Edward Hallowell] in which two human beings talk AND LISTEN to each other in the same place at the same time will be more highly valued and sought more intentionally and frequently.

- 16th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

More Speech, Recordings on the Web - Helpful, Hateful, Educational?

Spy Gear: CURRENT, PUBLIC, COMMERCIAL!

#vwwt2000 PREDICTION #15 OF 20 from year 2000

Human speech on the Web – recorded or delivered live -- will take a central role in many kinds of education. It will become easy for faculty members and students to add recordings of their own speech to text and other information media. Voice recognition software may dramatically alter human-computer interaction and all related communications/education activities; probably NOT by eliminating keyboards, but by adding another attractive mode for controlling technology and entering and editing text.
Still likely?


UPDATE
In year 2000 I didn't anticipate the VARIETY, AVAILABILITY, and CAPABILITIES of portable/mobile digital devices in 2011. Moore's Law in action!  
THE GOOD NEWS:  Unassisted non-techies can almost produce and publish their own audio and video recordings.  They can also ALMOST manage many devices and produce text using only their own voices.  And the continuing accuracy of Moore's Law promises easier, cheaper, faster, more accurate versions of these tools, with smart phones and iPads leading the way.
THE BAD NEWS:  No matter where you are, no matter what you're doing, someone might record and publish!  See "Sousveillance" "Brin’s corollary to Moore’s Law” Cameras vs. Authority/Privacy?
- 15th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

Student Technology Assistant Programs - FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions about Student Technology Assistant Programs

How do STAs save money?
STAs are trained to do many of the same functions that are done by full time technical staff. Because STAs receive a small percentage of the salary/benefits of full time permanent staff, the institution can expand services to meet IT support service demands.



How will STAs be managed?
The STA program is designed around the concept of self management. A professional staff person will use a multi-level student management model to create an integrated management process that gives students management experience and increases the availability of full time IT staff to do the more demanding assignments.



In what areas can STAs work?
In the model institutions, the STAs work in the following areas: Technical support for faculty, Campus Computer Labs, Classroom Support, Desktop Support, Help Desk, Network Services, Peer Training, Photo Services, Printing Services, Shortcourses, Technical Resources, Television Services, Visual Design Services, and Web Maintenance Services.



What kind of training do STAs receive?
An important aspect of the program is an ongoing mentoring model that enables students to work closely and learn from seasoned staff. In addition, ongoing formal training takes place throughout the year, and an intensive hands-on training program is held each summer that STAs are required to attend.



Does this mean that an institution can eliminate IT staff positions?
Eliminating full time staffing is not usual for organizations that have implemented STA Programs. While some have used funds from vacant positions to initially fund the program, the emphasis has been on using money more effectively to develop better IT support across the institution.


What advantages are there to the students?
The student advantages are plentiful: career preparation through real work experience, management experience, and enhanced information literacy (especially for the non IT majors); learning and growth as a result of their working with faculty and staff as IT peers; building of interpersonal skills; and being part of an active Learning Community.


Can students really step up to this level of self-management and service?
Interestingly this concern is one of the largest obstacles for this program to overcome. Since student turnover is constant and the level of responsibility high, this is an often asked question. The best answer is that all of the model STA institutions have succeeded beyond their expectations.

Student Technology Assistants - STA+ (Large) Programs