This year ITSS has again offered new faculty in the School of Humanities and Sciences special help to get quickly up to speed on technology at Stanford. Partners in this effort are the School, the ITSS H&S Technical Support Team, the ITSS Client Relations group, and staff from SULAIR.
The H&S Technical Support Team works with incoming faculty and their department administrators to select, purchase, and install hardware and software to meet the faculty members' needs. Once the new faculty are "connected," they are encouraged to schedule an office visit with an Academic Consultant who provides them with a personalized orientation to Stanford's technology resources. The orientation goes beyond ITSS services and highlights information technology help provided by SULAIR, the Registrar's Office, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and others.
Here are some comments from new Stanford faculty who have benefited from their "one-on-one" orientations:
"The personal interaction is wonderful - means every topic can be explored in the necessary depth. The Academic Consultant understands the needs of academics in different disciplines and also understands their working habits - i.e., what they really will and really won't make time for!"
"Information overflow is a problem when starting at Stanford. The number of emails with information for new faculty and invitations to orientations, et cetera is a bit overwhelming. So I would not expect everyone to make use of this option. It is nevertheless a great one to have."
"One thing that I found very useful is the web sites that I got bookmarked. Now I know where to seek information when I need it."
"I enjoyed having the opportunity to select the list of topics I was most interested about and then meet with specialists in respective areas and get really insightful advice. Although I already had a pretty good idea about the things I asked to talk about, I still learned a great deal and I am certain such a session will be invaluable for those starting out with less to build on."
A special Quick Guide to Computing and Communication , which focused on faculty uses of technology, was developed for this service. This single web site containing important information relevant to new (and "not so new") faculty is available at:
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/itss/facultystart.html
Although this effort has been focused on H&S, administrators in other schools who are interested in providing orientations for their new faculty, or faculty who want to request orientations for themselves, should contact Jane Marcus, ITSS Client Relations, at jane.marcus@stanford.edu or 723-1659.
