Over 20 undergraduate students work as Student Computing Consultants (SCCs) in the IT Help Desk. The SCCs are trained and mentored as they troubleshoot issues on personal computers for other undergraduates, and sometimes graduate students, faculty, staff and retirees. Sayra Alanis, a junior majoring in Hispanic Studies and the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality, works as a supervisor in addition to her shift at the Help Desk. Over the summer, Sayra worked with other SCCs, student workers in the IT Marketing team, and Diane Yee, the Assistant Director for Client Services, to completely revamp the self-help documentation on docs.rice.edu. Accumulated over five years with contributions by IT staff and SCCs, the old collection of wiki pages contained current information along with outdated information and duplicate information, all adding to a confusing tangle of content. Released in July, the new IT-DIY (do it yourself) pages had been reviewed, revised, rewritten, and organized under relevant categories and included cross-posting notices with links to the single page of instructions for a particular service or device set up.
“SCCS are a valuable resource for Rice University and Rice IT department. SCCS are Undergraduate students with diverse backgrounds and majors who provide technical support services – assisting with Rice account management, email network connectivity, printing and Owl Space. Additionally, the Help Desk provides extra services for Rice Undergraduates – troubleshooting devices; virus removal; data recovery and restore; and Operating system support functions.” said Diane Yee, of the SCCs.