Services

You helped us help you

George Payne About Us, Curricular Technology, Digital Storytelling, Excel, Projects, Services, Workshops

This past Tuesday from 12-2 the DLC had a table set up on Samson Patio, accompanied by a mobile white board. We were staging an event to assess the needs of the student body in the final weeks of the Spring Semester. We wrote on the board:

Come have your needs assessed!

How can the DLC help you succeed in the last 4 weeks of the semester?

I need to be able to:

Use   |    Make   |   Manage

And at least 25 of you all gave us your detailed opinions about how we could help you to succeed in the last 4 weeks of class. This is what we learned:

  1. Some students demanded that we offer training on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Staff Management software, like Salesforce, Asana, and Basecamp.
  2. Some students are tired of playing the role of technical support to teachers who struggle to use the iLearn platform, and GA positions are springing up to address those needs, but the DLC is assumed to be at fault for that.
  3. Excel training in workshop format will remain in high demand every semester.
  4. Making websites (in e-portfolio/blog format especially), infographics, and digital storytelling methods are coming in increasingly high demand.
  5. Some students love being supported by the DLC in full-class format because they want to be able to learn beside their classmates in DLC workshops.
  6. TLM students continue to request that we teach them how to build apps.
  7. Many of you don’t feel comfortable navigating Apple computers
  8. Some students are under the impression that we in the DLC assume going to Lynda solves problems, but many of you find it intimidating to teach yourselves in that way.

So what are we going to do about it? Some of you will receive a direct email in response to our assessment. Some of you will be best addressed in group format, so keep a look out for a group email. And other needs may take a few more days of prep to be addressed appropriately. We may organize a workshop or two, but we need to have another team meeting on Wednesday first.

More updates coming soon

DLC Data Fall 2014

Yuwei Xie Blog, Presentations, Projects, Services

J term is a time for reflection, evaluation and planning in the DLC. As a graduate assistant, I was tasked with compiling the statistics on DLC usage during Fall 2014, collected through three online booking systems. The data focuses on three service areas that the DLC provides: individual consulting sessions, digital recording booths as well as the community Design Space.

Through the online appointment system, users can select a time/day, a service, and a graduate assistant or staff member to work with. We offer four general service areas: Audio and Video Help, Blogging and Web Tools, Instructional Technology, as well as Presentation and Graphic Design. There is also an “other” category if the topic doesn’t fall under one of the pre-established categories. The data from the online appointment system shows that during the fall semester, we served a total of 93 unique users, who booked 232 appointments through the online reservation system. We logged a total of 116 hours of consulting sessions. In terms of the popularity of topics, Blogging and Web Tools was the most popular category as 59% of the consulting sessions were on this topic. Audio and Video Help came in second, with 26% of the total sessions. 8% of the sessions focused on Presentation and Graphic Design. Instructional Technology represented 3% of the documented appointments, however, this statistic does not reflect appointments booked outside of the system. 4% of the sessions were on other topics. In terms of frequency of appointments throughout the semester, October was our busiest month, with a total of 78 appointments. While we were ramping up in September when the online booking system was first introduced, we logged 33 appointments. In November and December, we logged 64 and 57 appointments respectively.

We have two recording booths, which can also be reserved through an online booking system. The data shows that during last semester, 50 unique users booked a total of 176 recording sessions which lasted about 300 hours. A closer look at the schedule reveals that as the semester progressed, the booking steadily grew, culminating in the most appointments in December, which accounted for 40% of the total sessions. Based on our observation, recording booths were used primarily as a quiet space for Skype and phone calls, Adobe Connect sessions, recording voiceovers for Podcasts, Camtasia screen capture projects, and video editing.

The Design Space has proven to be a popular choice for hosting events and classes on campus. During Fall 2014, we hosted a total of 59 unique gatherings which included 8 graduate courses, 27 events, 17 meetings and 4 workshops. Among the 59 gatherings, 18 were recurring. Recurring classes were the norm, as 7 out of 8 classes were scheduled multiple times during the semester. Among the 27 community events, there were receptions, potlucks, movie nights, morning yoga, weekly dance club, blood drives, presentations, guest speaker sessions, etc. This diversity of events demonstrates that the DLC continued to be a campus event hub while the Holland Center was being renovated . The 17 meetings were mainly class discussions or club meetings. The majority of the 4 workshops were sponsored by the DLC, with a focus on popular topics such as WordPress and screen capture. The space was also used for other purposes such as video filming.

Below is the infographic representation of the statistics, made using Piktochart. Infographic stands for the graphic representation of information or data. Piktochart is a website that allows users to easily create an infographic chart through using the existing templates or creating their own. Piktochart is very user friendly with its drag-and-drop feature. Once the chart has been created, it can be either downloaded as a static image or pdf file or viewed online which shows the interactive features.  To view the online version, click on this link:
https://magic.piktochart.com/output/4066290-dlc-data

DLC data (1)

 

 

New Appointment System at the DLC!

Fall 2014 Services, MIIS Update, Services, TW@M

appointment-booking-screenshotWe have a new appointment system for booking one-on-one appointments with any of our team members in the Digital Learning Commons.

It’s a very straight-forward 4-step system, intended to make the appointment booking process smoother and easier for everyone.

See below for more details on how it works.

Click here to try it out and book an appointment with someone on our friendly team!

Step 1: Service

First, you pick the category that best matches your need. The five categories are:

  1. Audio & Video
  2. Instructional Technology
  3. Presentation & Graphic Design
  4. Blogging & Web Tools
  5. Other

Note: If you choose the “Other” category, you are not guaranteed an appointment time. We will need to follow up with you to clarify your request and guide you to the person who can best help you.

Step 2: Employee

Second, you choose the team member you want to work with. Each team member has slightly different areas of expertise and software knowledge, so pay attention to their description, if you want to work with specific software.

Note: If you want to schedule an appointment with a full-time staff member—Bob Cole, Evelyn Helminen, or Melissa Jennings, and cannot find availability using this system, you can email them directly to set up a custom appointment.

Step 3: Time

Third, you pick a time for your appointment. The availability calendar will change, depending on which team member you chose to work with. If you cannot find a suitable time, you may have to go back a step and try to book with someone else. If you would like to schedule more than 30 minutes, you can book two appointments back-to-back.

Step 4: Details

Finally, you fill out your name and email address, and explain as much as you can about what kind of help you need. This will help us prepare to assist you as much as possible. After booking, you will receive an email confirmation with the details of your appointment. Your confirmation email will also contain a link to cancel your appointment, should you need to do so. A team member will follow up with you if they need to clarify any details of your appointment. Otherwise, just show up at the DLC at your scheduled time!

Click here to try out our new system and book an appointment!