As requested by the Humanities Department at McMaster University, these technical training workshops covered the use of the Course Outline Portal (Simple Syllabus).
Simple Syllabus Technical Training
These bi-weekly workshops covered the technical aspects of McMaster’s new Course Outline Portal. The system is called ‘Simple Syllabus’.
Avenue to Learn – Workshops
The Avenue to Learn team offers a series of training workshops every summer for faculty and staff at McMaster University. These workshops cover the various functions of Brightspace:
- Avenue Fundamentals
- Grades
- Homepages and Widgets
- Quizzes
- Assignments
McMaster Course Outline Portal
Work as part of the project support team for McMaster’s Course Outline Portal. Serve as co-chair for the ‘Course Outline Portal Working Group’.
Avenue to Learn
Work as front-line support and administrator for McMaster University’s Brightspace service.
- Manage daily and long-term work assignments of internal staff and schedule and monitor adherence to procedures, protocols, and standards.
- Act as an on-site project manager, responsible for managing projects from inception to completion.
- Plan and establish project framework and identify project milestones to ensure the project is completed according to project specifications and within specified timelines.
- Identify, initiate, and lead various projects.
- Plan and coordinate a variety of events and activities.
- Act as the primary Client Services point of communication to provide critical notifications of unplanned outages and planned system updates.
- Act as a liaison between the Service Desk team and other units.
- Establish and maintain service standards for the Service Desk.
- Monitor existing and propose new and enhanced service levels through the development and analysis of service level metrics and reporting.
- Establish and implement procedures for problem referral and escalation procedures.
- Establish and implement methods for problem prioritization.
- Monitor and analyze service records for trends and common problems.
- Recommend and implement service and product improvements and participate in planning meetings with management team.
- Ensure user support staff are advised of systems updates, errors, and features.
- Proactively address problem areas by recommending effective and appropriate solutions.
- Create and disseminate surveys to determine client and staff needs.
- Analyze call records and recommend solutions for problem areas.
- Review and resolve client behaviour and inappropriate service provider responses and act as the first level of escalation and complaint handling for the department.
- Investigate newly reported problems and document solutions.
- Administer site licensed software for the University community.
- Respond to and resolve Level I client issues such as hardware and software problems, and installations.
- Respond to escalated problems from working level staff and customers.
- Document and update accurate and consistent records of all calls.
- Check progress on referred problems and keep users informed.
- Apply escalation procedures for problems with unsatisfactory progress.
- Provide users with routine information such as system updates, errors, and features.
- Carry out practical assignments supporting routine operations.
- Respond to Level II requests such as hardware, software, networks, training, and installations.
- Elicit additional information from clients and colleagues to diagnose issues.
- Refer complex situations to relevant area with accompanying diagnostic information.
- Provide the leadership required to ensure the maintenance of accurate records and preparation of statistics for reports.
- Develop, verify, and maintain service desk procedures.
- Monitor call records, service levels and status.
- Monitor progress on problem resolution and advise users on status.
- Set priorities and escalate problems not being solved.
- Ensure users receive services that were committed.
- Ensure users receive information on systems updates, errors and features.
- Train users on a large number and type of software applications on an ad-hoc basis.
- Learn about new technologies in advance of their introduction to the University community in order to effectively respond to help-desk inquiries.
- Plan, schedule, and monitor own work within short time horizons.
- Organize individual time, work and resources to accomplish objectives in the most effective and efficient way.
- Understand and use appropriate methods, tools, and applications to complete work tasks.
- Demonstrate a rational and organized approach to work and identify development opportunities.
- Absorb technical information when it is presented systematically and apply it effectively.
- Use measurement methods to monitor progress toward goal attainment, tenaciously working to meet or exceed those goals, while deriving satisfaction from the process of goal achievement and continuous improvement.
- Ensure that the internal and external customer perspective is a driving force behind decisions and activities.
- Follow service practices that meet customers’ and University needs.
- Interact with others in a way that gives them confidence in one’s intentions and those of the University.
- Work collaboratively with others to achieve departmental and institutional goals. Actively participate as a member of a team to move the team toward the completion of goals.
- Perform a range of varied work activities in a variety of structured environments.
- Successfully engage in multiple initiatives simultaneously.
- Apply and enforce department change control policies and procedures.