2. Before you even begin to hire
students, be sure to IDENTIFY NEEDS
Activities: Know what you want the student to
actually DO (just take phone calls, do office visits,
take over a remote desktop, alter items in a
course, facilitate workshops, etc.)
Funding: Identify your funding level. Can you hire
overlapping positions so trained students can help
new ones or do they come and go one at a time?
Skills: Do you need someone with language skills,
computer skills, telephone skills, interpersonal
communication skills—know what you actually
want the student’s skills and skill-level to be.
3. Managing the process of Hiring/
Repurposing/Firing
Wording and posting job advertisements
Review job applications
Use an interview rubric to make sure all points are
covered fairly
Identify a selection pool: where to draw
candidates from (computer science vs.
communications)
Match personality with tasks
Give a computer test
Give a stress test
Give a telephone test
4. Steps in training the students
to give support
Give listening lessons
Practice patience using case studies
Emphasize your department standards (how to
answer phone, dress code, timeliness, etc.)
Demonstrate how to prepare a work order
(telephone log, online or paper work orders, or any
kind of record your department uses.)
Let student shadow you or an experienced student
for a preset time span
5. Steps in training the students
to use Blackboard
Online tutorials
Give them a course to design
Give them real-world tasks to perform
Give them e-mail queries (then compare your
answer with theirs)
Practice phone calls (there really is a difference
between asking questions in person and on the
phone.)
Have the student write a handout on a particular
tool for a training session
Keep an “I didn’t know that” log
6. Monitoring students’
effectiveness
Keep written record of all support calls
Hold regular student staff meetings
Let them sit at your desk for a while with you
present to just listen
Random queries to faculty or students who
received support
Random test calls as a “fake” person needing
support
Self-evaluation: ask the student assistant for
feedback on his performance
Give LOTS OF PRAISE!
