How do you inform incoming students about the numerous technological benefits available to them at a state university, when they may have vastly different technology backgrounds and comfort levels? Spanning this “digital divide” was only one obstacle in the creation of Penn State’s Tech Academy, a Canvas-based mini-course that is the collaborative effort of a working group composed of employees from the University Libraries, and Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT). Other challenges included sharing information across 15+ campuses and designing assignments that required active student engagement. This presentation will discuss our strategies for developing, implementing, and assessing a technology training program that met the needs of the pandemic learning environment and continues to be valuable with the return to “normal” instruction.
Cori Biddle is the Student Engagement & Outreach Librarian at Penn State Altoona. In her 13 years as a librarian, she has focused on providing training and support to undergraduate students, especially those in their first year. She has been part of the Tech Academy Working Group since its inception and has presented about its work at the Annual Conference on The First-Year Experience and had a practice report published in the journal Student Success.
Bonnie Imler is the Library Director at both Penn State Altoona and Penn State DuBois. Her research focus in User Experience (UX) has resulted in many published journal articles, international/national presentations, and a published book Optimizing Discovery Systems to Improve User Experience (2017). Her research study on first-year students’ ability to complete 10 basic technology tasks, led to the publication of two journal articles and the creation of the classroom Tech Academy, on which the online university wide mini-course was based.