Online courseware inspires it student consultants & IT staff

To provide consistent and in-depth training to The University of Montana's IT Central student help desk and to the Student Technology Assistants Program (STAP), we successfully implemented an on-line training program. UM has a population of over 16,000 students, faculty and staff. IT Central and STAP support the software computing needs of students and the desktop/software needs of departmental faculty and staff. While the student consultants have a diverse set of skills and knowledge, they need to provide consistent customer service for the software and systems we support. Since funding at our small university doesn't allow for staff to provide training to students on a regular basis each semester, we began researching online courseware options. We chose SkillSoft; the response has been enthusiastic. Using their curriculum, we designed a training program whereby student consultants progress from basic to advanced classes. Each consultant is responsible for completing a specific number of courses per semester, ranging from desktop support to network troubleshooting. At the end of each semester, they may be eligible for a raise based on their coursework completion and actual hours worked. When they complete several semesters of courseware, they are then prepared to take the Microsoft Desktop Certification Exam if they desire. Our primary goal is to improve customer service among our student consultants. Secondly, SkillSoft programs are also being utilized by IT staff and UM's Library and Residence Life technology assistants. In addition, we are pleased that there is significant interest in offering SkillSoft to other campus department personnel.