Student Technology Assistant Clearinghouse

Statement of Purpose | STAC-L Listserv | Resources | Contact STAC

The STAC Clearinghouse Page will serve as a tool for the construction, maintenance and propagation of Student Technology Assistant programs in colleges and universities around the nation. Students have been used as "lab monitors" from the time there have been public access computing spaces, but Student Technology Assistant programs recognize the vital role that students have to play in solving the support crisis that plagues higher education. Student Technology Assistant programs train undergraduates in both technology and consultation skills in order to help students and faculty adopt and integrate innovative computing applications in classwork and research. Student Technology Assistant programs can take many different forms, but all share the need for ideas and support from similar programs around the nation. The STAC Clearinghouse Page serves to unite proponents of and participants from these programs by offering a forum in which ideas can be shared, discussed, dissected and resolved. The chasm between "lab monitors" and professional consultants is wide and is not easily crossed alone. Implementing a Student Technology Assistant program requires convincing many actors on the academic scene that the program is both useful and cost-effective. The process involves a strategy which addresses all levels of the college or university community, and the forum provided by the STAC Clearinghouse Page will help every institution bridge this gap. Once the program is in place each institution will find that a new set of obstacles and challenges surface -- problems that, with the help of this forum, no program will have to face alone. The concept of a single, overarching organization to help students and faculty integrate technology is not new. The principle upon which the STAC Clearinghouse Page is predicated is the model being spread by Steven W. Gilbert, President of the TLT Group and moderator of the AAHESGIT list; the TLT Group an independent non-profit, the Teaching, Learning and Technology Affiliate of the American Association for Higher Education. The TLT Group helps institutions create STA programs tailored to meet their own needs, and also helps such programs create a shared set of resources and contacts.

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