e-LIS Support outreach program pilots in SEHS

The e-Learning and Instructional Support’s Support Services team is readily available by phone, email, chat and even in-person for any online learning questions that come up. Starting this month, the team is piloting an outreach program that puts them within the buildings of the college and schools to provide help, support and information to the faculty and staff members right where they are needed. 

"We’re residing in the school for a set amount of time to provide tech support and relevant presentations on topics that are of interest to the faculty in that school,” said Kate Huttenlocher, Assistant Manager for Support Services. 

Developing the outreach program

Through the pilot phase of the program, Huttenlocher, along with Manager of Support Services Dan Arnold, are in the School of Education and Human Services. They are spending time within Pawley Hall to address concerns and present useful information. One of the ways of introducing faculty to online tools is through mini-presentations.These 10-15 minute presentations are available to faculty in-person or virtually. With SEHS, Arnold and Huttenlocher are starting off with a mini presentation with Zoom security.

To come up with the mini presentation topics, the SEHS surveyed faculty and asked what they wanted to see, said Arnold. The team worked with Julie Chapie, Educational Technology Specialist, to set up the pilot and identify the needs of the faculty. This helps maintain the Support Services’ goal of keeping the outreach program faculty-driven and interest-driven. 

“I’ve created a survey that we’ll give to people at the end of each presentation so they can let us know what they are interested in hearing about,” said Huttenlocher. 

Meeting faculty where they are

“We too often rely on the faculty to come to us. The nature of our outreach program is that we’re going to them. We’re taking our show on the road. Whether they stop by for help or a consultation, we will be there,” said Arnold. 

By piloting the program in one school, the Support Services team has been able to work out kinks in the plan. For example, Arnold said they learned the times they thought would be most popular were not correct. Rather than being there during the day, the team realized the ideal time to serve the SEHS faculty and staff was in the evening--so they are modifying their hours to be there later in the day. 

“This is all part of how we want to support our faculty in the best way possible. For faculty in buildings further away, coming to the library in February to meet with us is probably not their favorite thing to do. By being in their buildings, we hope to eliminate some barriers between them and us,” said Arnold. 

Expanding outreach services

Besides offering the mini-presentations, the Support Services team can offer information on Moodle, video conferencing, online assessments, accessibility, and even design topics. 

“We are able to provide a lot of e-learning oriented content and we can speak to certain instructional design topics as well. If we can’t help in a certain area, we are able to point them in the best direction,” said Huttenlocher.

Over the next several months, the Support Services team hopes to connect with other areas to expand the outreach program. 

“Ideally, we would be in each school once per month or once every other week. We want to establish relationships and provide useful information, even if it’s just a quick rundown of updates to Moodle,” said Arnold. 

Anyone interested in bringing the outreach program to their area can contact Huttenlocher at [email protected] or Arnold at [email protected].