May 8, 2014
Hello Readers!
I can’t believe this is it.My last post as a TLT Intern. This semester has just flown by… I am a little sad that its coming to end, but I’m also excited for what’s to come! This week, I finally presented with my partner Jeff. We went last, but I could feel my nerves growing as I listened to the other two groups.
Eugenie and Jessica went first and presented on Teaching Learning Lab. I was really impressed with all their services because I mainly thought of them as just the poster printing people. But the TLL Media Lab Coordinator, Paul St. Dennis really wants us to focus on how they are an innovated lab devoted to researching and testing new technology products for educational use of students and faculty in Stony Brook University. One of their projects include a web-site based simulation to teach students taking a bio lab on how to handle and use a pipette. As a science major and a survivor of BIO204, I think that this project will definitely help out students taking a bio lab course or thinking of getting into research.
Next, Kevin and Yun Shi gave a presentation on Client Support. I have only been to Client Support once since I started Stony Brook. I suppose that is a good thing, but Client Support provides students and faculty assistance on IT-related issues. One thing I thought that was really interesting was the way they conduct their services. They have reception, a help desk and a work bench. Reception greets student and faculty and can give them short-term informational advice. Help desk is similar to TLT Help Desk, where they answer emails and phone calls. Work Bench handles the drop-off computers to give a more thorough inspection.
Overall, it has been a privilege to be a part of this Internship. Look back to when I first started working at TLT, I think I have come a long way. I only knew a couple of people when I first started and I felt shy when dealing with both users and my coworkers. This internship has given me a chance to come out my shell and taught me to be more confident in who I am and my abilities. Although it was tough semester and kept me up a lot of nights, I have learned more about myself, about costumer service, and surprisingly about IT and computers. I am so thankful for all my fellow interns and mentors for believing in me. I couldn’t have asked for a better semester and its all thanks to this internship. My TLT Internship journey may be coming to and end, but the experiences and memories will last forever.
May 5, 2015
Hello Readers!
The past week was super hectic and somewhat chaotic, but I had a lot of fun. To sum it up, I am severely sleep deprived. With Roth Regatta on Friday and PUSOfest on Sunday, I spent most of my nights either making a boat or drilling the set/choreography over and over again. Although I was really tired, I had an amazing time with my coworkers. I think that the more time and effort you put into something, the greater your reward. In terms of Roth Regatta, I was able to gain/deepen friendships with pretty awesome people and creating a boat out of just cardboard and duct tape was a bonus!
With only two weeks of shadowing left, Victoria and Jim let me be acting senior consultant. I started by taking attendance like I usually start off my shadowing hour and delegated tasks to the consultants working in Main. I also answered the phone directed towards Main and helped any user that came up to the front desk seeking assistance.
I was also charged with answering the phone, chat, and email during my help desk shadowing hours. When it was quiet, Jen and I looked over my Google Site for the Final Presentation, and went over the closing procedures for NRR2.
Regarding the Final Presentation, my partner, Jeff, and I meet up to make some final edits to our Google Site and documentation. We also practiced what our material and critiqued each other on our presentation skills. I think that after this meeting, I become a little bit more confident with our presentation. I know that with more practice, we will do well. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see till our next and final class!
April 24, 2015
Hello Readers!
I cannot believe that there is only two weeks of school left and that I’m almost done with the internship. This week was the first round of presentations.
The first group was Glen and Frank, presenting on DoIT. For the first group to present, I think they set the standard pretty high and their presentation showcased not only their presenting skills but everything about DoIT in a manner everyone could understand. They were very detailed and explained everything thoroughly even though there was a lot of information related to DoIT, such as all the branches of DoIT and what they offer.
Next, David and Ally gave a presentation on Audio Visual Services. The most I knew about AVS before their presentation was that they were people contacted when my professors had trouble with the classroom equipment. I learned that students (with permission from faculty or staff) are allowed to loan out equipment such as video recorders, audio players, microphones, etc. But AVS plays a bigger role than just lending out equipment. AVS provides a one-call costumer service as well as troubleshooting over the phone for faculty having problems with integrating technology in their lessons.
