paper -
38 Just in time training for Help Desk Staff
Jerry
Martin, Ohio State University
The Ohio State University relies heavily on student
staff to provide a broad scope of support to faculty, staff and students at our
phone support desk. Students must not
only be familiar with technical questions but a wide range of services
supported and the appropriate technique for referral. Technology, services and procedures change on a quarterly basis,
sometimes it seems on a daily basis.
The timing of training is just as important as the training itself. If training is provided too far in advance,
normally final procedures and documentation are not in place. If training is not in time students become
frustrated by not knowing what answers to provide and may well give inaccurate
information to customers.
This paper with highlight some techniques used to
provide training in a uniform manner and to make every effort that answers to
new services and procedures are correctly addressed. In many cases the training methodology needed parallels distance
education needs were training is conducted in an asynchronous manner. A portion of this paper will explain how we
have been able to leverage knowledge learned in distance education to assist in
our training of help desk students.
In addition, we use some of the tools/techniques below
to help students keep up to date.
1) Use of a robust trouble tracking system.
2) Dealing with widely varying student schedules.
3) On-line database of new systems and procedures.
4) Testing of competencies in critical areas.
5) Avoiding common communication problems.