[701] in resnet
Re: Supervising student techs
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Kevin Davis)
Thu Jan 24 16:25:46 2002
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Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.4.33.0201241511030.16191-100000@is07.fas.harvard.edu>
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 16:10:53 -0500
Reply-To: Resnet Forum <RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu>
From: Kevin Davis <ksdavis@FAS.HARVARD.EDU>
To: RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu
In-Reply-To: <002601c1a4ee$58daa3a0$a8c48d89@webrp>
This has been a big focus of mine and of my manager's over the past couple
of years. With the help and examples of fellow ResNetters, we've hit upon
what seems to be a good combination of approaches that have worked well
for us here. The general philosophy is we use a mix of tracking,
supervision, and motivation.
Accountability: All requests for on-site appointments are logged in our
home-grown database, which has an appointment scheduler.
Our UAs enter appointment slots each week, and students can fill them (by
visiting or calling our Help Desk or talking to a UA) if they need on-site
help with their computer. The database makes it much easier for
supervisors to know who's doing what, and also _what_ the UA did on the
appointment.
In the case of our residential computer labs, UAs have to fill out a
Web-based checklist each time they check one of these labs. This
information is posted for both end users and staff to see. Finally,
logins into our help e-mail accounts are recorded by the system.
Our staff/UA knowledge base shows real-time information on dorm team
performance -- which dorms are up-to-date with all their tasks and which
ones are behind.
Supervision: We've divided our staff (which numbers 70 student employees)
into four teams, based on region. Each team has a student Team Leader;
all of the UAs in each team report to this Team Leader. The Team Leader
monitors the appointment database, e-mail databases, and other benchmarks,
both to make certain that things are getting done _and_ to make sure that
the work is of the high quality we expect.
Team Leaders meet with me individually once a week, and we jointly review
the performance of the UAs as a whole for the week. Typically they will
take care of 90% of all issues in their teams; if something persists, they
escalate it to me and the UA, the Team Leader and I meet together to go
over it. By holding the Team Leaders accountable for their staff, I find
that they do a very good job of supervising their UAs and catching
problems early.
The biggest thing I've found about student employees is that they want to
do a good job, and are usually capable of it, but that they occasionally
need some prodding to put the job in the front of their radar screen.
Students can be pretty poor at time management, and the biggest thing the
Team Leaders do for me is to keep UAs on target -- and then to alert me
when someone's really not performing.
Each UA receives a review at the end of the semester. I prepare these
reviews, based on the input of the Team Leaders and the full-time staff
who supervise our Help Desk and residential labs. The result is a pretty
accurate and _specific_ evaluation of strengths and weaknesses and areas
of needed improvement. Our UAs have typically responded very well to
fair, targeted feedback.
Motivation: In the end, though, the best methods for supervising and
managing student staff won't work if they're not happy and not interested
in working.
I expected the new workflow-monitoring and supervising processes we've
started in the past two years to be controversial, but they really haven't
been. I think a big reason for this is that we've made the job more
attractive in other ways. The two key words to remember are FUN and
FLEXIBLE. We keep it "fun" through things like keeping free food and
drinks around the office, providing space for UAs to hang out (to talk, do
homework, etc.), sponsoring basketball events and study breaks, etc. For
"flexibility," we give them wide latitude in changing around their Help
Desk schedule (through an online scheduling system) and allowing them to
take time off from their work during weeks when their classes are driving
them crazy.
Managing student employees is an art as well as a science. One great
resource for learning more is the ACM SIGUCCS fall User Services
conference, which always has some good sessions and BOFs on motivation,
training, and retention strategies. For ideas on structuring a
supervising program, you might also want to look at
www.rescomp.berkeley.edu -- I borrowed liberally from their staff
structure in designing our Team Leader program.
Good luck!
+-----------------------------------------
|Kevin Davis
|Coordinator of Residential Computing
|FAS Computer Services, Harvard University
|ksdavis@fas.harvard.edu * 617.496.6064
On Thu, 24 Jan 2002, Raphael Web wrote:
> Can anyone send me ideas on how to maintain quality control over the
> student staff, ie are they doing their jobs in the evening when the
> boss has gone home? Do you have night time shift supervisors? Are the
> techs under the direct supervision of the residence hall directors? I
> guess what I'm asking is how do you guys maintain student tech
> accountability to ensure that they are doing what they are supposed to
> be doing at night? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
>
>
>
> Raphael Web
>
> SUNY Oneonta
>
> webrp@oneonta.edu
>
>
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