Phase II: Student Employee Training Objectives and Assessments
The media studio was a do-it-yourself production facility located in the main library of our small liberal arts college. We had a dozen high-end workstations and the software and the expertise to support video editing, sound editing, graphic design and web design. The media studio was open to the entire campus for academic and non-academic media production. I managed over two dozen student employees who were staffed the technology space and were on hand to people who came to the studio and needed assistance. I worked standard office hours, but the students worked nearly all hours the library was open, including nights and weekends. I developed asynchronous independently-paced training materials because it would be impossible to train them all face to face (too many scheduling conflicts).
Student employees that worked in the media studio were typically highly skilled in one area that we supported (video editing, sound editing, graphic design or web design), but less strong in the other areas. Last year I observed that some of the seniors were extremely skilled in one silo but unable to provide basic help in another (i.e. a sound expert not able to help someone get started editing their video project). It was important that each employee be able to provide a baseline of help in areas outside of their main expertise. It was also important to provide structured training opportunities to develop the student employee community (Larsen, 2008). This year I have developed a series of training modules designed to develop core skills in each of the four areas and to strengthen the student employee community as a whole.
Each of the four training modules was designed to take 60-90 minutes. The student employees completed every one or two weeks over the course of six weeks.The student employees completed them independently at their own pace; it was important that the training not take a large amount of time (Kathman & Kathman, 2000). Student employees are students first and employees second (Larsen, 2008). It was important that the training not swamp their academic work. I have designed the pace and content of the training modules with this in mind. I tracked the training modules as they were completed week by week. Additionally, the last training module (web-training) tasked the student employees to create a mini-portfolio of the other three training modules. When it was complete, I could tell at a glance if the students had completed the training.
The goal was to have each student employee develop core competency in each of the four areas (Web, Sound, Video, & Graphic Design). This was a "train the trainer" model where by developing the skills of the student employees I hoped to provide better support to the college community. Student employees that worked in the library acted as ambassors for the library (Kathman & Kathman, 2000). Kathman and Kathman conclude, "The investment in student employee training determines the effectiveness of services offered to patrons and the image of the library projected to both patrons and campus guests." By investing training time and energy in the student employees we provided better service to the media studio patrons.
| Outcome | Objective Statement | Assessment Measurement |
| Increased ability to assess and support audio, video, web and graphic design needs for patrons of the media studio | 90% of media studio student employees will demonstrate increased confidence in media needs assessment, and in Audacity, Illustrator, FCP and HTML knowledge. | Likert Scale |
| Basic knowledge about Audacity, Final Cut Pro, Illustrator, and HTML. | 80% of media student employees will demonstrate proficiency in Audacity, Illustrator, Final Cut Pro, and HTML by scoring 8/12 or higher on the training assessment rubric. | Rubric |
I deployed two instances of this Likert Scale survey, one before the training, one after. Below is the pre-training survey. I emailed the survey to everyone, but when necessary, I loaded the form on a web page and parked a lap top in front of the employees in order to collect the data, which happened towards the end.
There were four tutorials, each of which will receive a score of 0, 1, 2 or 3.
The worst possible score is a 0, the best possible score is a 12.
The lack of gradation in this rubric reflected that the context was training, not academic performance.
If this were for academic use, I would have used four different rubrics, one for each tutorial. As a manager, I am most interested in their completion of the training, not their depth of mastery of the subject matter.
| Unsatisfactory | Below Target | Target | Above Target | |
|
Module |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|
Sound Design Training
|
-not started -not shared -no email or verbal communication |
-sound editing tutorial started, but incomplete -shared the .wav file, not the .mp3 -email or verbal communication of partial completion -used some but not all of the target tools in the tutorial
|
-sound tutorial completed -shared the .mp3 file -email or verbal communication of completion -used all of the target tools in the tutorial
|
-sound tutorial completed -used creativity in completing the tutorial activity -shared the .mp3 file -email or verbal communication of completion -demonstrated superior knowledge of the Audacity tool set and/or sound design
|
|
Graphic Design Training |
-not started -not shared -no email or verbal communication |
-graphic design tutorial started, but incomplete -shared the Illustrator file, not a .jpg or .pdf -email or verbal communication of partial completion -used some but not all of the target tools in the tutorial |
-graphic design tutorial completed -shared a .pdf or .jpg -email or verbal communication of completion -used all of the target tools in the tutorial |
-graphic design tutorial completed -used creativity in completing the tutorial activity -shared a .pdf or .jpg -email or verbal communication of completion -demonstrated superior knowledge of the Illustrator tool set and/or graphic design |
|
Video Training |
-not started -not shared -no email or verbal communication |
-video tutorial started, but incomplete -shared the FCP file, not a compressed .mov file -email or verbal communication of partial completion -used some but not all of the target tools in the tutorial |
-video tutorial completed -shared a compressed .mov file -email or verbal communication of completion -used all of the target tools in the tutorial |
-video tutorial completed -used creativity in completing the tutorial activity -shared a compressed .mov file -email or verbal communication of completion -demonstrated superior knowledge of the FCP tool set and/or video editing skills |
| Web Training |
-not started -not shared -Getweb account not activated -no email or verbal communication |
-web tutorial started, but incomplete -getweb activated -HTML template editing started but not finished -html file not uploaded to their student web directory -all links broken |
-web tutorial completed -Getweb account activated -HTML template edited and uploaded to their student web directory -only one or two broken links -link sent to the manager in email -used all of the target tools in the tutorial |
-web tutorial completed -used creativity in completing the tutorial activity -link sent to the manager in email -demonstrated superior knowledge of web design |
Institutions of higher learning obtained maximum benefit from student employees when the Library and Information Technology student employees received training and opportunities for professional development (Larsen, 2005). Last year I was new to the position of student employee manager. I was perhaps overly content to rely on the student team leaders. In my second year, I deliberately codified and structured the training. The experience was akin to the difference between a first and second year of teaching at a new school. The first year I was doing a great deal of "seat of the pants" piloting. Each day was devoted to putting one foot in front of the other. The second year I realized that the work came in cycles; some needs repeated and some materials could be reused. Training was one repeating need.
Student employees in the library and in IT had a tremendous amount to learn. Additionally, any year one can expect turnover rates from 33% to 100% (Kathman& Kathman, 2000). I was fortunate that the media studio was a popular position and that those that rose in the ranks could attain one of the highest paying student jobs on campus. Our turnover rate was closer to 33%. Regardless of the rate, it was assured that training was going to be a perpetual task.
As I grew more comfortable with the skill sets required to help people that came to the studio, I also grew more confident in my ability lead and train the student employees. One of the challenges, both to me and to the student employees, is that each of the four areas represented a pathway that people often devoted their whole lives to mastering. I couldn't expect myself or the student employees to become experts in web design, graphic design, sound AND video editing. It was unrealistic. However, I could provide structured training programs to ensure that they were able to assess the needs of media studio patrons and then to help the patrons get started. Each student employee belonged to a team that was led by the student employee leaders. This provided depth of expertise in one of the four areas. The cross-training program developed core competencies in each area. When I began, I was convinced that the training program was an excellent investment in time and energy and would result in a better experience for media studio patrons and a rewarding experience for the media studio student employees.
Kathman, J., & Kathman, M. (2000, May). Training Student Employees for Quality Service. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 26(3), 176. Retrieved October 8, 2008, from Education Research Complete database.
Larsen, L. (2005, September). Building a Community of Student Employees. EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 28(3), 55-58. Retrieved October 8, 2008, from Education Research Complete database.