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Whether instructors need to learn how to send e-mails, use digital video, or create a PowerPoint presentation, TEC-e is there to help. TEC-e, the Technology Enrichment cohort, provides one-on-one, customized instruction for faculty and staff. Zeni Colorado, program supervisor for TEC-e, said, "The need was great…they now have somebody they can call if they need help."
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"Have a taste for technology? Then, grab a BYTE!"
That's the question TEC-e, the Technology Enrichment cohort, asks of all School of Education faculty and staff. Instructors now have somewhere to turn when their e-mail crashes, when they want to use a PowerPoint presentation in class but don't know how, or even when they want to know how to use digital video. TEC-e is there to assist them with any technology issue by providing one-on-one, customized instruction.
"We want them to buy into technology, [to] start learning to use it in whatever context so that it spills into their professional lives, into working it into the courses," said Zeni Colorado, program supervisor for the Faculty and Staff Technology Enrichment Program cohort. Zeni takes requests from faculty and staff and then decides which of six student workers would best be able to fulfill the request. Faculty and staff may submit their requests through the TEC-e web site, through e-mail, or through paper "menus" placed on faculty and staff office doorknobs. These menus, which are "serving up technology with ease," invite faculty to choose from a variety of entrées such as mediated classroom instruction or digital video editing. The menus also offer ala carte items such as assistance with scanning, Microsoft Word, the Internet, and Adobe Photoshop. Zeni said, "We were trying to come up with a way that faculty could increase their technology skills."
Before TEC-e, KU's Academic Computing Services was the only official outlet for faculty and staff who had technical problems. However, ACS was unable to meet the great demand for technology education. "The need was great-so great that some of the technology staff didn't have the time to help them learn things that were not necessarily important at the time," Zeni said. "There was really nobody there except their colleagues or people they knew who used it to help them integrate technology into the classroom."
The Technology Enrichment cohort formed during the Fall 2002 semester. After a semester of training the student workers on all the possible inquiries instructors may have, TEC-e began taking requests in Spring 2003. So far, TEC-e has been very successful. Zeni even said that one faculty member has a weekly schedule with a TEC-e student worker. She said, "She has questions she collects and then each day she asks the questions and they take care of it."
One of the reasons TEC-e may be so successful is that is follows the mentorship model. They use the students' knowledge to increase the faculty's knowledge, which in turn enriches the classroom experience for both groups. "They now have somebody they can call if they need help," Zeni said. "The one-on-one instruction allows it to fit their time. They can pick what they want and where they want to learn it."
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