Neat Stuff at Work

So I’ve been working on a few projects at work lately, here’s the brief rundown:

• Knowledgebase Project – Three years ago I installed MediaWiki on a desktop under my desk and used it to establish a sort of internal knowledgebase for the Help Desk to use to store all of our documentation; these were things like How-Tos, processes, product keys, priority matrix, key roles and responsibilities list, and training material. Each employee had their own page to keep up with projects they were working on. That whole system went away when we picked up a new product called Cherwell that was supposed to include a knowledgebase. It does, but it sucks, essentially. It doesn’t have features we need to do what we want with the knowledgebase. So the internal wiki I made got imported into this thing, and now the wiki is gone. Our newish Web Director found out about the old wiki, and prompted me to propose a project to create a new one that would have internal and external purposes – both IT personnel technical information and more public how-tos and troubleshooting content. This is my major project over the summer. Right now I’m building a rubric to measure the technology solution against so we can pick a good product for our KB.
• COB Entrance Exam / Remediation Course – I currently admin the Dell Online Learning Management System (LMS) that has all these cool online videos and labs that you can do to learn various skills, primarily software and some soft skills. I’ve been meeting with one of the professors charged with developing an entrance skills assessment test and remediation course for students wishing to enter the College of Business. What we’ve come up with is a testing solution in our online courseware that regular classes use (Blackboard) that links into the Dell system and the students who score low have to do remedial studies in the training system, higher scores do the upper-level lessons only, and perfect scores end up not doing the remediation at all. There is then a post-test in the Blackboard system and they get a final grade for the class. Apparently the big hang-up here is whether or not the money is there and that resources are being paid for – it’s a bunch of red tape with how the class takes place and how it is categorized.
• Computer Skills Workshops – We started doing these things with our boss called “one-on-one” meetings, where we can come and gripe if we need to or pitch ideas or talk about important issues, but primarily it’s our time and then any remaining time the boss can talk to us. During mine, I griped briefly, but then started brainstorming an idea for beginner level “Intro to” type workshops where we can teach faculty, staff, and students computing basics to catch them up in their skills. These would be like “Intro to Computing” where you learn about the parts of the computer (monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, tower, etc.) and how to use them. Another would be Intro to Microsoft Office, then maybe one about the internet, another about social networking sites and the workplace, another about copyright issues, another one about how to avoid spyware and viruses. It’s all very rough right now, but so far the director is for it and my team seems on board with it. We’re going to have a stricter registration / attendance policy so that if we have less than a minimum of sign-ups within the 48 hours before the class, we cancel the class and reschedule with those who actually signed up. That way we aren’t wasting our time sitting around for 20 minutes waiting on people who didn’t sign up to show.

So that’s a lot of stuff to keep me busy for the summer at work. I hope I can get it all done – it’ll look great on a resume and hopefully prove I’m valued at a lot higher than what I’m currently being paid. Then when this silly hiring freeze is over maybe I can move into a higher position and paycheck. I’m not starving by any means, but it’d be nice to pay off more debt and get a major step or two of my house renovation complete.