Second Language Learning and Technology Specialist
Language and Culture Learning Center, School of Literatures, Cultural Studies, and
Linguistics, UIC
July 2008 – September 2013
Management and Project Experience:
- Manage Language and Culture Learning Center staff and equipment, including 5 RAs
from non-technical backgrounds and 10 machines plus A/V equipment, Eye Tracker
machine, and 3 additional public-use rooms.
- Recruit, interview, hire, and supervise RAs. Train RAs to be near expert in
most-used or most-asked-about aspects of current campus-wide LMS (Blackboard) and
other technologies, so they may effectively answer faculty questions in person and
via email.
- Implement a ticketing system (RT), calendaring system, and communication protocol
for the office, for external communication, and to track equipment loans. Train all
users.
- Manage projects varying in length from several weeks to a few semesters. These
projects may be for an internal product or to create something that then is offered
to faculty or the general public.
- Organizer of the Language Symposium 2012, a 125-person conference co-hosted by 3
Chicago universities.
- Promote services and events using social media.
Instructional Technology Experience, Communication and Presentation
Skills:
- Reach out to faculty to offer assistance both with technical issues and
instructional design.
- Research, plan, and present hands-on workshops to train faculty in existing and new
technology available at UIC or freely available online.
- Help faculty create new multimedia or collaborative online projects and interactive
class materials. Listen to faculty describe their needs and work together to craft a
project specific to their course.
- Follow up these projects with hands-on demos to students on use of these tools to
ensure teaching can be effective and learning will result. Plan additional
preparatory steps, including checking for existing accounts, guiding students in
creation and configuration of google apps accounts, creating tickets with ACCC for
any account problems, and following up to be sure the problems are resolved.
- Create documentation including training guides, manuals, and how-to documents both
for internal use, to train new RAs, and for public use, both by faculty and
students. Documentation in form of instructions with screenshots, Captivate videos,
and quick reference bullet-point guides.
- Extensive experience communicating in a university setting, from students and
teaching assistants, to adjunct instructors, faculty, staff, Deans and senior
university administrators.
- In-depth experience with a variety of multimedia authoring tools and technology,
creating and showing faculty and teaching staff how to create interactive class
materials using SoftChalk and various Web 2.0 tools and technology.
- Excellent customer service and unwavering focus on advancing the mission of the
University.
IT Support Services Experience:
- Provide technical assistance to faculty with hardware and software problems both in
office and onsite in their offices.
- Provide IT Support via departmental RT ticketing system as needed.
- Serve as first line of troubleshooting for hardware and software issues in computer
lab GH 304.
- Escalate problems to ACCC via RT ticketing system as needed. Follow up to ensure
professors, TAs, and students receive resolution to problem and understand the
responses they receive.
LMS experience, Blackboard-specific:
- Point person for all faculty, lecturers, and TAs for any Blackboard question. Before
each Blackboard system upgrade, research the changes extensively, then hold
workshops to demo these differences to our faculty.
- In the last month before its deployment, I held 16 hrs of drop-in sessions with 51
people in attendance, to demonstrate the differences differences in the latest
version of Blackboard at that time and to ensure courses would run smoothly
following the transition.