Lulu and Stanley were next to present and they talked about TLT Instructional Technology. Jennifer Adams is the Education Technologist in charge of what she would call “odd ball technology”. To some, this means all the “fun and cool” gadgets available or in the works for students and instructors. Some of these services include clickers, Echo360, and Voice Thread, Jennifer Adams is also the chair/license holder/ organizer of TEDXSBU. She considers this her biggest accomplishment because it builds community within Stony Brook.
Lastly, Matya and Jonathan present on the Faculty Center. I pass the Faculty Center practically every day on my way out of the Main SINC Site and I’ve been inside there once for a brief period of time, but I didn’t really know what they did. Jonathan and Matya explained that the Faculty Center collaborates with faculty and staff in hopes of helping them create a more engaging and practical classroom experience. The Faculty Center is also involved with course related services, OP Scan and Course Evaluations.
Overall, everyone did an amazing job and I learned a lot more about DoIT and the different departments under DoIT.
My shadowing hours mainly consisted of acting senior con and role playing situations that I could potentially face. I also learned more about Adobe Acrobat X Pro while helping Jim create an editable form like the Out of Order Sign.
April 18, 2015
Hello Readers!
We had our very last internship class, before final presentations commenced, at the Educational Communications Center (ECC) building. Honestly, I felt completely out of my comfort zone during this walking tour because there was a lot of new information that I didn’t really know about. But what I did retain from this tour, was that we had to be very careful and attentive of where we walked because the ECC building houses important data and servers, and one wrong move could shut down power in one quad, or maybe even, the whole campus. This building is very secure as everyone staffed there must have an ID to gain access and there are cameras located throughout the building supervised by the University Police. Also, we were told to not share the pictures and videos we took with anyone outside our group. Although I didn’t understand much, it was really interesting to see the behind-the-scenes of how the campus network is controlled and maintained.
As for shadowing with my help desk mentors, I mostly worked on my e-Portfolio and Google Site, and updated it based on their critiques. Erika subbed for Jen and we talked a little about how I feel about assuming the role of Senior Con soon. I told her that overall I feel pretty confident, but sometimes when I over think to much, I can flustered. Erika reassured me that with time and experience, I will progressively improve on how to help users.
Shadowing Jim was interesting this week as he took me on a one-on-one walking tour of his SINC Site (Chemistry). He explained the responsibilities of being the Chemistry site manager, including maintaining all three rooms related to the Chemistry SINC Site, the specific procedure of when hood alarm goes off, and making sure the projector is functioning.
April 10, 2015
Hello Readers!
It was yet another interesting internship class. This Friday, everyone met in Frey Hall at the Testing Center. To be honest, I had no idea this place existed. But I guess to be fair, the Testing Center is fairly new and hasn’t been in operation for very long. The Testing Center is meant to provide a place for students to take an online exam for a class. However, the goal is for the center to expand and be used as a testing location for the MCAT, LSAT, and DAT. It will also be used for Stony Brook’s placement exams for incoming students. We also visited the CoLAs on the second floor and discussed whether it should have a different name because it is different that the CoLAs in the North Reading Room. I think Frey Hall has great potential to become a place where students and professors integrate technology into their class.
Jen came back this week for my shadowing hour with her on Monday. She went over workshops: the difference between public and consultant only, the process of making our workshop in terms of choosing one, scheduling them and creating our documentation. She also looked at my “How to Login to…” documentation and my Google Site for the final presentation. I hope to have the Google Site done by our next shadowing hour so she can critique it. During my site manager shadowing hours, I listened to Victoria, Aram and Celia (subbing in for Jim) and how they schedule for their SINC Site. Celia gave tasked me with creating a schedule for her SINC Site this semester. I found it pretty difficult and I’m still not sure how I would approach it if I were to become a site manager and had to do the scheduling.
This week, I also attended the SINC 102 workshop. Most of the interns were there and we were somewhat split up into different groups. Honestly, I could tell that all our shadowing hours paid off because the interns basically knew all the answers. It also made me realize that senior consultants actually do know more than a regular consultant.
April 4, 2015
Hello Readers!
I feel like it’s been awhile since we had our Friday internship class. We had another walking tour of the ESS SINC Site, Physics, and lastly Harriman. I have never been to ESS and Physics before this tour. I actually had class right next to ESS and I had no idea it was right next door. Rose explained to us that ESS is not opened for public use, but mainly used for academic classes, just like the Computer Science SINC Site. As for Physics, I was surprised of its location! I have walked past that room plenty of times before but didn’t realize it was a SINC Site. Personally, I like that not a lot of people know about it because its the place I’ve been going to for quiet study! Same for the Harriman SINC Site; not a lot of people stop by there and it provides a silent study place for people to go to.
