paper -
37 Assessing the Benefit of Work/Study Programmes: The Case of Dept. of Management Studies, University of the West Indies, Student Computer Lab Technicians
Karen
Shackleford, University of the West Indies
The Department of Management Studies, (DOMS) has had a
Computer Laboratory for a decade. DOMS IT environment has become increasingly
complex. From having less than 20 standalone PCs and workstations in 1991, the
Lab evolved to have responsibility for a departmental network of roughly 100
computers by 1999. This network is a subnet on the Campus WAN. Further, the Lab
staff of 1996, undertook to network the entire Faculty of Social Sciences.
Grossly understaffed, with only a Computer Lab Manager and one full-time
Computer Lab Technician to serve a minimum of 3,000 students, 50 academic and
administrative staff members, student computer lab technicians have been relied
on over the years, to research, install, configure, design, build, repair and
maintain computers and network infrastructure. The increasing dependence of
staff and students on computer technology has increased the demands made on
LTs. LTs have benefited by effectively serving as apprentices for a range of IT
positions. This paper reflects on LTs experience discussing:
1) Whether LTs have an advantage over their peers in
the job market. 2) A bid to award LTs
credit towards their degree programme.
3) LT recruitment to ensure that those most likely to
thrive in the environment are selected.
4) The relationship between academic performance and
performance as a LT.
5) The design of effective tools for measuring LT
performance on the job in the Lab.
6) How the benefit from working in this IT environment can be simulated in the classroom.