Student technology consultants: they're not lab monitors anymore

Since the advent of public access computing labs, Colleges and Universities have been employing students as "lab monitors". As access to and knowledge about technology and its' viable use in teaching, learning and research, Hamilton realized a need to provide a higher level of service and support to our users in our public labs. By adapting the Student Technology Consultant (STC) model from William Paterson University, Hamilton's STC program provides the Campus with four core public support initiatives; General Lab Support, Multimedia Support, Technology Enhanced Classroom Support & Maintenance and Event & Presentation Support.

Before the start of the each academic year, all STCs are required to attend an intense weeklong training program, which includes basic job responsibilities, hardware & software maintenance, operating system differences, customer service, lectern training and standard software packages, including the use of multimedia applications for a variety of purposes. The main focus is on the creation of a "digital portfolio" using tools available to them in our Multimedia Presentation Center. This portfolio exhibits their competency in shooting digital video, editing and compression, scanning and manipulating graphics, and integrating media into various web formats, thus enabling them to provide the Hamilton Community with a higher level of public lab support then ever before.