Our internship class also included a short workshop lead by three current senior consultants. Steven gave a overview of our Sparky account and how we can start our Sparky Webspace. Celia helped us create our own webpage using HTML and Victoria taught us another way of creating our webpage using Adobe Dreamweaver.
This was a really interesting class and I learned something completely new. I never expected that I would learn how to make my own webpage.
My shadowing hours with all my mentors were pretty low key this week. Ming subbed for Jen on Monday. Ming just reviewed/quizzed me on what I learned so far and I liked hearing her take on how she does things because it gives me ideas on how I would handle certain situations. She also let me answer an email about CoLA reservations. Victoria and Aram talked to me about phone and email etiquette. They let me practice making and transferring phone calls. Jim went over the opening and closing procedures as we walked around the SINC Site. He also showed me how to retrieve temporary files from Internet Explorer.
March 28, 2015
Hello Readers!
There was no internship class again this week because it was another correction day.
During my hour with Jen, she gave me a quiz similar to the Level One Test all the interns had to take when applying for the internship. In fact, some of the questions were the same and I was glad that I got to clarify some answers I wasn’t too sure about. Hopefully, I will do better when we have to take the test again.
Usually, I shadow Danny right after Jen, but I decided to change things up. Now, I shadow Medha on Thursdays from 3PM-4PM. I was hoping that I would gain more experience with helping users rather than Jen and Danny creating hypothetical situations. I actually had the chance to answer the phone twice and she had me create their respective footprints myself.
During my two hours of site manager shadowing, Victoria quickly quizzed me on my knowledge of FootPrint and VSS. Jim also helped me get my Lotus Notes account up and I have access to it through my USB! Now I can explore it more to have a better understanding of how it works.
March 22, 2015
Hello Readers!
This week was Spring Break, so there was no class and no shadowing!
March 15, 2015
Hello Readers!
Spring Break is finally here!!!!!
I think because the internship class was the last one before my break started, I was a bit distracted and anxious for it to end. I did find it very informative though! First, I just wanted to commend the presenters for being engaging and making the workshop interactive. I vaguely remember learning about all the databases, but I only used the MEDLINE for my science classes. It was interesting to explore other ones like the engineering database. Overall, I liked that the workshop was somewhat tailored to the people in our class because it reminded me that, although we are interns learning how to better serve Stony Brook, we are also students that have a lot to discover what Stony Brook has to offer us.
Jen talked about the workshops that help desk senior consultants hold and some additional ones that they assist with, which got me thinking about what workshop I would want to give. I’m not entirely sure, but I have awhile to figure that out.
Aram went over some of the hot keys/shortcuts we can use on both the Mac and PC. The major difference between the two would be using Ctrl on the PC and Command on the Mac. He also talked about the differences between the WiFi Networks and how they can be used for different purposes. For example, WolfieNet-Get-Connected can be used to indirectly connect to WolfieNet-Secure. Celia subbed for Jim and we covered the procedures for opening, closing, and a fire alarm.
March 8, 2015
No internship class was held this week due to correction day.
Site manager shadowing with Victoria and Jim mainly consisted of going over the TLT Blackboard page and all its content, including the Senior Consultant folder. There is so much information that it was a bit overwhelming and I know that I will need to look at everything again in my own time. Victoria also went over Sparky: what it is, how a student can create their account, and how to access it on the computer. Jim very briefly told me about Lotus Notes and helped me create my account on the Students Account Terminal.
In help desk shadowing, I finally helped with a chat and email. Jen had me figure out what I would do when faced with each problem before telling me what she would do and how she would approach it. Jen also let me create the Footprint for both to help me gain more experience with working the senior consultant version. Danny helped me get started with creating a Google Site for my final presentation.
This week was full of first’s. Creating my Lotus Notes account, creating my Google Site, and helping out with a chat and email. I hope that more chats, emails, and maybe even a phone call will come in. I feel that with Help Desk, the best way to learn is to have hands on experience, rather than Jen and Danny just going over potential problems. Let’s see what next week holds for me!
