nacada region 1: the dustless training manual: using wikis to get everyone on the same page

The Dustless Training Manual

Using Wikis to Get Everyone on the Same Page

PJ Dickson Brian Koslowski Katie McFaddin

Laurie Nelson

Brandeis University

© druclimb, Flickr Creative Commons

Today we will cover…

- the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing a wiki for paperless training

- what resources/skills are

required to get started

- how to launch, build, and control access to a wiki

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Who Are We?

• Our Team

• Our Department

• Our Situation

• Fast and significant turnover

• Our Needs

• Training for new advisors

• Reference manual for current advisors

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“Will I Get a Training Manual?”

• Institutional memory

• Documentation of policies

• “Omega”: The Server

• Mystery notes, e.g. “Schedule meeting with committee members”

• Frequent changes

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What Happens After Training?

• Internal policies

• Depth of Information

• Things outside the norm

• Responsibilities that only one team member has

• Time savers

• Email templates

• Project Management

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-Immediately dated

-Not eco-friendly

-Not easy to link to

resources

-Typically one person’s

project

-Hard to find info

-Available online

-Google Campus

-Can control access

-Difficult to organize

-Not able to hyperlink

files without disrupting

text

-Available online

-Free

-Can control access

-Content is searchable

-Designed for group

input

-Dynamic

Paper Google Site Wiki X X

Why Did We Choose a Wiki?

Edit Write Save

Starting our wiki required… - $0 - Minimal computer skills - 1 hour delegation meeting - 5-10 hours of individual work

building and populating the pages

Instructions for each type of committee petition, with links

to helpful documents & forms

Operations calendar, organized by month.

Repeated projects and tasks for the

office are listed by week.

Email templates for oft-used emails to

students and instructors

Detailed instructions for secondary

assignments (peer tutoring)

Wiki is fully search-able. Can search content of

some pdfs.

To edit a page, click “Edit” in the upper

corner. The page will open for editing.

To create a new page, click “New Page”

To link to a file, click “File” 1.

Click “Upload Files”, select file, and choose “Link to File”

2.

Benefits

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Collaborative

Centralized

Environmentally friendly

Easy to update

Holistic

Independent of a server

Communal constructivism

(Virtual) Community of practice

Limitations

Some people prefer paper

Limited formatting

Requires universal involvement

Requires frequent updating

Internet-dependent

Security--we don’t post student data

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Next Steps

Systematize updating

Expand user pool?

Integrate into a training calendar

Consider multimedia

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Public Wiki

nacadaregional.wikispaces.com Username: NACADA1

Password: nacada1

Questions?

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