Last September, PC magazine ranked the University as the “most wired college,” recognizing its academics and technology related course offerings as some of its strongest points in maintaining a wired campus.

However, the magazine did not mention the University’s computer and software training services, workshops, internships and peer-to-peer Web site reviews offered to students at little to no cost.

“We are a well-kept secret for some reason,” said Ginna Moore, manager of training services for the University’s departmental services.

Training Services offers workshops and training opportunities to faculty, staff, campus departments and students. It also provides one-on-one or personal group trainings. Moore said over recent years, however, fewer students have showed interest in its programs. She said this is why the program’s structure has changed over the service’s 15 year history.

When Training Services was established, its main mission was training faculty and staff in computers and software programs. Shortly after, the program began offering informal training for students, Moore said. These programs were subsidized and free.

After low student enrollment, Training Services decided to cut the student programs. Moore did not want this to happen and decided to start fee recovery programs, which offered student training in common computer programs and software like Photoshop, HTML and Microsoft Office.

This semester, Moore and the training services staff decided to merge student programs with the Faculty and Staff Technology Training Team, better known as the FAST3 consortium. For fees as low as $39, students can register for classes and workshops that focus on a variety of computer software like SQL, Visio and Dreamweaver.

The program offers more than forty different workshops and classes. Moore said this semester, FAST3 has seen a decent amount of student participants, but increased computer knowledge with the young generation continues to keep student enrollment lower than before.

“Students are coming on to campus with a better knowledge of (computers) as freshmen than five years ago,” she said. “The workshops they are interested in are the specific ones.”

The bibliography and library storage program EndNote and programs used in University math and science classes like MATLAB and Mathematica are some of the popular workshop choices among students, Moore said, adding that, even so, most are graduate students.

Students who are already advanced in the programs offered can also teach them. Nathan Bosch, senior in Engineering, is one of FAST3’s hired student instructors. This semester, Bosch teaches classes on MATLAB and Mathematica. He said both he and students benefit from the workshops.

“I really like the feeling of being up there and helping out,” he said. “It’s really a great way to get hands-on experience.”

Bosch said most interest in the classes have come from staff and agreed with Moore, who said lack of student interest may also be due to the little advertising done for the program.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the biggest problem,” he said, adding that some students may not have a need for learning to use programs like MATLAB or Mathematica outside of class.

But Training Services workshops wasn’t the only thing affected by a lack of advertising. Tim Offenstein, campus accessibility liaison to the University, said he was ready to take down the page on the University’s webmasters’ Web site, which offered free peer-to-peer site reviews for new webmasters. He said after only one year, the site has languished.

The service allows students, staff and faculty web designers to send in their web pages for professional review. Qualified volunteers take the Web site entry and develop a report for the webmaster rating accessibility, compliancy and effectiveness. But Offenstein said most of the volunteer reviewers have moved on.

“At the time it seemed like it was a good idea,” he said, adding that the initial response was OK but eventually decreased. “I think that webmasters can be territorial and hesitant to put their site on review.”

Advertising could have also been an issue, he said. The program was only advertised on the University’s webmasters site.

Still, Offenstein uses the additional time to train students in the new Student Web Internship program he created this year. He said the training session places selected students into University departments to help upgrade, re-design and build Web pages for various University departments.

If the program is successful, Offenstein will look for more applicants in January, he said. It is available to all majors with intermediate experience in Web design.

“If a student is interested, I would be happy to hear form them now,” Offenstein said. “That gives me an opportunity to look at what they’re doing to see which students have the most promise.”

Offenstein said he would like to give the students advice on improving their skills and would like to see more students who are interested in the programs.

Moore agreed, saying many students may not even realize the number of computer training opportunities available to them on campus until later in their college careers or even when it is too late.

“It’s one of those (instances) where the moment you need it you don’t know we’re here,” she said.

For more information on the FAST3 consortium, visit fast3.uiuc.edu. For more information on the peer-to-peer review program or the Student Web Internship visit webmasters.uiuc.edu/p2pr/ or contact Tim Offenstein at [email protected].