Wofford College

Help Center Portal

Until 2008 the information technology department distributed technical information and tutorials on CDs to incoming students. This process was costly and many students wanted access to the information prior to their arrival on campus. In 2008 I migrated the information that was on the CD to a website I built using HTML, CSS and Javascript. I expanded on the content from the CD so the site includes: Information about technology on campus, software tutorials, software downloads, tools to print to campus printers and tools to access network storage. Migrating the information to a website has saved the information technology department money, made the content easily accessible to students and allowed us to keep the information relevant and current.

Wofford College

Campus-wide Software Migration

In the summer of 2010 the support staff in the information technology department began a six month campus-wide software migration of over 750 computers. All Microsoft Windows computers were upgraded to Microsoft Windows 7 and the productivity suite was upgraded to Microsoft Office 2010. All Apple Macintosh computers were upgraded to Macintosh OS X 10.6 and the productivity suite was upgraded to Microsoft Office 2008. Standardizing software across campus has allowed the information technology department to be more efficient in supporting computers and has resulted in a significant decrease in any downtime.

Wofford College

Tutorials

I have created over 470 pages of software tutorials. The software covered in the tutorials include: Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows 7, Macintosh OS X 10.4, Macintosh OS X 10.5, Macintosh OS X 10.6, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Microsoft Outlook 2003, Microsoft Outlook 2007, Microsoft Outlook 2010, Google Apps for Education, Blackberry and Skype for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OS X. I create approximately 100 new pages of tutorials per year.

Wofford College

Media Portal

In 2008 I inherited a media server that was not being utilized as faculty continued to use physical media in classrooms. After I took responsibility for the media server, I re-digitized all the videos in their native maximum resolution using settings that allow the videos to load quickly on any web browser. I then built a website using HTML and CSS that made accessing the videos simple and straightforward. I chose a video player for the website that allows videos to be played in either Adobe Flash or HTML5 video, which makes them playable on Apple iOS devices. The website has allowed faculty to assign video watching outside of class as students can watch videos on the media server from any computer or Apple iOS device on campus. In 2009 I added audio files to the media server. The media server currently serves 256 video files that average 1.5 hours in length and 542 audio files using a total storage capacity of 132GB.

Wofford College

Dual-Boot Mac Minis

In 2008 we began replacing computers in our technology-enhanced classrooms with dual-boot Mac Minis. Until this time classrooms were equiped with either a Microsoft Windows computer or both a Microsoft Windows and a Macintosh computer. Updating the classrooms with dual-boot computers created a simplified more efficient experience for faculty. Additionally, faculty members who were famililar with and/or needed access to Macintosh OS X or Macintosh OS X applications now had them available in every classroom.

Personal

The UniversityTech Podcast

The UniversityTech podcast was a weekly podcast that ran for 26 episodes that I wrote, produced and hosted. The podcast had over 180,000 downloads during its run from listeners all over the world. The podcast consisted of technology news either related to, or affecting academic institutions, a feature story and a tech tool of the week. To compliment the tech tool of the week, I created a video podcast to demonstrate the features of the tech tool. Additionally, I created a written version of the podcast that is available on several e-book directories and Apple's iTunes store. Click HERE to access UniversityTech content.

DePauw University

eSource

eSource is an online support tool used by technical support staff at DePauw University. eSource is a knowledge hub that automates and integrates typical tasks performed by technical support staff including: hardware and software inventory, software installation, software licensing, hardware repair history, computer and software order management, help desk ticketing and a full knowledgebase. I acted as the designer and chief architect of eSource, as well as directed the team of programmers that built it.

DePauw University

The Tech Matrix

The Tech Matrix was designed as an online suport and asset management tool for the technical support staff at DePauw University. Included in the Tech Matrix was the inventory of campus desktops and laptops, a database of all computer orders and a resource section that included documentation and software for technology used on the DePauw University campus. The goal with the Tech Matrix was to document and automate ongoing processes by the technical suport staff. I acted as a designer and architect of the Tech Matrix and managed the programmers that built it.

DePauw University

The ACT Program

I created the Academic Computing Technicians (ACT) program because of the need for better support for printing services and student technical needs in computer labs. The ACT program included two different positions, stationary support and field support. Stationary support students provided technical suport via online chat. Field support students provided on location support.

DePauw University

ACTVisor

ACTVisor was an online tool created to assist the students in the Academic Computing Technicians program provide more efficient support. ACTVisor was a website that included computer lab inventories, information for all public printers, automated computer cleanup tools, a knowledgebase, a digitized timeclock and a problem reporting component.

DePauw University

Online Support

Utilizing simple chat code, I created an online chat interface that was used in addition to traditional forms of contacting technical support such as phone and email. Technology support staff and students monitored the chat room and were able to assist users efficiently and at greater convenience to the client.

Center for Bahavioral Health

Training Digitization

When I started training employees on the centers administrative system, the course I taught used a notebook of documents and a walkthrough of the system. To make the system easier to learn, I transferred all the training materials to a PowerPoint presentation and continued to use the notebook only as a student reference guide. Instead of doing a simple walkthrough, all the students went through the system together as they were learning and did practice exercises to reaffirm what they had learned. To facilitate better student interaction I used Microsoft NetMeeting to display a students computer screen on the main screen so they could peform exercises in front of the class. As a result, test scores from the training improved, the time to complete the basic course was reduced from one week to three days and the time to complete the advanced course was reduced from two weeks to one week.