AARON MCPHERSON

Technology 

 

Category: Exemplary

 

In this competency, I have developed in the following areas:

• “Demonstrate adaptability in the face of fastpaced technological change” (p. 33)

• “Troubleshoot basic software, hardware, and connectivity problems and refer more complex problems to an appropriate information technology administrator” (p. 33)

• “Draw upon research, trend data, and environmental scanning to assess the technological readiness and needs of students, colleagues, and other educational stakeholders when infusing technology into educational programs and interventions” (p. 33)

• “Demonstrate awareness of one’s digital identity and engage students in learning activities related to responsible digital communications and virtual community engagement as related to their digital reputation and identity” (p. 33)

• “Incorporate commonly utilized technological tools and platforms including social media and other digital communication and collaboration tools into one’s work” (p. 33)

• “Appropriately utilize social media and other digital communication and collaboration tools to market and promote advising, programming, and other learning-focused interventions and to engage students in these activities” (p. 33)

• Provide leadership for the proactive creation, use, and empirical evaluation of technological tools and digital spaces for students including those drawing on social medial and other digital communication and collaboration tools” (p. 35)

 

This past year I stumbled into technology through the internship that I had this past summer.  When I was considering what to do for the summer last year, I was considering between a very traditional position through ACUHOI and a position at an education technology startup in San Francisco.  The ACUHOI position would be great for my career, but the technology company really spoke to my passions for education and technology.  Choosing the position in San Francisco was exactly what I needed and has lead me down a career path that I did not know existed and would not have had the opportunity to explore if it were not for BGSU and CampusQuad.  CampusQuad facilitated my development in the technology competency, but technology has always been something that I valued and thought would be helpful in the education environment.  Through the position at CampusQuad, I was able to gain an understanding of the education technology space and the different products that are available to colleges and universities.  Right now, there are so many things going on in education technology and it is challenging for student affairs administrators to determine what would be the right fit for their company.  By doing a competitive analysis during my time at CampusQuad, I was able to gain a better understanding of what is available to student affairs administrators and higher education, and which products are best depending on the needs of that institution.  In order to develop this competitive analysis I researched company products, funding structures, and what they were planning to develop in the future.  Additionally, I did research that combined student development theory with technology, to better understand the needs of students in higher education.  I have included this competitive analysis as my artifact because it represents the beginning of my passion for education technology and was my first understanding of what this career would be. This insight has allowed me to understand the nature of the fast pace of technology, and equipped me with the skills to know what is going on and what is coming down the line.  

           

During my time at CampusQuad, I worked for the customer success department.  In this role, I was responsible for helping current customers trouble shoot problems they were having.  This allowed me to understand the problems of the customers, work to understand the process of software engineering, and learn to communicate to solve problems.  Through these experiences, I was able to learn how to work on teams to troubleshoot problems with technology and how to communicate solutions or improvements to customers or other constituencies.  At times, this included giving the problem directly to someone in engineering so that an engineer could communicate the answer to the customer.  I have also used this skill in my assistantship for Ziggy Points.  As part of running the day-to-day operations of the program I am responsible for handling all technology issues, whether that be related to the scanners that we used, the web application we developed, or other parts that are currently in development.  Recently we have had many issues regarding the scanners that I have had to troubleshoot with our partners.  I have implemented new processes so that we can cut down on the problems we have, but moving forward we are trying to implement a new system that would better support the initiative.  Some of these new ideas are different scanners and a training at the beginning of every year so that all of our partners know how to use the technology.  Additionally, we are trying to building on the web application we have so that it does more and we can do less work.  I have worked closely with ITS to ensure they can develop the system in a way that is most useful to us.  My experience with CampusQuad introduced me to these new problems and taught me how to address them.  I was able to bring this new knowledge into my assistantship space so that we could improve some of the processes already in place.

           

Aside from the skills I have developed with regard to communicating and troubleshooting technology, I also developed a better understanding of how technology works.  During my internship this past summer, I taught myself to code HTML and CSS so that I could make improvements to the CampusQuad website.  I developed this skill by relying on already developed code to see how things worked together and then developed it on my own.  By looking at already existing code, I was able to learn what to tell a computer in order to make things work and how code needs to be structured in a logical way.  I have continued to develop this skill by enrolling in Stanford’s free Computer Science 101 course.  Through this course I have continued to learn about the history of computers and some of the basics of other types of code such as CSS, C++, and Java.  This is a knowledge area I would like to continue develop as I start a career in a technology environment.

           

Another aspect I have learned about via my assistantship and my internship at CampusQuad is social media.  As the customer success associate, I was responsible for running the Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts for CQ Student, our student centered online presence.  Through this experience I developed an understanding of how to use social media to market our product and encourage users to continue to use the mobile app we had developed.  I would post on Instagram every day to remind students about CampusQuad, with the intent of driving them back into the app.  This activity helped me develop a better understanding of social media because I began to understand what students responded to and at what times of the day were best to post.  I participated in social media webinars and training sessions so that I could learn about different social media campaigns and initiatives that were appropriate for education technology.  At times this experience was challenging because we were trying to market to students across three time zones, but I was able to reach each student by developing a social media calendar that posted at varying times during the day.  In my assistantship, social media marketing is a big part of promoting Ziggy Points events.  Over the past two years, I have worked with the practicum student in the office to make sure we are developing relevant and interesting posts that will catch the attention of students.  This year we have ran a few contests to encourage students to follow the account and get involved with Ziggy Points events.

           

Finally, my assistantship has helped me develop in students a strong understanding of responsibility social media use.  In the division, we hold all our student workers to a social media policy that deters them from posting inappropriate comments on social media.  This policy teaches students the importance of developing a positive social media identity.  Social media and technology are continuing to bleed more and more into our personal professional lives.  I feel fortunate to have had the opportunities at BGSU and CampusQuad that not only allowed me to learn about technology, but also learn how to use technology in an innovative way that will affect students’ lives.

 

Reference 

ACPA & NASPA (2015).  Professional competency areas for student affairs practitioners.  Washington, DC: Authors.