Tuesday, March 4th 1:45 - 2:45 pm - Magnolia

Stranger in the Library: Creating Digital Fluency in a Most Unexpected Place
William Davis, Student Technology Assistance Center Coordinator; and Beth A. Anderson, Reference Specialist / Wright State University, Dunbar Library

In late 2001, the Wright State University Dunbar Library launched a peer-to-peer media kitchen for students, called the Student Technology Assistance Center (STAC). In the STAC, students are given just-in-time assistance with multimedia projects in a cross-platform, technology-rich environment. By creating the STAC in the library, teaching innovative credit courses, and providing support for multimedia projects, the Wright State University Dunbar Library has created a catalyst for digital fluency. This session will describe the environment, the courses, and the peer-to-peer technical support offered to students.

Session notes:

• STAC serves 15,000 students
• Spawned a digital literacy course.
• Grew out of need to support student desire for multimedia presentations, especially within the college of education.
• Began as a pilot inside low-tech faculty media support center. Focused on web design and image editing. Collected comments and some student work and used that to justify creating permanent facility.
• Discovered that value of center was allowing people to help each other.
• Marketing strategy was that they relieved faculty from tech support.
• Students work in the space as tech mentors
• STAC was singled out in accreditation report
• Older users request manuals and tutorial but younger students never do. Does not use signs because they want tech mentors to engage the user. That way the appropriate diagnostic conversation between mentor and student happens. This is not intended to be a lab.
  
• The STAC now enables faculty to ask for more from students
• Wright State is an iTunes University