Creating tomorrow’s developers by training them as student content editors today

Problem statement

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, like most others, has a limited web staff of only three web developers. For years, there was only one, and only within the last three has hired two more. The influx of requests for editing content, images and redesigns on internal college pages has been unsustainable for only three developers. Hiring students seems like an obvious answer, but getting students who are qualified, motivated and interested to do the work can be a daunting task. Developing training, managing and setting expectations for customer interaction can be time consuming.

Purpose and solution

The purpose of this session will be to illustrate a successful working model of this model. It will include:

• Hiring — What do you look for in the perfect student candidate?
• Training — Now you've got them, how do you find time to train them and what do they need to know?
• Scheduling — What?!? You're taking 18 hours now and going away for spring break? How to manage part-time schedules of student workers and keep their needs in the forefront.
• Mentoring — How to coach them through expectations such as ticket communication, emailing faculty and staff, meeting etiquette, note taking and follow up. Giving difficult feedback and rewarding success.
• Campus communication — How to teach the campus that student workers are a valuable resource. Some faculty/staff are not as amenable to the idea of students taking care of their tickets and can be challenging to work with. Fostering a mutual workplace respect between them and your students ensures success and a positive atmosphere.
• Financials — How to work within budget constraints to ensure you get the best utilization of the team and your money. Being accountable for resources is a critical step as budgets get tightened with declining enrollment. We will discuss extra projects and requests for additional funding as well.