TELT Student Drop-in Sessions: our experience as student ambassadors

Ella and Vandy - TELT Student Ambassadors

After a successful Welcome Week where we introduced new and improved TELT student inductions, we observed an increase in student engagement and interest in TELT services. To keep the momentum going we recently started offering drop-in support sessions for students to have their technology-related questions answered by TELT Student Ambassadors. The purpose of these sessions is to extend our service to QM students past the initial Welcome Week inductions and offer ongoing support to students throughout the academic year. These one hour drop-in sessions mirror the TELT staff drop-in sessions, in which staff can ask any TELT-related questions. 

Findings

So far, we have held two student drop-in sessions. We found that the first session had a relatively low attendance – perhaps because it was our first session, and thus students were less aware of the sessions, or because the first week of term is always a busy time for students. In the second session, however, we had 6 students attend. Whilst it was great to see students drop-in, and we were happy to help, unfortunately most of the issues raised were not TELT related and instead students were asking about QMSU log-ins, MySIS, attendance questions etc. That being said, it was great to see students aware of the sessions and joining. When we asked students how they were made aware of the sessions, all students reported that they had found out about the session via email communications from their schools. 

Improvements

More promotion and awareness of the drop-in sessions is needed in order to reach more QM students. We will continue to promote our drop-in sessions through our Instagram and the forum on our QMplus Induction for Students module. Additionally, we will be contacting members of the Learning Technologist Group and other school contacts to help disseminate the information.  Furthermore, we have already decided that we will hold these sessions again during the times we think students may be more likely to need support with the technologies we support, such as during exam periods when students are submitting assignments. 

Conclusion

We hope that through these student drop-in sessions, students will feel empowered to talk to us about their TEL related issues, and that the advice will help students to feel more confident in navigating the learning technologies we support.