Phase II: Student Employee Training Objectives and Assessments

• Overview
• Objectives
• Assessments
• Reflections
• References

Student Employee Cross Training Overview

The media studio is a do-it-yourself production facility located in the main library of our small liberal arts college. We have 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 is open to the entire campus for academic and non-academic media production. I manage over two dozen student employees who are on staff the technology space and are on hand to people who come to the studio and need assistance. I work standard office hours, but the students work nearly all hours the library is open, including nights and weekends. I am developing asynchronous independently-paced training materials because it would be impossible to train them all face to face (too many scheduling conflicts). 

Student employees that work in the media studio are typically highly skilled in one area that we support (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 is important that each employee be able to provide a baseline of help in areas outside of their main expertise. It is 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 is designed to take 60-90 minutes. The student employees will complete one module a week for each of four weeks.The student employees can complete them independently at their own pace; it is 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 is 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 will track the training modules as they are completed week by week. Additionally, the last training module (web-training) tasks the student employees to create a mini-portfolio of the other three training modules. When it is all complete, I will be able to tell at a glance if a student has completed the training.

The goal is to have each student employee develop core competency in each of the four areas (Web, Sound, Video, & Graphic Design). This is a "train the trainer" model where by developing the skills of the student employees we hope to provide better support to the college community. Student employees that work in the library act 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 provide better service to the media studio patrons.

(back to the top)

 Student Employee Cross Training Objectives

(back to the top)

Media Studio Support and Knowledge Likert Scale

I will deploy two instances of this Likert Scale survey, one before the training, one after. Below is the pre-training survey. I will email the survey, but the google spreadsheet survey can also be deployed on a web page.

 (back to the top)

Media Studio Training Assessment Rubric

There are 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 reflects that the context is 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.

(back to the top)

Reflections

Institutions of higher learning obtain maximum benefit from student employees when the Library and Information Technology student employees receive 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. This year I am deliberately codifying and structuring the training. The experience is akin to the difference between a first and second year of teaching at a new school. The first year one is doing a great deal of "seat of the pants" piloting. Each day is devoted to putting one foot in front of the other. The second year one realizes that the work comes in cycles; some needs repeat and some materials can be used from one year to the next. Training is one repeating need.

Student employees in the library and in IT have a tremendous amount to learn. Additionally, any year one can expect turnover rates from 33% to 100% (Kathman& Kathman, 2000). I am fortunate that the media studio is a popular position and that those that rise in the ranks can garner one of the highest paying student jobs on campus. Our turnover rate is closer to 33%. Regardless of the rate, it is assured that training is going to be a perpetual task.

As I grow more comfortable with the skill sets required to help people that come to the studio, I also grow 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 represents a pathway that people often devote their whole lives to mastering. I can't expect myself or the student employees to become experts in web design, graphic design, sound AND video editing. It is unrealistic. However, I can provide structured training programs to ensure that they are able to assess the needs of media studio patrons and then to help the patrons get started. Each student employee belongs to a team that is led by the student employee leaders. This provides depth of expertise in one of the four areas. The cross-training program develops core competencies in each area. I am convinced that the training program is an excellent investment in time and energy and will result in a better experience media studio patrons and a rewarding experience for the media studio student employees.

(back to the top)

References

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.

(back to the top)