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business operations
students, and that’s a lot to go through every year on paper. Now we created the application, so the RAs complete the room condition form online, it gets sent to the residents, [and] they review it,” Jhaveri says. At the end of the year, RAs can check pre-populated room condition forms for discrepancies, eliminating the need to repeat any paperwork. Once staff feel comfortable using the mobile technology, they can then confidently teach others how to use it. Sometimes the training can even be done by professionals; after the University of Texas ordered a large number of iPads, an Apple employee came to campus and trained the housing staff personally. One problem with any new technology that seems to offer the best and newest gadget is that there is always the potential of it being used for personal use on the job. Yet this is a problem that’s been managed before in housing operations. “As email became a prominent part of what we do in housing operations, there was a learning curve,” Logan says. Operations created a structure of office guidelines to manage issues such as identifying how email should be used for sending the minutes from a staff meeting, not for sending funny videos to coworkers. The key to communicating the intentions and restrictions of new technology is to remain focused on the original purpose of the device. And, in fact, the probability that students would use the technology as toys while on the job may have decreased by allowing them to use the iPads outside of work. The RAs at Texas were allowed to download any applications from the Apple App Store, bring the iPad to class, and use it in their personal time. Wendy Whipple, a junior social work major and RA at Texas, uses her iPad primarily for the university-designed application and to access multiple email accounts
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training For tHe learning Curve anD promoting tool over toy
Since many staff lack the digital skills that most students have already mastered, it is important to train staff in how to use the devices correctly and to make the most of their potential for saving time and for serving students.

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Talking Stick - July/August 2012

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