|
Do you tape notes to the circulation desk? Are you tired of sending individual emails about shift and schedule changes? Do you often wonder whether or not you’ve passed a particular message along to all your student assistants? Never fear, paperless online assistance is here! Enhance your supervisory skills with one or more of these communication tools.
Wikis Check out Wake Forest Library’s Student Assistants Wiki. This wiki contains library floor maps, student payroll schedules, dress codes, department descriptions, and service desk etiquette tips, among many other features. While the student employees enjoy easy access to ready-reference answers and other job-related information, the library’s staff members can quickly edit and update the online policies and procedures by simply logging into the wiki.  You could also use a wiki as an online bulletin board. Instead of publishing your wiki to the entire world, you can limit access by creating an “in-house” wiki. Invite a limited number of members (technical services employees, reference desk staff, circulation student assistants, etc.) and then post messages that are relevant to your group.
Why a wiki and not a blog? Stewart Mader explains the core difference between wikis and blogs: “Wikis are better when you want information to be touched – and enhanced – by as many hands as possible. Blogs are better when you want to get information out to people…but keep the original text intact.” Since the content of each wiki page is always changing, members need only to visit the wiki in order to receive updates. (If a library were to use a blog as an in-house communication tool, the staff and students would need to spend time scrolling through the comments at the bottom of the page in order to stay abreast of announcements and changes.) To read Stewart Mader’s entire explanation, visit his Future Changes blog: http://www.ikiw.org/2006/03/30/wiki-vs-blog/. Blackboard Blackboard isn’t just for professors! Try using the software to create an online resource forum for your student assistants. Ask your Blackboard administrator to create a “class” and then enroll the members of your library group. Post announcements on your Blackboard homepage, and use the Discussion Board to monitor shift changes. Offer online access to work schedules and library procedures. Use the Test Manager to create shelving quizzes or general tutorials. Campus Portal Like Blackboard, a portal provides many ways to communicate electronically with your student assistants. The office option in CampusCruiser, for example, has a customizable homepage with space for announcements, calendars, bookmarks, and shared documents. Import your students’ work schedules and send automatic email reminders about individual shifts!
Google Sites
No HTLM knowledge necessary! Create your own (free!) web pages for your students with Google Sites.
|