CENTSS - Online Student Services Innovations

Best Practice Profile – University of Washington

Service area	Technical Support
Service Component(s)	UW Catalyst Online Support--Guides and virtual help desk
Institution	University of Washington
Link to Service or Demo	http://catalyst.washington.edu/help which is a component of http://catalyst.washington.edu/ Currently, the Catalyst Web site is undergoing renovation and http://catalyst.washington.edu/help does not accurately reflect our services. We anticipate the changes to happen before the end of October 2006. Please check back soon.
Description
Summary Description	UW Catalyst provides online technology support in terms of Web tools, how-to guides, online curriculum and virtual support for technology related questions.
Major Characteristics	Date first available to students January 2003
	Number & type of students served annually There are 75,000 students, staff and faculty within the University of Washington system. While some of Catalyst’s online services are available to the general public, others are only available to those in the UW community.
	Growth in (student/staff/faculty) users annually We are unable to provide statistics on the number of students who use our online how-to guides and curriculum. As for our Web Tools--over 12,000 student Web sites have been made with SimpleSite, over 23,000 students have created over 53,000 portfolios, and over 4200 students have used WebFiles accounts to store files. During the 2005-06 academic school year, Catalyst provided answers to nearly 4700 questions sent to the Virtual Help Desk regarding the catalyst Web tools as well as other software and hardware related questions.
	Hours of availability for students 24 x 7
	Communication options between students & service The Catalyst Virtual Helpdesk is a online service providing answers for UW students with computing questions. Students send email to catalysthelp@u.washington.edu or fill out an online question form. Questions are then routed to Catalyst’s staff members, who provide more indepth answers and direction.
	Types of searches n/a
	User satisfaction feedback options We receive feedback from students via email to catalysthelp@u.washington.edu
	Accessibility
	Integration Catalyst’s Virtual Help Desk support is an extension of the Help Desk available in the Catalyst Learning Spaces. These Consultants refer students to our online services. Additionally, when a student comes in with a technology related question outside of the Consultants expertise, the consultant will then create a ticket for the student in our Virtual Help Desk. Comprehensive marketing efforts are made to inform campus advisers of our services. Additionally, no other group on campus provides technology-support for students. Typically, other groups on campus refer students to us.
	Support & help services workshops, consultations, email support
Special Features	Distance students can access all of Catalysts online how to guides and curriculum, topics include web publishing, digital video, digital audio, networking and security, digital graphics and computing fundamentals.
Purpose
Goals of Service	To help fill in the gap between the technology that instructors wish to use in their classes and the technology training they provide for those classes.
Results
Performance Measures	email feedback
Outcomes	Student
	Staff Not entirely measurable. Students are requesting more challenging topics, which I take to mean the overall baseline level is rising
	Institution not measurable
Development & Implementation
Executive Sponsor	Office of Learning Technologies
Planned & Developed By	Internal Under the direction of the Catalyst Directors, Karalee Woody and Tom Lewis.
Planned & Developed By	External Catalyst Advising Committee and Working Group
Technology Solution	Commercial software n/a
	External service providers n/a
	Program language & platform for in house solution
	Other
Resources	Writing style guide Internal password protected
	Design/programming standards guide
	Formal project plan
	Funding Source(s) UW administration
Costs	Development Undeterminable.
Costs	Annual Maintenance The entire Catalyst Team is involved with the maintenance of the online services. There are two training managers, a service manager, a web master and several developers who all play a role in developing these combined services.
Marketing	Internal UW mailing lists, technology newletters, signs, brochures, campus news paper, campus publications
Marketing	External Conferences, presentations and publications
Training	Staff/Faculty n/a
Training	Students n/a
Lessons Learned	Planning/Creating Service Please check out our reports and presentations at http://catalyst.washington.edu/projects/
Lessons Learned	Implementing/Providing Service
Future Plans for Improvements/Expansion
For More Information
License Availability	n/a
Contact	Greg Koester, 206-616-1294, koester@u.washington.edu
Date of Profile	8/18/06