1. Supporting the Newest New Technologies on Campus Thomas A. Warger, Interim Director of Educational Technology Services twarger@smith.edu

2. Smith College at NERCOMP 20062 Copyright statement Copyright Thomas A. Warger 2006. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

3. Smith College at NERCOMP 20063 Smith at a glance Students: 2,750 (undergraduate) Faculty: 285 ITS staff: 47 (http://www.smith.edu/its/about_its/org_chart.html) ETS staff: 14 (counted in the 47) Student workers: 60 Classrooms with media: 60 About 50/50 Mac to Windows ratio

4. Smith College at NERCOMP 20064 The problem to be solved After years of minimal growth, interest in digital media, technologies, and devices has increased strongly. New hardware and software are redrawing the technology- support picture on campus, a development that was unplanned and unanticipated (despite ample news from press and professional sources). Changes are urgently needed in facilities, equipment, infrastructure, services, and staff skills in order to support the new expectations.

5. Smith College at NERCOMP 20065 Drivers: curriculum Digital video production courses over-enrolled Various courses added podcasting as student activity New course in digital still photography Web-cam distance connections Video recording in science labs In-classroom media use in general

6. Smith College at NERCOMP 20066 Responses: curriculum ETS staff skills development: blog, RSS, server management for streaming and download New and additional equipment New help topics and information –See: http://www.smith.edu/its/tls/documentation.htm Staff co-teaching (and some conflict…) Faculty interview project

7. Smith College at NERCOMP 20067 Drivers: student interest All those student-owned devices The “second curriculum” Course-specific additions Social interest (vblog) –See: http://www.drewdrawn.blogspot.com/http://www.drewdrawn.blogspot.com/ High interest; sketchy knowledge

8. Smith College at NERCOMP 20068 Reponses: student interest Open sessions for training developed for course support (“Acting for the Camera”) Reaching out to student TV club, media- skilled students and alumnae Storage Area Network (SAN) Apple certification courses (FinalCut Pro)

9. Smith College at NERCOMP 20069 Drivers: College events More events asking for a/v services Higher standards – recordings destined for distribution Higher ambitions: presenters with shaky grasp of PowerPoint Mini-conferences: not just one event

10. Smith College at NERCOMP 200610 Responses: College events Alternate staffing: outsource, ETS students, other students Increased training for ETS student staff; creation of videographer positions More attention to quality control for events not covered by ETS staff Equipment more amenable to self-service

11. Smith College at NERCOMP 200611 User Services Center New skills for staff New approaches to supply of basic information –Development of vodcast capability (converting flash animations into QuickTime movies) More cross-over with ETS staff and skills

12. Smith College at NERCOMP 200612 Lessons learned Need to be better observers Need to be agile Technology uptake is faster now than ever Find how to use the new technologies in support work There is a gap between institutional plans and student-driven reality in technology infrastructure and skills

13. Smith College at NERCOMP 200613 What’s next? Look at other active technologies: IM, text messaging Ways to enable and encourage peer support (not news to institutions with small IT staffs) Try to close the gap between students (plus other innovators) and institutional IT

14. Smith College at NERCOMP 200614 Some things to see Smith ETS online training and tutorials: www.smith.edu/its/mservices/training.htm www.smith.edu/its/mservices/training.htm Smith USC TechNotes: www.smith.edu/its/technotes www.smith.edu/its/technotes Vimeo (site hosting student vblogs): www.vimeo.com www.vimeo.com ArtMobs (podcasting project in NYC): mod.blogs.com/art_mobs