For many of those in Higher Ed IT, moving into the support phase can be a welcomed change from development. This transition ultimately means that your product is now ready to be used by the institution at large! While this is very exciting, it also means that your team must be ready to assist users with any questions or errors that they encounter. In addition, the support phase can be a wonderful way for your IT team to build connections with members of your user base.
Here are three commonly overlooked things that you should always remember when going into the support phase in Higher Ed IT.
Remember that everyone makes mistakes
Don’t be surprised if you’re asked to go into the system and manually reset the password of a student that has been locked out of their account due to their password being changed unknowingly via a public computer.
Today’s most common college students, ages 18-22, have never lived in a world without the Internet. Therefore, internet security, from social media privacy to identity theft, has been part of every grade school lecture about technology. However, that does not mean that students aren’t prone to making mistakes. Public computers, especially those in the library or student center, can oftentimes be the best and worst things for your campus. While public computers allow your students to stay connected, they are often the reasons students’ accounts become compromised. Don’t be surprised if you’re asked to go into the system and manually reset the password of a student that has been locked out of their account due to their password being changed unknowingly via a public computer. What another student views as a harmless prank can easily lead to frustration for both you and the student unable to access their account. When changing the student’s password, you may also want to turn this into a learning experience. Explain to the student that, while this is not the ideal situation to be in, they aren’t the first person to make this mistake and it is your job to help them. Also, it’s always a good idea to ask them how this happened: was it just a genuine mistake or did they sign out of the application they were using and not the entire portal? If it’s the latter, take a second to show them how to sign out of the portal properly. This will, ultimately, save the student frantic visits to the IT department in the future.
Take your time training and supporting faculty
Remember that not everyone has the same background in technology.
Technology may not be every one of your faculty’s strong point. For example, while most faculty members can effectively operate their work computers on a day-to-day basis and have no issues accessing their LMS, something unexpected may come up and throw them for a loop. You’re bound to get multiple calls from faculty members wanting to know how to best tackle a popup window and whether or not to accept this change or deny permissions to that. While these may seem simple and commonplace to you, remember that not everyone has the same background in technology. In fact, it may be best to think of these calls as the faculty and staff erring on the side of caution: they’d rather check in with you than make a mistake and be without a working machine—an alternative that would complicate both of your jobs immensely. Furthermore, always make sure that you explain to the faculty member why they were receiving this message. The best way to help them better understand the ins-and-outs of the system they are working with is to explain how the system functions.
Give yourself enough time to learn
Make sure that all support staff are involved in as much of the implementation as possible.
Perhaps your institution is implementing a new system from a third party vendor. You will be invited to a training session to familiarize yourself with it. Surely, being able to work one-on-one with a specialist means that you’ll be able to get the hang of the new technology right away and then turn around and teach the users of your institution! Well, not quite. You may not grasp everything right away or you may have some questions that require further clarification. Make sure you give yourself enough time to ask questions before you’re supposed to transition into the support phase. Better yet, make sure that all support staff are involved in as much of the implementation as possible. The great thing about Higher Ed IT is that you have a team of people to work with–ask them for help; be honest with your team–you may not be the only person that hasn’t completely mastered the new system after the day’s training session is over.
Ask any IT professional and they will tell you that there are numerous pieces of advice they would offer a team entering the support phase. However, we feel that these are three pieces of advice that are often overlooked or assumed to be commonplace that sometimes they get forgotten. So couple these three guiding points with the plethora of others you’ll gain from peers and higher-ups and you’ll be able to better handle the support phase. Best of luck!
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